Sorrow and Bliss Meg Mason

Sorrow and Bliss – Meg Mason

This novel is about a woman called Martha. She knows there is something wrong with her but she doesn’t know what it is. Her husband Patrick thinks she is fine. He says everyone has something, the thing is just to keep going.

Martha told Patrick before they got married that she didn’t want to have children. He said he didn’t mind either way because he has loved her since he was fourteen and making her happy is all that matters, although he does not seem able to do it.

By the time Martha finds out what is wrong, it doesn’t really matter anymore. It is too late to get the only thing she has ever wanted. Or maybe it will turn out that you can stop loving someone and start again from nothing – if you can find something else to want.

My Review of Sorrow and Bliss

I was sent this by Harper Collins and must admit I didn’t really like the look of it. I had it quite low down on my TBR until I saw a few trusted goodreads friends review it – and they were RAVING about it! When I read their reviews it sounded like something I would enjoy so I dove right in.

Martha has just turned 40 and she finds that she is miserable in her life and the decisions she has made. When her husband ends up walking out on her because he cannot tolerate her behaviour anymore, the book flips back in time to before they ended up together, what brought them together, and events that led to them falling apart. A saga delving into love, marriage, and mental illness.

The synopsis sounds a bit dull, I know. And honestly when I first picked up the book and started reading I found it really disjointed and I was bored. I ALMOST put it on the DNF pile, but I am SO GLAD I didn’t! As soon as the story went back in time and went through Martha’s early years and how she and Patrick got together I was hooked on every word. I am still thinking about it two days later!

I think anyone who has had loves in their lives can relate to Martha’s struggles. The relationships were very raw and real. But also the romance was so beautiful. I couldn’t put the book down!

It was not without its flaws, the beginning being one of them. It was all over the place jumping from here to there and you just had to sort of wing it, hoping that the story would unfold. Thankfully it did. And Martha, I hated her. She was so completely selfish for the entire book, but as time goes on you begin to understand that’s the point. She had stuff going on.

The mental health issues were treated with respect and I enjoyed how she did not name the disorder and just let the reader think of it what they would.

The marriage felt real, the people felt real… This story has stuck with me and I wouldn’t mind reading it again. It had some extremely beautiful moments and also some awful ones. But it was worth the read.