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Post-traumatic
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
6 posts | 6 read | 5 to read
A deeply original (Elif Batuman), violently funny (Myriam Gurba), brilliant and unforgettable (Deesha Philyaw) debut about a young lawyer finally confronting her dark past To the outside observer, Vivian is a success storya dedicated lawyer who advocates for mentally ill patients at a New York City psychiatric hospital. Privately, Vivian contends with the memories and aftereffects of her bad childhoodcompounded by the everyday stresses of being a Black Latinx woman in America. She lives in a constant state of hypervigilant awareness that makes even a simple subway ride into a heart-pounding drama. For years, Vivian has self-medicated with a mix of dating, dieting, dark humor and smoking weed with her BFF, Jane. But after a family reunion prompts Vivian to take a bold step, she finds herself alone in new and terrifying ways, without even Jane to confide in, and she starts to unravel. Will she find a way to repair what matters most to her? A debut from a stunning talent, Post-traumatic is a new kind of survivor narrative, featuring a complex heroine who is blazingly, indelibly alive. With razor-sharp prose and mordant wit, Chantal V. Johnson performs an extraordinary feat, delivering a psychologically astute story about the aftermath of trauma that somehow manages to brim with warmth, laughter, and hope.
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Sydneypaige
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Check all CW please! I thought this book would focus more on the work the main character does as a lawyer in a psychiatric hospital. However, the novel primarily focuses on the internal experience of traumas impact. It does an accurate job of exploring the connections brains make to keep us safe and what it is like to live as a woman who experiences violence from men who is ‘stuck‘ in her brain & bodies protective mode. Challenging read

8 likes1 stack add
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samantharoberts
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Panpan

Read this as part of a book club, otherwise I probably would have bailed. I started off loving this, but then all of the body shaming/body issues & jokes about SA and violence was just too much for me. It felt uncomfortable to read the character making light of so many dark issues.

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GidgetsTreasures75
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Pickpick

12-27-22: My 128th finished book of 2022! Vivian is a dedicated lawyer who advocates for her mentally I‘ll patients at a NYC psychiatric hospital. Privately, she contends with the aftereffects of her rough childhood. She lives in a constant state of fear that makes every day activities almost impossible. She self medicates with men, alcohol and weed until a family reunion prompts Vivian to make a bold move and she unravels. ⭐️⭐️⭐️📖#️⃣1️⃣2️⃣8️⃣

13 likes2 stack adds
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MicheleinPhilly
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Mehso-so

I definitely should have made space to read something else between this and Big Girl as it dealt a lot with disordered eating on the OTHER end of the spectrum. I was excited for this but was ultimately a bit disappointed as the MC didn‘t really seem to grow or evolve. Frankly I found her rather annoying.

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Bookalong
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Pickpick

4☆ An ambitious debut novel on surviving and living with trauma. Johnson's prose were very compelling, and I found this tough to put down. The intimate, at times claustrophobic feeling of being in Vivian's head was impressively written, she is a manic, paranoid character due to living with her trauma, coping until she cracks. I think Johnson really conveyed what surviving trauma can look like. Plot wise its slow, but character depth was great.

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AbstractMonica
Post-traumatic | Chantal V. Johnson
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Mehso-so

I had high hopes for this book. I love the concept behind it, but I ended up despising the main character so much (which I think was partially intentional) to the point that I wasn‘t even rooting for her in the end🤷🏻‍♀️ Some chapters dragged a bit, and I found the book was extremely wordy with not much depth.