Sorrow and Bliss, by Meg Mason

The reviews said this book was "breathtakingly funny" and would "delight Sally Rooney fans." I wanted to laugh, and I don't know if I'm a Sally Rooney fan in general, but Normal People is an all-time favorite.So I figured it was for me. Except of course, two one-line reviews on the cover, even with the best of intentions, have a good chance of misleading us.

Summary

Martha has always been difficult to live with. She suspects it's because of her parents (basically, a mean, alcoholic sculptor and a failed poet). But does that explain her periods of intense fatigue when she can't even get out of bed for weeks? Her episodes of unwarranted anger at the people closest to her?

Her "difficult personality" broke up her first marriage, and that was good, because her husband was a real jerk. But as she's on the verge of breaking up her second marriage, a childhood friend she's madly in love with and treats like garbage, she decides to get real help.

Impressions

I was hooked on the promise of "devastating humor." I expected the book to make me laugh, or at least smile, or at least try to. And indeed, Martha made me laugh out loud a few times. She has a sharp, cynical humor that I like.

The problem is that behind Martha's sharp and cynical humor lies a terrible misfortune that is not funny at all. This is made clear, for example, by the way Martha constantly refers to the house she bought with her husband (whom she loves very much, by the way) as the "house of standing", to use the words of the real estate agent who sold it to them. The first time, it's funny. The fifteenth time, we worry about her. The same thing happens when we realize that her apparent casualness about the material aspects of life, such as work, hides a deadly boredom and lack of ambition. Martha is funny by mistake.

It was about the time I realized all this that Martha became unsympathetic to me. Her heart is frozen. She hates everyone, she's obnoxious to her lovely husband, she wallows in her unhappiness with determination. She enrages me and makes me feel sorry for her.

And then, finally, Martha is diagnosed. She has --, this very serious condition that can ruin your life if you're not careful. She learned that it runs in the family. Her mother has it, as well as aunts, cousins, grandparents, etc. No one had told her. No one had told her. But now that she knows, she is able to take control of her life and reconcile with her (too) nice husband.

How did you feel when you saw those two little lines instead of the name of the disease? For me, it was disappointment. I hoped until the end that the name would finally be revealed to us, but it never happens, because this disease does not exist.

I still wonder why the author chose to half invent a mental illness instead of choosing one. Probably to talk about mental health in general. But it's not like there's a lack of illnesses worth talking about. And after so many pages of unpleasant emotions, an imaginary diagnosis felt like a damp squib. It's as if the author is saying "Remember, the character is a product of fiction!" It breaks the immersion, and makes it seem like in the end, she didn't have much to say.

So I'm a little ambivalent. It wasn't a bad book at all, but it still disappointed me. Overly glowing reviews sometimes hurt more than anything else.