A review by kell_xavi
Sorrow & Bliss by Meg Mason

funny hopeful sad medium-paced

3.0

Sorrow and Bliss is well-written and funny, but it also wasn’t what I wanted. I approached this book from an autistic and queer perspective, and what this book achieves leaned into neurotypical and cisheteronormative romantic ideologies more than I’d like. The unsaid diagnosis read to me like a lessening, a misappropriation of symptoms or traits to be read by women unfamiliar with mental illness and neurodivergence; this perspective isn’t the only one, but for me, instead of feeling relatable, in solidarity, this novel and Martha’s narration was alienating. 

While Martha names her own changing or becoming more/less herself throughout the novel, the events and people she is framed beside didn’t allow me to see a fullness of character. It’s as though we’re always skipping ahead to the next dramatic personage, scalding comment, or romantic moment. Mason attempts something interesting in a woman’s reckoning with mental illness, and she does hit on something true in some moments, but the core of Martha’s desires and the shape of the story itself were hollow overall. 
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