I finished I’m Sorry You Feel That Way two days ago and am left with two distinct thoughts.
I wish it wasn’t over
I wish I had read it with someone

I’m Sorry You Feel That Way is a detailed look into the complicated dynamics between siblings Hannah and Alice, and their parents. As we journey with them from childhood to adulthood, we learn of the role and impact of both childhood trauma and mental illness on familial relationships.

The characters are very well written and Wait has done a careful job in crafting flawed adult characters that have been shaped so very clearly by the way they were treated as children by their calculating and manipulative mother. Whether you are a reader who craves a satisfying plot line or one who appreciates acute characterization, there will be something in this fine work of art for you.

Sad, moving and humorous, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way has filled the Sorrow and Bliss shaped hole in my heart but now I’m just left here feeling crap about the fact that I’ve finished it and that I didn’t buddy read this with anyone because honestly, this book has a lot of potential for some excellent conversations.

An endearing book covering issues and aspects of mental health and the impact within a family. It does jump about a bit, especially at the beginning when I had to check I wasn't reading a collection of short stories. Interesting, slightly eccentric characters who developed along the way but not completely unrecognisable. Interesting family dynamics. Also there were some really quite hilarious passages, particularly that of a party which developed into a good old fashioned farce. Quite a quirky but enjoyable read.

I absolutely loved this book. I’m even struggling to come up with a review, because it’s one of those times where literature just blows you away. I’ve met so many people like the characters in this novel, I’ve been in similar situations and I never read something that encapsulated my experiences with people in a fictional setting like this before. I feel like I actually now Alice, Celia and Hannah, they feel so real, it’s a brilliant example of character writing. I really hope a lot of people read this novel and meet these very flawed characters and experience the interesting structure. I love the style of narration where we are being told the story by an all-knowing entity, where past, present and future all seem to happen at once, much like sometimes real life does. I can’t recommend it enough. Thank you so much to NetGalley for providing me with this arc, I’m so thrilled that I got to read it before publishing date.

I often struggle with books about mothers, sisters and daughter because of my own personal; relationships, so when one comes along that is realistic, honest and raw like this, it is lie therapy for me. Estrangement and dysfunction are key in this book, with a dusting of humour, sarcasm and wit for good measure (enjoy the Shakespeare at the wake!). Rebecca Wait walks you through the emotional journey of each character; you are with them at every step of the way.

Alice, Hanna and Michael. Michael is the favourite, and disapproves of Alice and Hanna’s life choices. Their mother, Celia, had clear favourites and made no attempt raise them as siblings, more like enemies or acquaintances. Their father was not really there, even before he left. Then there is the event that really made it all worse. It is the death of Aunty Kay that brings them in proximity to one another, and is the catalyst for Alice and Hanna specifically to deal with their mother. Each chapter follows a different character; a different perspective. Each chapter gives a little more to what is really happening and what it is all coming to. There are no distinct agendas or leanings towards one point of view over another, and this really does help to understand perspective. How twin sisters could be so different. How and why their brother felt so important and superior. Why Celia, their mother was the way she was. And Aunty Kay, oh Aunty Kay. The way in which mental health and wellbeing was canvassed and portrayed in this book was touching, sensitive and done with love. We are exposed to how mental illness affects a range of characters, and we see it through their eyes over time.

The book’s title is apt: empathy and sincerity can be hard to give and receive. The movement between time and characters does not deflect from the witty and bittersweet emotion that so many dysfunctional families experience. Such a great character driven book, grab yourself a copy of this book!

This novel focuses on relationships and how your frame of mind is on the challenges within families which are of course relatable to everyone. However it can be annoying to read based on their personalities. Although I did enjoy the writing style.

Rebecca Wait's second novel is a really carefully crafted and thought provoking story all about family dynamics - seen, unseen, assumed. It goes backwards in time and forwards to the present moment.

There's non-identical twins, Hanna and Alice, and their brother Michael. Michael is emotionally evasive, Hanna is a runaway and rebellious girl who faces bad mental health in her late teens. Alice is seen as 'noble' within her family unit. Both sisters find it hard to make friends at school all the way through to university. They miss the normal social cues.

Their mother Celia is a real conundrum. She's petty, needy, emotionally retarded, sad and feels 'abandoned' and ultimately 'unloved and unlovely'. She is one of those parents who 'think their children will be theirs forever'. There's a purely nasty streak to Celia - she breaks up her friend Anne's engagement to Paul, stealing him off her randomly when she goes to help him with ring shopping.

Paul is a pretty pathetic and absent father and husband to them all. He's blinkered by his mediocre toy selling job and leaves his family for another woman, making them fend for themselves in deeper and darker ways emotionally.

We also span back to Celia's childhood with her peculiar sister, Katy, who is later diagnosed as schizophrenic. There seems to be a theme of denial running through their parents, which Celia takes forward to her adulthood and parenting.

There are some really comical moments in the book which made me laugh out loud. Watch out for the pain au raisin debacle in the cafe, the ferret at the party and even Paul's accidental death (to a certain point).

Alice witnesses something which has devastating consequences on Hanna's life and leaves her in a difficult position as to how to respond. The scene between the sisters when Alice updates Hanna is brilliantly shocking in the betrayal, anger and hurt felt by Hanna.

The writing style is understated, not overdone and brilliantly observational. It's quietly strong.. And there are glimmers of tenderness and normality between Celia and her children. One instance is in the hospital at the end of the story, where Celia and her daughters reminisce about childhood food. There's also a sense of reconciliation and love (to a certain degree) between them.

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is a deeply interesting exploration of family dynamics - what behaviour is inherited from one generation to the next and makes you ask why exactly? People can buck bad habits if they are aware and if they wish. Some of these characters just don't have that in them - they and those around them pay high emotional prices along the way.

Perfectly written modern family drama, darkly humorous. The writing presented the motivations and emotions behind the most unlikable characters and I sped through this in a few days.

Wow - this book blew me away! With a focus on family relationships and mental health, I’m Sorry You Feel That Way is moving and important, but with a levity that perfectly balances the darkness.

The narrator is brilliant rendered; realistic and relatable, giving us the perfect window into what unfolds in these pages. The emotions and experiences here are brilliantly observed, floating deep emotional truths to the surface of the narrative, even while maintaining humour and brightness. This is a book that tackles some of the darkest experiences and corners of family life, but does so meaningfully and productively, allowing readers insight into their own experiences as well as the characters.

Perfect for fans of Sorrow and Bliss and The Exhibitionist, I hope this book earns as much hype as they have: it is richly deserved.

Celiac’s approach to friends is to suffocate them with affection and to expect total loyalty back. But when she tries to do the same to her children it doesn’t quite work out. Alice unhappily toes the line but Hannah breaks away. Their older brother Michael is overwhelmed by his overdramatic wife but he still manages to disapprove of the choices his sisters make.

A well written tale of the pull of a dysfunctional family and how each member tries to establish a life on a more stable footing. We can see how each family member is trapped by what has happened before. The characters are both believable and frustrating.Celiac’s grasp is continuous and overwhelming but her children need to break away and sustain a relationship with each other and start to behave as independent adults.

I read about halfway through this book and I was just not feeling it... I tried to finish it about ten times, but I just could not keep going. The beginning was good and interesting, but the plot and the protagonists start to get a bit bland as the book goes on...

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way perplexed me somewhat in its disjointed way as it jumped around between characters, timeframes and flashbacks.

The story revolves around a family, a divide-and-rule mother who appears to have trapped her husband into marriage and consequently he leaves her after their children have been born; disapproving son Michael and twins Hanna and Alice who are very different in character: Alice, the girl who always likes to please, and Hanna, who is difficult from the beginning, The twins' relationship is not a close one no matter how hard Alice tries to maintain it and soon it becomes obvious that there are mental health issues at play.

Normally I would have been empathetic but somehow none of the characters engaged me at all. I enjoy stories about dysfunctional families but this one just didn't do much for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Quercus for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is a smart and absorbing family drama. It took me a while to warm to it - the characters are all pretty unlikeable in their own ways - but that is really the point. Wait has written them with enough nuance and humour that you grow to find them engaging and, by the end, actively sympathetic.

It's really satisfying to read a story that is so well-structured: although it's constantly shifting between time periods and family members, it always feels as if it is moving towards a logical conclusion. The ending is well-weighted, and strikes just the right note.

Intelligent and bittersweet, I'm Sorry You Feel That Way is a perfectly-formed dysfunctional family novel.

An interesting novel, though without a lot of the intrigue up I was expecting. This was more character driven than hinged around the mystery of the missing sister. Enjoyable but not completely addictive and a bit forgettable.

A comedy or a story that's so true to life it's an out and out tragedy? A realistic depiction of modern family life, the tensions, the disappointments, the breakings apart and the so-much wanted comings together.

I adored reading Rebecca’s previous book “Our Fathers”; it was not an easy topic but it was masterful in terms of her writing and storytelling ability.

I instantly disliked Michael, and wasn’t particularly keen on Hanna or their mum. Hanna did grow on me the bigger her role became, but I still found her a bit prickly. I did like Alice, she was a bit of a wet weekend at times, and I wanted her to stand up for herself more often, but she was a gentle characters.

At first I thought there were two separate stories going on, but they’re not, it’s more of a crossover of time periods and flashbacks, and the interweaving of the main characters’ stories. I thought this was a very clever way of showing us their backstories without it being clunky to follow.

I wouldn’t necessarily compare this to “Our Fathers” - for me, that was definitely more harrowing, more theatrical, whereas this one is definitely more relatable.

There’s a subtopic of mental health and mental illness running through it and I think that was handled well within the context of the story. Sometimes when mental health is explored by and outsider narrator, it can feel a bit glamorised and over the top, but by having it from the POV of several characters, including the ones suffering, gives us a range of opinions on it and makes it a more rounded theme.

I dislike books that simply tell the reader what’s happening instead of show us. This definitely shows you what’s happening. It takes your hand on page one and takes you on a journey showing you these characters’ complicated lives.

It’s written in third person and you don’t get specific point of views in the conventional sense (I.e. you don’t get a chapter that’s titled ALICE when it’s her turn to talk), but you do get a feel for everyone which allows you to develop your own views on them without being led by the other characters’ agendas.

Rebecca doesn’t hold back from the feelings in this book. Everything is dialled up and so passionate, whether they’re finding something funny, they’re happy or sad, stressed or angry. It is properly full on and thoughtful.

Her character building is exceptional. There’s a number of authors for whom character development is their forte - in my opinion that includes the likes of Jane Austen and Maggie O’Farrell - and for me, Rebecca Wait is up there on that list.

I won’t tell you ending but it a really beautiful scene, it’s like it comes full circle and you can breathe a sigh of relief for them.

I adored this book. It was utterly compelling and a delight to race through. Smartly observed, heartbreaking and funny by turns, it's a deftly written family drama that's insightful and sharp. A real pleasure.

To start a novel with a funeral was a bit off-putting, but once I had recovered I was surprised to actually find myself enjoying this book. It was fairly easy to relate to the two polar-opposite twins and at times feel empathy for each in their own predicament. This novel is not so much about a story, but an opportunity to understand and reflect on the meaning of life. The twins’ have very different experiences, a mother who always seems to know best, and for the most part aren’t particularly good friends. Their relationship is often stretched to breaking point but with age and maturity comes a newfound respect and love for each other.

I would have liked to see the timeline under the new chapter headings, which would make for easier reading. It is not until chapter 15 that this is introduced.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers Quercus Books, for this advance copy.

I found this a little disjointed and hard to keep track of. It was, however, funny, moving and relatable, and a good portrait of a dysfunctional family.

'I'm Sorry You Feel That Way' is a sad, funny and moving novel that charts the relationships between siblings and their parents from childhood to adulthood, powerfully exploring themes including loneliness and mental illness along the way.

The novel is written in close third-person perspective with each chapter following a different character's perspective at a different point in time, beginning at a family funeral where we learn that adult twin sisters Alice (timid and anxious) and Hanna (outgoing and volatile) are seeing each other for the first time in four years. We also get to know their self-important brother Michael, their needy mother Celia and their troubled aunt Katy. We see various parallels between the generations: both Hanna and Katy experience mental illness, while Alice and Celia both find it difficult to form relationships with others - but there are also differences in how the two pairs of sisters respond to these challenges.

Rebecca Waits' use of alternating perspectives enables her to make all the characters seem fully realised and sympathetic. Much of the novel is painfully sad because of the loneliness so many of the characters feel, but it is also full of humour - from the funeral wake in the opening chapter where twenty-four bottles of wine have been provided for twelve mourners with predictable consequences, to a house party which descends into farce due to a ferret in the loose. Hanna is often a particularly entertaining character - reminiscent of Martha in 'Sorrow and Bliss' in her ability to find humour in the darkest of situations. I also found Alice one of the most lovable and sympathetic characters in any novel I have read due to her unfailing kindness born of a phobia of any kind of conflict, a kindness which often infuriates those around her.

What makes this novel so moving is its portrayal of a family which is estranged and dysfunctional but nonetheless held together by unbreakable bonds. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC of this beautiful novel to review.

Growing up for Hannah and Alice is a trial. Sinner and saint. For their mother bringing up children is a divide and conquer approach. Their fathers approach is to be absent. Their older brother Michael’s disapproval is a force to be reckoned with.
I found this book hard going to read as it didn’t keep my attention very easily. It wasn’t a bad book but drawn out in places which didn’t help me with reading it.
Thank you to netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review