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happy_baker 's review for:
Sorrow and Bliss
by Meg Mason
I'm so conflicted as to whether or not I love this book
As a person who has struggled with mental illness and misdiagnosis for over 10yrs I think it's an excellent narrative choice to not name the diagnosis that Martha receives halfway through the book.
My understanding is that it's symptoms from a number of different things combined to support the story. Plus it avoids the issue that Mark Haddon had of the novel becoming a "text" on a specific disorder.
However as a reader I hate it! I hate part of the story being redacted (I actually gave up reading The Diary of Anne Frank for exactly this reason). While it makes logical sense to be this way, I would personally have preferred a made-up diagnosis.
This is first and foremost fiction. To me it's a story about women who happen to have mental illness, rather than a story about mental illness. It doesn't feel othering, but it is absolutely not the final word on mental health.
It spoke to me because I've been Martha, I've been Ingrid, and I've been Patrick at various points in my life for various people. I think lots of us have.
As a person who has struggled with mental illness and misdiagnosis for over 10yrs I think it's an excellent narrative choice to not name the diagnosis that Martha receives halfway through the book.
My understanding is that it's symptoms from a number of different things combined to support the story. Plus it avoids the issue that Mark Haddon had of the novel becoming a "text" on a specific disorder.
However as a reader I hate it! I hate part of the story being redacted (I actually gave up reading The Diary of Anne Frank for exactly this reason). While it makes logical sense to be this way, I would personally have preferred a made-up diagnosis.
This is first and foremost fiction. To me it's a story about women who happen to have mental illness, rather than a story about mental illness. It doesn't feel othering, but it is absolutely not the final word on mental health.
It spoke to me because I've been Martha, I've been Ingrid, and I've been Patrick at various points in my life for various people. I think lots of us have.