And Then She Fell by Alicia Elliott

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* Thank you to @netgalley and @penguin for providing a digital copy of And Then She Fell in exchange of a honest review.

That was an interesting and definitely not a normal story. It center around Alice which experienced Postpartum Psychosis and tried her best to live her life in her new reality. The fact that Alice was in a psychotic state for the majority of the book made it for me hard to follow exactly what was going on, but that sure is the purpose. If you are looking for something different involving Mohawk storytelling and difficult family situation, I would recommend this one!

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This book was a real struggle for me. The first half was very slow, and I found myself constantly putting it down. I kept reading, hoping it would get better, but around 80%, things got super confusing, and it felt like I was reading a whole different book! I get what the author was going for, but the execution just wasn't great. I did read in the author’s acknowledgment that it was originally a short story and I feel like this would have been much better that way.

Thank you to NetGalley, Penguin Random House Canada and Doubleday Canada for an advanced copy in exchange for my review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was an eye opener about topics of racism and colonialism that need to be put out there. A very well written story with an interesting story line.

Elliot's story of a young Mohawk mother suffering from mental illness and post partum is so poignant. The way she tells the story makes everything that Alice is feeling and experiencing so vivid, that it makes the reader so aware and uncomfortable and commiserative.

As Alice tries to make sense of what she is hearing, she reflects on her parents, her culture and history, and how she wants to commemorate and lift her Mohawk ancestry high through storytelling as a writer. But feelings of inadequacy begin to creep in, compounded by her not being fluent in her ancestral language and having a hard time bonding with her newborn. Add in the fact that she is married to a rich white man living in a posh Toronto suburb and her struggle becomes a mountain.

Once I started listening to this one, I just could not stop. It highlights themes and topics that are still all too visible in Canadian society, exploring grief and feelings of failure as an Indigenous woman and mother, but Elliot does not leave our heroine without a way to rise and I was here for all of it.

So decking raw and emotional yet funny and insightful. Alice is an indigenous woman who’s had a baby with a colonizer husband and slowly spirals into a life she isn’t sure is reality or teachings. As Alice cracks a little she can’t trust anyone but a voice not in her head but outside it tells her to write the Creation story I. Her works as she is a storyteller. A modern day look at post Natal depression and psychosis, a hard to read complexity of a native girls trying to live in a world where micro aggressions are the Norm ANC’s it seems like everyone want to take your stories and your self respect and basically everything. Her battle to be the perfect person did not feel best aligned to this worl. This one made me ponder. my interactions and how they could be perceived. Such a beautiful book

Thank you NetGalley for this arc

This kept me trying to understand what was happening throughout the entire book. I kept bouncing between believing Alice and what she was experiencing, to thinking that maybe it really was just in her head and that she needed to go to a doctor. I liked how it had me questioning not only Alice and what she was thinking, but also what I was thinking. The way things played out was great, and was definitely something I didn't see coming.

Even though it got a bit slow in some parts, it never lasted and I found that something would happen to catch my attention again pretty quickly. The Native stories told throughout were really interesting, and were a fun way to learn some of the culture while also adding a lot to the book itself.

I will read whatever Alicia Elliott writes so I was very excited to get an e-ARC of this book! I've been waiting to read it for years and I absolutely loved her book of essays, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground (published in 2019).

I feel like I don't have the words to do this book justice. I was hooked right from the premise and loved the intro section told in the third person. I also really liked the Sky Woman interstitials and Alice’s modern take on the creation story.

I am not a mother, but as I reflect on if that’s a path I want to take, I thought it was refreshing to read a story about the hardships of being a new mom (at all, but especially if you are isolated from your support system). I won’t spoil the twist, but I look forward to rereading this book in a year to better catch the clues that were laid earlier on in the book.

Perfect pairings
- If you haven’t already, definitely read her first book. You’ll appreciate her novel all the more for having read her essays (she's pulling from some of her own life experience in the novel) plus you’ll get to enjoy more of her excellent wit.
- If you enjoyed the premise of thrillers based around motherhood and mental health, check out “The Possibilities” by Yael Goldstein-Love (2023), where a new mom takes on the multiverse to find her missing son.

Thanks to Penguin Random House Canada for sending me an e-ARC of this awesome book!

This follow-up to Alicia Elliott's memoir A Mind Spread Out on the Ground covers a lot of the same topics as her debut, but confronts those realities in challenging and surprising ways.

I struggled with how slow the first half was. It was slowly building to something, but I was impatient to get into the horrific and the shocking. It deals with some heavy topics like post-partum mental health, Indigenous motherhood being intensely scrutinized, MMIWG2S, and academia's fascination and appropriation of Indigenous knowledge and stories.

The second half really takes off and I was both *here for it* and also very confused. It is full of twists and turns and definitely held my attention as its pacing sped up. Those topics that were introduced in the first half fall to the wayside a bit in exchange for gory body horror.

The book jumps from domestic fiction with a graphic, horror twist to a confusing sci-fi conclusion. I wish it had kept its horror genre throughout and maintained its clear message because I felt the last 10% fizzled out. I'm not quite sure where it leaves the protagonist and her family.

I can feel the influence of Cherie Dimaline in And Then She Fell's dark, urban fantasy vibes and fans of her work will want to check this out.

content warnings :
Graphic: Alcohol, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Pregnancy, Blood, Drug abuse, Racism, Gaslighting, Colonisation, Death, Death of parent, Genocide, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Alcoholism, Child death, Child abuse, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Minor: Sexual harassment, Racial slurs, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder

This book started off quite promisingly, a young First Nations woman, who has recently given birth and is married to a white man, feels alone and alien in the middle class neighbourhood in which she now lives. There were glimpses of her previous life on reserve, of her upbringing and her interactions with her relatives, her nostalgia and regret of the life and those she has left behind . It soon becomes clear that she is suffering from post- partum depression and psychosis and this is where the narrative lost me. Between the frequent denunciation of the white population and the increasingly wild visions and delusions, I had a difficult time following this story and beyond the halfway point, I was simply looking for the story to end. Clearly, I am not a part of the target audience for this one as other reviewers seem to have quite different opinions but this is simply one reader’s view. Thank you to Net Galley and to Penguin Random House for the opportunity to access the uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked from the very beginning. Got a little lost in the last 80 pages though but still, so well-written.

I had a tough time reading this book and was tempted to give up more than once. By the time I got past 50% I decided I might as well continue until the end but I skimmed a lot and only read it in short bursts. At around 80% I felt like I'd accidentally picked up the wrong book as the characters were totally different. I eventually figured out what was going on but it was very confusing especially when the narration switched from first person to second person to third person from paragraph to paragraph. I had no idea who was talking half the time. As you'll gather from reading the blurb and other reviews the story follows Alice's descent into madness and the supernatural and it just wasn't for me. I'm definitely the outlier here so I recommend you check out some of the other reviews if you're interested in reading this. I keep wondering what I missed when I see all the 5 star reviews.

TW: Post-partum depression, mental illness, racism.

My thanks to Penguin Random House Canada via Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC of this novel. All opinions expressed are my own.
Published: September 26, 2023

Wow! I felt as if I was on a roller-coaster. Elliott’s novel is a mix of horror, fantasy, mystery, etc. Alice is a young Mohawk woman, and new mother, living with her husband Steve, in Toronto. A writer, Alice finally decides to write a Creation story. However she begins to hear voices and have hallucinations. Is she suffering from post-party m depression, bipolar disorder, generational trauma, or something else. Her life spins out of control. I felt like I was in a Kafkaesque storm. Interesting.

A novel about racism, motherhood, mental illness and addiction.
Trials and tribulations about living in a society that you were not brought up in.

I had a hard time with this novel. It started off alright, but I found I got really lost near the middle. I almost didn't finish, but chose to keep reading, and I am glad I did as the ending helped clarify some of the middle. I think it was an interesting perspective and definitely illustrated the descent into mental illness very well, but due to the confusion I just wasn't invested in the story.

Wow! This was probably my most highly anticipated read of the year, and it lived up to my expectations for sure. I really enjoyed Elliott's essay collection when I read it a few years ago, and so was very excited for her fiction debut. The story was engaging and thought-provoking, and the writing was excellent. I would definitely recommend picking this up, even if it feels outside of your regular genres (which it was for me)!

› While perusing Netgalley for a Canadian debut novel I was struck by the cover for And Then She Fell. I saw the vibrant blue face of a girl with beaded earrings trapped within the branches of a tree with pink cockroaches and just had to know more. Who is she? Why is she trapped? What's with the cockroaches?
› And Then She Fell is a story within a paranoid fever dream as Alice falls down the rabbit hole, struggling with her demons and trying to write her story. The unpredictable ending left me sobbing.
› Characters: 10
Alice is relatable and unreliable. Her goals and motivations are clear. She has flaws, external conflict, and internal conflict. The validation of male attention made me feel seen. The side characters are interesting. Steve and his coworkers gave me the ick. Alice and Papa Roach are my favourite characters.

› Atmosphere: 10
The descriptions, world-building, emotions, and mood are perfection.

› Writing Style: 10
I feel grateful that Elliott shared the Mohawk culture, philosophy, history, language and traditions with us.
Her writing is incredible. I took note of many quotes and wish I could share them all, but I'd basically be sharing the entire book. This one made me cry:
"He has intergenerational wealth; I have intergenerational trauma."
Elliott effectively interweaves facts about racism against Indigenous peoples in Canada in a natural manner that doesn't feel preachy.

› Plot: 10
I loved everything: the beginning, middle, and end. There isn't a lot of fluff. The words are moving the plot forward. The character's voices change how we think about things.

› Intrigue: 10
I didn't want to put this book down and I didn't want it to end. Since finishing And Then She Fell I find myself researching more about Haudenosaunee traditions.

› Logic: 10
You will be confused, but that's on purpose.

› Enjoyment: 10
I felt happy, sad, angry, frustrated, hopeless, and inspired. I laughed, I cried. This story is unique and the message is explained well.

› Final Thoughts
• I find reviews for five-star books are always the hardest to write. My writing abilities are nowhere near those of Alicia Elliott and I badly want to do this book justice. I expect And Then She Fell to be nominated for many book awards. And Then She Fell is an unforgettable, dark, emotional, smart, mysterious, surreal yet sometimes funny story-within-a-story about mental illness, grief, racism, tradition, motherhood, free will, trust and resilience that you MUST read to the very end.

Content Warnings: mental illness, racism, drug abuse, suicidal thoughts, grief, alcohol, ableism, addiction, profanity, violence, sexual content

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Random House Canada for an advanced electronic copy of this book in exchange for an honest review! I also received a finished copy from PRH Canada. All opinions are my own.

Alice, an Indigenous woman living on land commonly referred to as Canada (specifically Toronto) is trying to manage life as a new mother with her white husband. Living off rez, she's away from her family, and she starts to think that she can't be a good mother on her own. Then she starts to see things that she's not sure are really there. Throw in the weight of micro and macro racial aggressions, Alice is struggling to hold on, but there's this voice that only she can hear...

I didn't know where this story was going, but I loved where it ended up. The end really made it that much better, but I can't explain without any spoilers. This story is emotional and a look into the mind of both a new mother and a young Indigenous woman living in a white man's world. I could happily read more about Aloce, any day.

CW: mental illness, racism/racial aggressions, mentions of death

I cannot express in words how amazing this book is and what an experience it was to read it, but I will definitely try. The best visual I can give is one of the ending scenes in the Barbie movie where the clips of different cast members' mothers are sped through as we understand the importance of womanhood and motherhood... it made me SOB. This novel is more than just a horror book that uses a woman's mental health and postpartum issues to frighten readers. It does discuss those issues, but ties them together with themes of wrongful imprisonment, mistreatment and genocide of indigenous peoples, drug addiction, feminism and so much more. Amongst Alice's story, another tale of the Sky Women weaves its way through to coincide a story of creation and womanhood which brilliant tied the book together in my opinion. Elliott's writing is so unbelievably smart and quick - I never wanted to put the book down and when I had to, I was constantly thinking about picking the book up again.

You truly have to read this one right to the end. This book has elements of almost every genre or situation: time travel, history, unforgivable bigotry, racial genocide, magic and political diatribes against the deliberate cultural destruction of an ancient way of life.

Thousands and thousands of children died. A way of life and a language almost became extinct. A magical belief system was legally declared a heresy and the indigenous peoples were forbidden by law to hold their ceremonies - in public or private.

All of these many themes and more were woven into Alice's horrifying story. I was terrified for baby Dawn. I kept having to remind myself: This is just A NOVEL. It is FICTION! Do NOT CALL the Children's Aid Society! (No spoilers, but those descriptions of blood splatters, etc., in the baby's bedroom had my blood pressure soaring!)

Alicia Elliot writes so intelligently and convincingly. Alice (and yes, I, too, noted the similarity between the author's and main character's name) is an indigenous Mohawk woman who married a white professor, moved away from her reservation and felt alienated and judged by the other faculty wives, as well as the people in her affluent Toronto neighbourhood.

Alice appears at one point to be possessed by some ancient spirit, or you could be pardoned for being inclined to think that she was suffering from a mental illness/ postpartum depression at the very least. I suspected, after a while, that there was a mixture of BOTH happening here.

In her preface, the author confesses that her mother was bi-polar, and that she too suffered from periods of depression and, eventually, a mental illness (from which she most likely drew in order to write so powerfully about Alice's battles against paranoia and the fear that she was losing her mind to a demon spirit. Well done!)

Despite the timeline confusion (which, in the end was done on purpose, so stick with it!), I rarely wanted to put this book down. I kept reading with fascinated horror all that Alice endured. I can't go into more details because you need to go into this blind in order to appreciate the last quarter of this novel. What a jaw-dropping "twist"... well, maybe a better word would be "reveal" - but it took my breath away when the penny finally dropped! Clever!! This is one story that does indeed live up to the blurb! All of my emotions were truly wrung and put out to dry!

I am glad that I took a chance on this NetGalley offering. I thought I was fairly knowledgeable about Indigenous sufferings at the hands of North America's colonizers as well as our present day government, but this book was an eye-opener. I highly recommend this well-written, heartfelt novel. There are descriptions of violence and events (both historical and current) that will be a trigger for some readers, so proceed with care, but I for one am glad I stuck with this right to the nail-biting end! My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. I am rating this 4.8 out of 5, rounded up to a well-deserved 5.

I absolutely loved this book. What a great story! I love how it incorporated indigenous culture and also postpartum psychosis. I will definitely be looking for more from Alicia Elliott.