The reason I’ve given it a harsh 3 stars is that I’m furious that useless piece of shit Stu ended up with a lovely family despite essentially abandoning Abi to raise their child on her own because it was all a bit overwhelming for him. Guess what, Stu, getting pregnant was overwhelming for her too, but she had to become a mother immediately because she had no other choice; she didn’t get to delay parenthood until she felt ready. (Hmm, wonder why this is a sore spot for me?)

But it is a bit of a strange novel. The events in the novel seemed completely unbelievable, especially when Abi returned to London. The story with Stu and his family really didn't add anything to the story; honestly, Stu's decision in the end was just completely out of the blue. Actually, that was the case with all the characters. Completely insufferable until the last few chapters and they all seemed to magically resolve all their issues to live a happy life. Born in New Zealand, writer Meg Mason began her career at the Financial Times in London before switching to The Times to write on lifestyle, parenting and humour. After relocating to Sydney, she began writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, Russh, the British Medical Journal, Cosmopolitan and GQ. She now writes regular features and the popular ‘Mum vs. World’ column for Sunday magazine. She lives in Sydney with her husband and two daughters. What do you do, when you find the perfect family, and it's not yours? A charming, funny and irresistible novel about families, friendship and tiny little white lies. Abi is young and a new mother in a city where she knows no one. She handles herself brilliantly against a boyfriend who is absent, working out motherhood and befriending an older neighbour woman she sees as a mother figure. Imagine the warmth of Monica McInerney, the excruciating awkwardness of Offspring and the wit of Liane Moriarty, all rolled into one delightful, warm, funny and totally endearing novel about families – the ones we have, and the ones we want – and the stories we tell ourselves about them.Exploring the multifaceted hardships of mental illness and the frustrating inaccuracy of diagnoses, medications, and treatments, SORROW AND BLISS is darkly comic and deeply heartfelt. Much like the narrator of ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE Martha's voice is acerbic, witty, and raw. Fans of Marian Keyes should put this on their to-read lists.” BOOKLIST Like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, to whose work this book will inevitably (but fairly) be compared, Meg Mason has an innate understanding of the comic power of sadness and how humour can be used to mask one’s reality….SORROW AND BLISS shines as a piece of fiction that makes explicit all the joys and afflictions of 21st-century life” BOOKTOPIA

I kept thinking that this book would make a fantastic movie! You Be Mother was hard to put down and I truly didn’t want it to end. An endearing and wonderful read. 💕 After hitting it off, Abi falls pregnant, decides to relocate to Sydney to start a family where Jude would go to school and provide for her and the baby. Nothing could prepare Abi for the loneliness of relocating to a place where she only knows one person. She tries to integrate but it is hard, that is until she meets her next door neighbor Phil. Phil is a widower and all her children lives outside of Sydney. Both women cling to each other… until secrets come to light. SORROW AND BLISS is a brilliantly faceted and extremely funny book about depression that engulfed me in the way I'm always hoping to be to be engulfed by novels. While I was reading it, I was making a list of all the people I wanted to send it to, until I realised that I wanted to send it to everyone I know." ANN PATCHETT Sharp yet humane, andjaw-droppingly funny, this isthe kind of novel you will want to press into the hands of everyone you know. Mason has an extraordinary talent for dialogue and character, and her understanding of how much poignancy a reader can take is profound.A masterclasson family,damage and the bonds of love:as soon as I finishedit, Istarted again.” JESSIE BURTON, author of THE MINIATURIST

Customer reviews

Every character is extremely flawed yet very loveable. There are characters of every age and stage of life. Some have their shit sorted (mostly) and others are clutching at straws and just hanging in there. As we get to know the characters we become invested in many stories and are seeing everyone’s perspectives without an inch of confusion of who is who or what was going on. I did not want this book to end. If I didn’t have to work I have no doubt I would have finished it much sooner. It is an incredibly funny novel, and one that’s enlivened, often, by a madcap energy. Yet it still manages to be sensitive and heartfelt, and to offer a nuanced portrayal of what it means to try to make amends and change, even when that involves ‘start[ing] again from nothing.’” THE GUARDIAN AUSTRALIA

SORROW AND BLISS is a book you’ll want to devour in one sitting. Meg Mason has written an adult coming-of-age novel, told with force, breathlessness and a confessional style that makes you feel as if you’re sharing intimacies with a close friend. Mason’s writing has been compared to Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s for good reason. Martha has a Fleabag-ian wit and obsessive self-reflection, the humour sitting alongside the despair.” THE SATURDAY PAPERMeg Mason writes about the slow bleed of life-long depression with candour, humour and stark precision. SORROW AND BLISS is about what happens when your illness pushes everyone away - leaving you with only the sorest parts of yourself for company. It will, as the title suggests, shatter your heart, before mending it with infinite love. I've never read anything like it and will be pressing it into the hands of every reader I know.” PANDORA SYKES In Meg Mason’s almost eerily accomplished SORROW AND BLISS, the narrator Martha has suffered from mental illness since her teens. Yet, without ever playing down her pain, the result is often disconcertingly funny.” THE SPECTATOR This is one of the best novels about marriage that I have read, and that is a large field…This is also one of the best novels about mental illness I have read…I am adding it to my list of the best novels of 2020, alongside Andrew O’Hagan’s MAYFLIES, Sofie Laguna’s INFINITE SPLENDOURS and Douglas Stuart’s SHUGGIE BAIN, which won the Booker Prize.” THE AUSTRALIAN Mason pulls off something extraordinary in this huge-hearted novel, alchemising an unbearable anguish into something tender and hilarious and redemptive and wise, without ever undermining its gravity or diminishing its pain…It is impossible to read this novel and not be moved. It is also impossible not to laugh out loud.” THE GUARDIAN An in-depth study of character, a storyline that trudges along but does have its (heartwrenching) moments, and a sweet main character that got done dirty by nearly all, especially the Woolnoughs and ESPECIALLY Polly, whom I couldn‘t stand one bit. Phil was also pretty judgemental and I wish Roger (whom I liked) could have stepped up to his wife more in general.