Reviews with content warning for Abortion - Sorrow and Bliss

Sorrow & Bliss by Meg Mason 💊
🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

💊 The plot: When Martha was a teenager, a bomb went off in her brain and she hasn't felt the same since. No one knows exactly what is wrong with her, but her husband Patrick says the main thing is just that she keeps going. When she finally gets an answer, it might be too late for her to have the only thing she's ever truly wanted.

This was a purchase motivated by my enduring love for @mostardentlyalice and my deep trust in her recommendations. It did not remotely disappoint. I laughed, I cried - frequently at the same time or on the same pages - and knew long before finishing it would be one of my favourite reads of this year.

Family is at the core of this novel and, for me, it's the truest depiction I've ever read of the fallout that severe mental illness can have, not just on the life of the person experiencing it, but on the lives of the people that love them.

Through Martha's journey of intense isolation, Mason interrogates the idea of mental illness as being something you go through alone, and explores with more nuance than I thought possible, really, what compassion looks like in the marathon journey of caring for each other over a lifetime. The moments of silent acceptance, the moments of challenge. How cruel deep depression can sometimes make you; how this doesn't make you any less worthy of humanity. How love is both a choice and not a choice at all. That you can hold the contradictions in both hands at once and they do not have to invalidate each other.

💊 Read it if you love Fleabag, soft fictional fathers, strong sisterly bonds, witty narrators who feel sharply real, or love stories that aren't capital-R romances. Also if you or someone you love has struggled with mental health issues this has the potential to be a deeply validating read.

🚫 Check trigger warnings before reading but especially avoid if you're in a sensitive place around depictions of depression and suicide.

Content Warnings

erin_forgie's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I loved this book so much.
I only really felt the bliss after

Martha’s diagnosis

It really delves into the sorrow straight away, so be prepared to feel a bit emotional.
It had all the correct ingredients for a 5 star, just something was missing and I’m not quite sure why. I think maybe it was the writing style, I just sometimes found it confusing when someone was speaking as the writer would add extra details about what they had said, outside of the speech marks - and as someone who adores Sally Rooney, its not the lack of speech marks, its just the lack of fully feeling the conversation.
*after a couple of months*
This book is a 5 star, I think about it constantly and I really appreciate what it has done

Content Warnings

eeviee's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is the kind of book you read to remind you of how much you love reading. The kind that you revisit from time to time and still feel gutted by. That one book you read at different stages of your life and find yourself identifying with another character you were least likely to feel any affinity with. It is a character study of a deeply flawed woman in an equally flawed relationship, and how she comes to mend herself in more ways than one.

Content Warnings

ashlyntalksbooks's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

bxcvi's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Content Warnings

berglindsh's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

abrownb15's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A brilliant, introspective book from and by Martha about her life and mental health. An analysis of her own mind and actions. Timeline is mixed and sometimes confusing- brilliant characters especially Ingrid. Loved it.

Content Warnings

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