Tori Pearmain

The layers of discussion about mental illness in I’m Sorry You Feel That Way make for a compelling read that is great for starting to discussions. I read this for a book club and had the opportunity to watch a talk with the author. Rebecca Wait made the point that there are a bunch of mental illnesses that don’t seem to get anywhere near the spotlight in mental health awareness weeks and initiatives and she wanted to open up conversations around them. That aim was definitely achieved.

We follow a dysfunctional family in this multi-perspective saga. There is anxious-to-please Alice, seemingly carefree Hanna, aggravatingly obtuse Michael, and their mother, Celia, who takes a controlling approach to her love of her children. The novel shifts across time fluidly giving us an insight into what made Celia the way she is and how each of the characters is dealing with their own struggles.

This is a family that has conversations but none of them are about what really matters. Wait breaks up the frustration of seeing characters miscommunicate again and again by adding moments of everyday comedy and a party scene worthy of a sketch show. There are heavy moments in the book – a note that this book depicts what it is like to be sectioned, so check content warnings on Storygraph if this is a trigger for you – but we see each character at various points in their life and each of them feels well-rounded.

If you like generational sagas or dysfunctional families in your books, you’re bound to like this one. Even if that isn’t the sort of book you normally read, once you get into I’m Sorry You Feel That Way, the story is pretty pacey, so if you’re intrigued by the themes, it’s worth giving it a try.