Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason
“Every once in a while, you are fortunate enough to read a book that changes you.”
Every once in a while, you are fortunate enough to read a book that changes you. In three hundred or so pages, it takes you on a journey that challenges and changes your way of thinking. For me, “Sorrow and Bliss” is that book. Meg Mason’s writing has had such a profound, lasting effect on me that I feel implored to ask anyone and everyone to take the time to read this novel.
The ways in which this book explores the complex nuances of mental health are both delicate and astounding. As a reader, you experience such a complex relationship with Martha, both loving and disliking her in equal measure. Her narration is jarringly separate from her actions, she sees the illogicality of her decision-making and the subsequent impact on her husband and family, and yet, you are acutely aware that it is out of her hands - she is at the mercy of her illness. The reader is left to watch on as this ricochets through her life with devastating effect, however, the reason this book is such a stand out is that amongst the devastation, there is beauty. Pure, unadulterated beauty.
Meg Mason’s novel provides such a real, tangible insight into mental illness. She makes sense of the nonsensical, puts words to the indescribable. I was struck on such a personal level by the struggle that Patrick faces in trying to show love and patience, when it feels futile to try and comprehend the joys and heartbreaks of mental illness - the so aptly coined ‘sorrow’ and ‘bliss’.
And yet somehow, Meg Mason does just that. A true master at work.
Review from Book Blogger’s Prize Shortlist 2022
Freya Dawson, Book Blogger’s Prize Finalist
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