Sorrow and Bliss, Meg Mason
Sorrow and Bliss, shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction, portrays mental illness and the damage it does not only to those who suffer from it, but also to those who love them, if left untreated and/or undealt with. Starting with the protagonist’s memories from childhood and continuing until her present-day observations, the reader watches as the protagonist stumbles through her life, hurting those around her and herself until comes to the realization that she needs help. A story of how grace and compassion can always be found, and through them forgiveness as well, Sorrow and Bliss leaves the reader feeling optimistic, as though anything is possible, even at the most broken and unredeemable of times.
Kindred, Octavia E. Butler
I know, I know, I can’t believe I didn’t read my first Octavia E. Butler novel until I was 35 either! At least it is rectified now. Kindred follows Dana, a Black woman living in L.A. in the 1970s, as she is transported back to Maryland in 1815 to save the life of a boy, Rufus, who she does not know over and over again. She quickly learns how to survive and adapt in those harshest of times, each time yearning to get back to her own time but not knowing exactly how to do so. And the most important question of all, who is this boy, and why are they connected? The novel deals with themes of slavery and kinship through the contemporary eyes of her protagonist, who eventually comes to understand who Rufus is to her if not anything else about the situation. What else can one say about Butler’s work, except that it remains as significant today as it was the day she wrote it, and of course it is imperative to read it.