Review: If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie
If I Fall, If I Die by Michael Christie Toronto: McClelland & Stewart , 2026 I loved Christie's novel Greenwood (2020) so I appreciate that McClellend & Stewart has re-released his debut novel If I Fall, If I Die, which was originally published in 2015. It was excellent, and I reviewed it originally for The British Columbia Review here on October 13, 2026. *** “How easy it is for a life to become tiny. How cleanly the world falls away.” Michael Christie’s debut novel If I Fall, If I Die is a powerful story about fear: the way that it molds our lives, and how it can close us in and define our edges. It’s also a novel about the breathtaking headiness of taking risks in order to pierce the boundaries of the very fear that keeps us shackled. Also, there’s skateboarding! This 2015 novel is being rereleased, and if you haven’t read it yet (as I hadn’t), this is an excellent occasion to pick it up. Eleven-year-old Will and his mother Diane live in Thunder Bay, and neither has b...
