This was beautifully written. I can’t think of a book I’ve read about mental health that handles the topic so well. It was hard going at times but overall it was a great read.

I loved this book!
Witty, heart wrenching, beautifully written, characters that are real, pain I felt, love I could imagine. Just brilliant. I wish I could read it for the first time again.

Sorrow and Bliss is an emotional rollercoaster, but with moments of real humour and lightness. The explorations of motherhood and mental health are fantastic and I loved the family in-jokes and references, like 'me cookie' and baked alaska, that made the book feel so very real. Meg Mason is an author who is in complete control of her craft; you know you are in safe hands with her throughout the reading experience.

Who do I love…MEG MASON!!
How much do I love her…all the way around the world and back 🌎
I purposely did not read this book all in one sitting because I absolutely needed to have her in my life so much longer then necessary, I live with depression and anxiety, i love someone with anxiety, I love someone who is an alcoholic…I am an asshole, unapologetically so some days…I don’t want to explain any of the plot to you I just really want you to read this beautiful book just because it is so good, so funny, witty and wise. I honestly do think it is my favourite book this year.

I put off reading this book for a while, perversely because I kept reading rave reviews and didn't want to be disappointed and/or underwhelmed. Let me start upfront by saying some books deserve every rave review they get, and this is undoubtedly one of them. We follow Martha from being a young girl with the beginnings of mental health issues right through to her marriage to Patrick in the present day. Patrick has been in love with Martha since he was fourteen and all he wants to do is make her happy, but he can't seem to make what troubles her better. And when Martha finds out a secret, her whole world is upended. Can she live with what she knows, or will she needs to start over again? And can she find happiness in either scenario?

I can't describe how beautifully written this novel is, and I was hooked from the first paragraph. This is the kind of luminous book you struggle to describe to others because it's not so much plot-driven as character-driven, but I just found it so richly detailed and exquisitely written - my only complaint is that it had to end.

I cannot wait to read more from this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher, who granted me a free ARC copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

There was such a buzz about this book all over social media so I was eager to read it and now can see why.
I am always a bit worried about hyped book because they dont always meet expectations but this did not disappoint.
What I really liked (and some may not) but the story was told from Marthas view point. So we really get inside her head and heart. Martha introduces those in and out of her life and how they affected and impacted her. There is a sprinkle of humour but feel that comes from some awkwardness and cringe moments. The moments with her sister were amusing for sure.
You can see the challenges that come with mental health and it was well written.
I will sure be getting a physical copy of this book.

This book was beautiful, I think mainly because the author had the ability to give forward a tragic and sad story in a humane manner making it also light and funny at times. This might be one of the most difficult things to do in a book.

The main character suffers from a mental health condition that is not named throughout the book, which I found an interesting choice, but it really worked for me as I could see that then I gave my full attention to the person and not the disease. Overall it is a heavy read, but also extremely hopeful. I suggest with my whole heart, but please check trigger warnings.

4.5/5

Thank you Orion for the e-ARC.

I feel this book is quite a realistic look into mental health. I appreciated the rawness and the truthfulness of it, along with the fact no actual medical name is given to Martha's illness, so it could be relatable to a lot of people. It really does take you to the extremes, hence the fitting title, and I do think that you probably have to be in the right place mentally to see it through to its end.

4.5 Stars from me.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my opportunity to read this wonderful book.

Such a glorious read! Meg Mason manages to weave deep sadness and laugh-out-loud comedy often into the same paragraph. It's such a skill and makes for a joyous and rewarding read. Adored this book and have been recommending it to so many people!

This book cut me up so much - quite a few times I had to put it down, have a good cry, then return to it much later in the day. But it is so good - it is written so beautifully. A must read!

SORROW & BLISS // Meg Mason

Another contemporary British protagonist, but one more memorable to me than most. Martha is in her late 30s, navigating life with debilitating ill mental health. She is loved consistently by her husband, troubled by her mother and stuck with her sister.

Mason two steps between acerbically sharp commentary on the realities of living and loving someone with complex needs, and dark humour to illustrate that interpersonal family relationships are always taxing, illnesses or not. Alcoholism plagues her mother, flashbacks to never ending parties and locked bedroom doors were executed with such sharp observation I could taste the bitterness lingering.

I flinched often, felt as if Mason held a mirror to some of my own self sabotaging behaviour. A book with such accuracy to readers own experiences can make your skin crawl. Martha’s blackened perspective of hopelessness were thread throughout, it is very much a story of shame, reflected to the reader and perhaps why it is becoming a polarised read.

There is a tiresome rhetoric that reads troubled or morally grey characters as damaging to the group they ‘represent’. The alternative reading is, that the human condition is complex, a characters opinion / action does not equate to an author’s by default and there is no homogeneity in a broad group like illness or gender. I don’t believe in universality, there is only individual experiences crossing over with one another, to create shared community.

Martha is experiencing an unnamed diagnosis referred to by the final psychiatrist her as “- -”, thus as readers we are only left to perhaps use our own misguided judgment to decide what it is that she is living with.

Far from asking readers to become armchair psychologists, it feels as though Mason is telling readers that what exactly Martha has been diagnosed with, holds little bearing on her lived experiences. Although labels are often helpful, and necessary in accessing care, the words themselves mean little, and that is coming from someone with a list of acronyms and conditions that follow their name.

One of the highlights of my reading year so far - what a book. Engrossing, devastating, hilarious, beautifully observed and brilliantly paced, with characters you really fall and feel for. Meg Mason manages to capture the pendulum swing of mental illness in a empathetic yet surprisingly entertaining way. Martha is a brilliant, unique creation and following her journey from falling ill at age 17 to where she is today in her early 40s where she finally receives a diagnosis (and therefore all the events of her life and her behaviour start to make sense) is a rollercoaster, to say the least, but an enjoyable one. Highly recommended.

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This book is stunning! It follows Martha, who has suffered with bouts of mental illness throughout her life ever since she was a teenager. She struggles to see how she fits anywhere and often feels like her life is coasting without much input from her. She’s married to Patrick and finds herself living in an executive home that she hates. This novel is very funny – at times laugh out loud funny and at other time painfully funny but it’s also so sensitive in its depiction of depression and mental illness. I loved the pop culture references – the bit about Prince William genuinely made me laugh and I knew then that this was going to be a me book. Martha’s illness is never mentioned by name, which I thought was very clever as it allows readers to identify with what she’s going through without the focus being on what is actually wrong. Martha messes up in this novel, she gets things wrong and people get hurt – herself included but she always remains likeable and someone that you recognise traits of in either yourself or people you know. This is a brilliant novel and I already wish I could go back and read it all again for the first time. I highly recommend it.

Published this month, Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is one of the novels currently generating the most buzz in the UK this summer. Martha Friel has recently turned 40 and her eight-year marriage to Patrick has just ended. The novel looks back on her life, growing up with a dysfunctional extended family, followed by a short-lived first marriage to Jonathan. She has struggled with mental illness since she was 17, but Mason deliberately doesn’t name the specific condition Martha is eventually diagnosed with, and notes in the afterword that it is a fictional illness in any case, thus preventing the reader from making assumptions or holding certain biases about her behaviour. Martha has a very dry sense of humour and Mason balances the light and shade of her perspective very well without trivialising her health. ‘Sorrow and Bliss’ could be a strong contender on this year’s Booker Prize longlist which will be announced later this month. Many thanks to Weidenfeld & Nicolson for sending me a review copy via NetGalley.

Definitely one of my favorite books of the year so far.

Meg Mason captures to perfection the right balance of sorrow and bliss in this astonishing debut novel.

Thought provoking, captivating, you cannot help but fall in love with the characters, I simply didn't want this book to end.

Martha has mental health issues, and through those, the reader gets to experience it all in a very raw and relatable manner. The different relationships, family, are portrayed with brio with all their flaws.

Loved it so much that I have ordered the special Waterstones edition with sprayed edges as a treat!

Thank you so much NetGalley and W&N for the opportunity to read.

Probably my favourite novel of the year. Heartbreaking and hilarious with wonderful writing and characters I loved, for all their messy complexity.

Well I went into Sorrow and Bliss quite blind to be honest. I haven’t purposely read many reviews as I knew I would be reading it this week. 😅

Right so the story follows Martha who I found very observant, clever and witty. She is a writer and has been loved by her husband Patrick everyday of her adult life. But….Marta feels so sad and wonders if there is something wrong her. Martha has struggled with her mental health since she turned 17 and no doctor or therapist can explain it. So….Patrick leaves her and she is forced to return to her childhood home to live with her parents. It’s time for Martha to look at her life and figure out if it’s worth fixing or is it too broken? 😩

I loved the dialogue between characters, it’s written so well with a lot of wit. I particularly liked the dynamic between Martha and her sister Ingrid, as well as her father. There are some really poignant moments and beautiful scenes between Martha and dad which made me cry. 😭 It felt so honest! Sisterhood is so central to the book so I think it struck a cord as Meg captured the essence of this bond.

I tell you, it was really funny, but like that awkward funny where it’s slightly dark. You know where you do like a nervous laugh. 😂
I was disliking Martha in the middle so the poignant moments and dark humour lifted it for me. I did love how the book talked so openly about a difficult subject matter and was reflective about how life is full of emotional ups and downs. I did find myself rooting for Martha by the end and emphasised with her. I also felt for Patrick as the book explores how mental illness affects everyone involved.

This review feels like it makes no sense!! 😂 Sorrow and Bliss felt extremely authentic in its exploration of mental illness and family dynamics. It’s heartbreaking and emotional yet the glimmers of hope and humour throughout made it a book that will stick with me. Think Fleabag and Sally Rooney vibes methinks. 💁🏼‍♀️

Sorrow and Bliss by Meg Mason is a gorgeous novel about family, love and mental illness. At the heart of the novel is Martha, a 40 year old woman who has suffered with mental illness since “a bomb went off” in her brain at aged 17. She is from a bohemian family; an artist mother whose sculptures made from reclaimed items absorb all of her time and a poet father who had a successful book many years earlier and has been trying, and failing to write a follow up ever since. Martha and her sister, Ingrid were often left to their own devices, especially when their parents went through one of their regular separations and their father, the one who ensured they were clothed and fed, left the family home.

Their only form stability comes from both their relationship, which is tight-knit and almost impenetrable, and their aunt and uncle, Winsome and Rowland. An affluent couple with three children, they host Christmas every year and ensure there is a big family meal and gifts, even whilst Martha’s mother shoots barbed comments at Winsome, her sister, and drinks herself into oblivion amongst the discarded wrapping paper.

It is at one of these Christmases when Martha’s cousin brings a friend home with him for Christmas. Patrick’s father lives in Singapore and he has been left at boarding school to fend for himself. Brought into the heart of this family, he meets Martha, admiring her from afar and falling in love with her.

What follows is a book which leaps from the past to the present, narrated by Martha. She shows us her and Ingrid’s childhoods and their adulthoods, interspersing witty asides from the present day. This is a book about depression, but it isn’t depressing. It is hard to read at times yes, but there is a lot of dark, wry humour, particularly between Martha and Ingrid who send each other text messages which basically comprise of gifs and emojis to convey how they feel. It felt odd to laugh at a book about mental illness, but I think what Mason did really well was show that life is made up of many dispirit parts, and humour, at the darkest times is often needed.

This is an observant character driven novel of great depth, providing a myriad of characters who come in and out of Martha’s life and leave an impression upon it. Some are wonderful, others less so, but at the centre of it all is Martha and her illness. This is never actually named, which I think was a brave but correct decision by Mason. It allows freedom to explore the wider issues of mental health and illness without pigeon holing the illness to one particular diagnosis. We are privy to the thoughts in Martha’s head and feel her desperation as her illness worsens.

Sorrow and Bliss really spoke to me, not because of mental illness per se, but because it addresses the issues surrounding having a long term illness. I have read very few books where illness is examined in such a true and thoughtful way. It shows, in realistic and heart-breaking prose how illness can cause the sufferer to be defined by that one thing and that one thing only. It shows that there is so much more to Martha than her illness, even when it is all-consuming. It shows the lack of agency over decisions made about her own body, how medication is given to her and choices are taken away. It examines beautifully the way she has to reimagine her future and the walls she puts around herself to protect herself from the pain.

This is an exquisitely beautiful book and is one of my books 2021. I gobbled it up and can’t stop thinking about it. It would make a marvellous book club book, with lots to talk about re: health, family and likeable and unlikeable characters and comes highly recommended from me.

Oh how I loved this! Every succinct sentence feels so natural yet so perfectly crafted, with not a word wasted. Every encounter, conversation and situation feels so true, honest and raw, yet never overwhelming. I’m in awe that such a dark subject can be so full of light and humour, yet never trivialises the pain for everyone it touches. An impossibly perfect read!

Not my usual read but fabulous writing and compelling. Dark, witty, funny and incredibly sad in places. A great debut.