Reviews with content warning for Addiction - Sorrow and Bliss

I had such high expectations of this book. I love character based stories, I enjoy reading about mental health and the writing style seemed to be Rooney-esque. And everyone else seems to love it too. So then why didn’t I?

I think a big part of it is knowing from the start how this book will end. There’s nothing to read towards to. I’m all for character driven stories, but the only conflicts and meaningful interactions appeared in the last 50-100 pages or so. There was nothing to drive the story; Martha only figures things out late in the book, and it’s only then that we see characters engaging with her issues and the story can really come to life. Especially in the early stages of the book I felt so bored, everything I read felt so pointless. The main characters felt very neutral too (Patrick didn’t feel likeable nor did Martha feel unlikeable, as I’ve seen reviews describe), I think because they were described in a passive tone, so this entire book blended together into a neutral blur.

I think the pacing is another aspect that felt off. Every sentence was incredibly long, stretching 4 lines at times. Often these parts felt trivial to the story as well. There were shorter paragraphs to break things up, but these often contained information which added nothing to the story or characters whatsoever.

When Martha does finally get a diagnosis for her mental illness, and the story seems to get interesting, it’s described as ‘ - ‘. We read about her finally getting an assessment, we read what people around her think of her illness, and Martha spends time googling her symptoms and coming to terms with what this diagnoses means to her. It’s probably the most important part of this book, so then why isn’t the diagnoses stated? Is it so the author can make a statement about how you can still be an awful person, as one of the characters remarks?! At the end of this book there’s even a note that this mental illness is a fictional one, the treatments and symptoms are all made up. Why?? The novel emphasises the importance of labels and diagnoses, the entire book is based around mental health - why would you make up a mental illness? Especially one that’s so rooted in reality?! If this was meant to be a statement of sorts, I fail to grasp why the author makes us curious as to what the illness actually is by having Martha discuss it with others and exploring what it means to her - surely if it wasn’t about her specific illness you’d leave all this out, because now we will speculate on what it could be.

I really wanted to DNF this but I stuck through it to figure out why this book didn’t work for me. Though the story became more interesting as it went on, the ‘ - ‘ diagnosis part frustrated me too much to even enjoy the final segments.

Content Warnings

sofiefarmer's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad medium-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? It's complicated

5.0

Beautiful, haunting, real. This is an incredible story of the problems with misdiagnosis.

Every single character in this book is perfectly written. They all feel so real and flawed and complex. I am obsessed with the way these characters were depicted, and I am blown away by the intentionality in every interaction and story told.

The writing is so beautiful. It is so lyrical and quotable. Not a single word is wasted. I would read anything Meg Mason writes.

I loved how Martha's condition is never specified. It allows the reader to focus on mental health as a whole and the consequences of misdiagnosis rather than generalizing a specific population that struggles with a certain condition.

Martha and Patrick have such an interesting relationship. It was so fascinating to read.

This is a book I will be thinking about for the rest of my life.

Content Warnings