“Brilliantly faceted and extremely funny. . . . While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know.” — Ann Patchett
“Improbably charming…will have you chortling and reading lines aloud.” —PEOPLE
The internationally bestselling, compulsively readable novel—spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and … compulsively readable novel—spiky, sharp, intriguingly dark, and tender—that combines the psychological insight of Sally Rooney with the sharp humor of Nina Stibbe and the emotional resonance of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
Martha Friel just turned forty. Once, she worked at Vogue and planned to write a novel. Now, she creates internet content. She used to live in a pied-à-terre in Paris. Now she lives in a gated community in Oxford, the only person she knows without a PhD, a baby or both, in a house she hates but cannot bear to leave. But she must leave, now that her husband Patrick—the kind who cooks, throws her birthday parties, who loves her and has only ever wanted her to be happy—has just moved out.
Because there’s something wrong with Martha, and has been for a long time. When she was seventeen, a little bomb went off in her brain and she was never the same. But countless doctors, endless therapy, every kind of drug later, she still doesn’t know what’s wrong, why she spends days unable to get out of bed or alienates both strangers and her loved ones with casually cruel remarks.
And she has nowhere to go except her childhood home: a bohemian (dilapidated) townhouse in a romantic (rundown) part of London—to live with her mother, a minorly important sculptor (and major drinker) and her father, a famous poet (though unpublished) and try to survive without the devoted, potty-mouthed sister who made all the chaos bearable back then, and is now too busy or too fed up to deal with her.
But maybe, by starting over, Martha will get to write a better ending for herself—and she’ll find out that she’s not quite finished after all.
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Sorrow and Bliss is a brilliantly faceted and extremely funny book about depression that engulfed me in the way I’m always hoping to be engulfed by novels. While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realized that I wanted to send it to everyone I know.
First, I thought the writing was brilliant. The descriptions of dysfunctional families and the ups and downs of marriage were spot on both amusing and poignant. This was one of those books I thoroughly enjoyed while reading, and couldn’t wait to find out what happened. But in the end, I wasn’t sure what I thought. I’d be interested to know what others thought about it.
If any book could make you feel the melancholy of their characters, it would be this one. I’m not saying that as a slight to the story or the author. It’s actually a compliment to the evocative writing. The portrayal of Martha’s illness was visceral. As I sat alone reading this book, while my husband was away for work and both of my young adult children were spending copious amounts of time with their friends, I started feeling lonely and a bit sad. A rather abnormal state of being for me since I usually relish my alone time. Then as the book began an upturn, so did my emotions.
This was more a love story within women’s fiction rather than a romance. The emphasis on mental health was uniquely and sensitively rendered. The author hadn’t given a name to the heroine’s condition, but its portrayal gave it relevance. Regardless of the melancholy I may have felt at different times, I enjoyed the overall story, the satisfying ending, and the authors writing style.
Achingly funny and sad; this will be a strong contender for one of the best books I’ve read all year.
I’ve seen so many books by and about young women compared to Fleabag, Sorrow and Bliss is the first I’ve read where the comparison holds up. It’s sad and smart and darkly funny with a complicated main character you’ll root for and an extended cast of characters who feel entirely real. I couldn’t put it down.
An immersive and exceptionally entertaining book – the writer writes like a dream. Every sentence is a winner, she’s incredibly observant and a master of psychology and how relationships work. Loved Ingrid, Patrick and Winsome especially. I found the thing at the centre of the book a bit …mysterious…but the characters and the writing and the story gave me such pleasure – bliss almost! Massively recommended.
Sorrow and Bliss is funny and brilliant and sad all at once. This book challenged, amused and moved me. I read it once for enjoyment, but I’m going to read it again to dissect Meg Mason’s storytelling so that I can learn from it, because this was a uniquely captivating story.
So dark, so funny, so true. You will see your sad, struggling, triumphant self in this deeply affecting novel. What a debut.
Brutal, tender, funny, this novel—a portrait of love in all of its many incarnations—came alive for me from the very first page. I saw myself here. I saw the people I love. I am changed by this book.
Sorrow and Bliss is hilarious, haunting, and utterly captivating. Meg Mason has created a heroine as prickly as Bernadette in Where’d You Go, Bernadette. Her humor is as arch and wise as the best work of Joan Didion and Rachel Cusk, yet completely original. What a thrilling new voice!