SORROW AND BLISS

This book will change your life

Book was in a good condition, finished it and its a good one time read. It is hilarious

I wasn’t ready for Sorrow and Bliss — and maybe that’s exactly why I needed it 🫠 Meg Mason writes pain like poetry and wraps mental health, marriage, and the messiness of being human into something heartbreakingly relatable. It’s not just a story. It’s a mirror. There were moments I had to put the book down just to breathe. And others I wanted to underline every line. If you’ve ever struggled to explain sadness you can’t name — this book sees you. If you’re reading this, pick this one up. Then come back and tell me what it did to you ❤️ #bookstagramindia #SorrowAndBliss #MegMason #BookstagramIndia #EmotionalReads #WomenWriters #MentalHealthReads #booksthatheal

An entire page was printed so light any letter was barely visible. Not accepted so out of Amazon. Literally have to write it out to be able to read the complete sentence at once.

Anyone who has had a mental illness that makes them feel like they just cant explain it to the world, and forming words to express your feelings results in tears.. should read this.

TW: mental illness, depression, self harm, miscarriage Through the protagonist Martha’s journey of a troubled childhood, two failed marriages, one miscarriage and acute navigations of relationships in the family— Meg Mason gives us a strikingly emboldened picture of what it is like to live with a mental illness that threatens to snatch anything you held dear, chop off your bonding with loved ones and make you feel like discarded clothing, and what it is like to battle years of wrong diagnoses, mental instability and psychological imbalances that overflows to even the most intimate and private areas of your life. By crafting a narrative that explores mental agony in context of what it can do to you, the book offers a take on a vortex of people around who claim to love you, but the love of whom you can never decipher. To what extent of forgiveness and reconciliation can a person stretch themselves for a person they love? And how does a mental illness ravage any good, ‘normal’, sensitive intersection that you might have with the objects and humans in your life? Martha’s character arc provides just those answers. While moving through the story, the author weaves dry sarcastic humour, cynicism, naked voyages through human personalities, colliding ideals of hope, home and love to craft a simple storyline that challenges the stigma of psychiatric illness, the ghastly aftertaste of it, and the way people around you choose to react to it. ‘Sorrow and Bliss’ largely flows in deep sorrow, with the bliss glinting only after the book has ended. Even with the myriad of ways the book dissects pain and grief, making anyone tear up just a little—the book points towards a hopeful ending that gifts a direction of closure, apology and reconciliation, which once shared, can significantly create happier times.

"Sorrow and Bliss" by Meg Mason is like a beautiful painting, all wrapped up in the soothing colors of blue and yellow. It's a really pretty book that got so close to winning the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2022, and it kind of breaks my heart that it didn't take the trophy home. Let me tell you about Martha—she's just like us, dealing with her own messy life. She's got a sweet sister, a mom who's not really there, and a dad who's a bit down. Martha's a lot like that character Fleabag, you know, dealing with her own mental struggles. But there's something special about Martha—she's got this amazing husband. He stuck by her, even when she was tossing things around during her tough times. That's love, isn't it? But here's the thing, Martha's sad, and she doesn't quite know why. Nobody does. The book is like a breath of fresh air—it's funny, a bit sarcastic, and it moves really quickly, but at just the right times. I couldn't put it down, even when I had work piling up and lots of walking to do. It became my companion on the go, taking over my screen time. Trust me, give this book a read. I don't want you to miss out on the emotions packed into these pages. It's a journey through ups and downs, a story that sticks with you long after you've finished reading. Don't miss out on the feels!

A multi-layered novel "Sorrow & Bliss" broke new ground for me in exploring family, love, expectations and mental illness all at once. Sorrow and Bliss was true to its title, deeply sad, beautifully worded replete with plentiful dialogue while showing the disappointing aspects of life and the human condition. That said, I loved it and thought that there was hope embedded into the story as well as an abundance of familial love and support. Do read this immensely immersive and uplifting book which tries to show the flawed individual in all its glory.

I was duped into thinking that this novel is a work of literary fiction, given the loud declamation on the cover that it was "Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2022". I was hoping to read an insightful and complex portrayal of depression (or something like depression, given that the putative 'illness' is entirely fictional) but alas, I was disappointed on both accounts. After forcing myself to read almost 200 pages in the attempt to give the novel a chance to begin showing me something (about the characters, about the suffering associated with anything labelled "mental illness:, or even about the psychological dynamics of a family - who seem to be a group of Australians living in London), I finally gave up and threw the book into the bin. I can only confirm the other negative reviews here on amazon. This book is horribly written. The English is at times so atrocious that some sentences make no sense. There is no character development and none of the characters are fleshed out, given any psychological depth, any motivation for their actions - and not one of them is either likeable or intriguing (an anti-hero is distinctly unlikeable but nevertheless intriguing). Yes it is true that postmodern fiction works with cardboard characters and stereotypes (see Bad Luhrmann's films or the writing of Thomas Pynchon), but in this case they play with the stereotypes. These postmodern texts work on the level of representation meta-textually. Meg Mason is not doing that, but neither does she give us realism, ie., with depth and complexity. We are told that the character cries, but there is no emotion, no atmosphere, no chance to sympathise or empathise with the character, and there is no indication or suggestion as to why this happens, and no development beyond these moments (at least until page 200). We are told by the reviewers who laud the book that there is wit and humour. I saw attempts to be witty but they were so contrived and obvious that none of the quips were anywhere near funny. All that I learned from this book is that the publishing industry is in a dire state and prizes for 'fiction' mean nothing anymore.

Oh my word! I am in love and total awe of this brilliant book! It’s the story of Martha Friel who has an undiagnosed mental illness that she has had since she was 17 and that no doctor seems to be able to explain. It’s the story of how this impacts on her life, her marriage and her family. It’s very difficult to explain this book as it seems like a contradiction of itself. Yes it’s heartbreaking and dripping in pathos but it’s also heartwarming and littered with comedy gold that had me crying with laughter. It’s a brilliantly written blend of tragedy, heartbreak, anguish and comedy. It’s devastating yet uplifting, dark yet light, sad yet funny, almost unbearable yet utterly joyful to read. The author has a razor sharp ability to write candidly astute observations of human nature and family dynamics which is completely spellbinding. It’s an incredible book and I absolutely adored it - without doubt this will be one of my top reads of 2022.

good one

Feels like real life.

Esta novela fue una montaña rusa de emociones, empezando por no querer mucho a la protagonista hasta llegar a entenderla. Vale la pena, me gustó mucho