Post-Traumatic

Scattered with clichés that are so accurate about our society and our current generation, Post-traumatic will perfectly summarise this time of our lives many years from now. Following the story of Vivian, a lawyer living in New York, we watch her navigate her life as a legal advocate for those ostracised from the norm due to their mental-health battles while she deals with her own issues rooted in trauma.

The book goes through discussions and topics of conversation we would sometimes come across on Twitter, making it extremely relevant and modern-millenialesque. Touching on subjects such as our relationship with superficiality, the oppression women face daily, and the importance of intersectionality, not only do we see Vivian's frustrations as a black woman (with dating, her personal life, and her career), we also experience in real-time how she's able to humanise people with mental disorders. This is where Johnson's writing is particularly exceptional, as she breaks down the nuances and complexity of what mentally ill patients go through, surreptitiously letting us vicariously relate to them through Vivian.

When the plot turns to earthward, we witness what it's like to be in a crisis of a traumatised mind. At its core of encumbered candour, it becomes an uncomfortable read; the type that forces closer introspection of our own experiences and relationship with intergenerational trauma. It's certainly an accompanying read alongside Mark Wolynn's 'It Didn't Start With You' (a book on how inherited family trauma shapes who we are and how we can end the cycle).

Johnson does an excellent job of making heavy topics of race, feminism, and mental health more approachable through her unpretentious writing. Dark-humoured as it may be, Post-traumatic encourages a narrative of openness and owning your own story, in spite of and beyond our trauma.

RATING: 3.5 STARS (A rating from someone who usually only reads non-fictional and self-help books).

Cessiah Lopez