Stunning, poignant, a magnificent read - 5 star

What a stunning novel. Having just finished Lean Fall Stand I am still affected by the language and the theme of communication or not that runs through each chapter. Robert, Thomas, and Luke are mapping and carrying out important research work in Antarctica, a virtually uninhabited, ice-covered landmass. An area of extreme weather conditions where sunshine could turn to snowy stormy wipeout in minutes, clear visibility replaced by blindness...…”Glaciers and ridges and icebergs and scree, weathering and wind-form and shear. The air so clear that distances shrank and all the colours shone”...... When wipeout occurs the 3 colleagues are each  involved in separate challenges. Thomas, as the photographer, is cast adrift when the ice beneath him cracks and breaks. Communication is impossible conversation replaced by broken static over the airwaves. Fallout is swift and far reaching and as we move forward in the story Anna, Robert’s wife, is forced to reevaluate her everyday existence as she welcomes home a very traumatised husband. 

Robert has suffered a stroke, he is bedridden as not only his body but his ability to speak has deserted him…..”The effects of stroke include language impairments, reduced mobility, difficulties with swallowing, and cognitive deficits”......Communication once so accessible has gone his thoughts are trapped within a damaged body, unable to connect with his wife Anna following the tragedy that happened in Station K...Communication once so easy no longer present. And so begins the process of painful rehabilitation. The human state of existence relies on the need to communicate and when this is gone, and replaced by breakdown and misunderstanding, chaos ensues. Robert attends group therapy work making the acquaintance of fellow stroke victims all existing in their own bubble, a form of confinement…..and gradually a different “living” begins to seem possible.

It is inevitable that his illness will affect his relationship with his wife Anna. A career woman and always supportive of her spouse she is now faced with a new reality….life or a carer...both husband and wife slave to the stroke…..”His frustration at not being able to speak kept tipping over into frustration with her for not understanding”...... Understanding and support once the centre of their married life has deserted leaving sadness and heartbreak in its wake. Ultimately Lean Fall Stand is a book of hope and the ability of the human spirit to accept and move forward introducing a different type of communication. Many thanks to the good people of netgalley for a gratis copy of this book in exchange for an honest review and this is what I have written….Brilliant, poignant, uplifting, and at times even funny and oh so highly recommended.