I absolutely loved The View On the Way Down by the author so was thrilled to get the opportunity to read I'm Sorry You Feel That Way.
It's a novel about siblings Michael, Alice and Hanna and their dysfunctional parents. Their mother Celia had her own difficult childhood and the impact of this reverberates down the generations.
Wait writes so beautifully and I was completely immersed in the lives of Alice and Hanna particularly. The characterisation is strong and so believable and Wait draws you into the relationships between the siblings and their mother. Celia is a monstrous figure but portrayed with real understanding, so the reader gets a real sense of how she became this way. The portrayal of mental health issues is done with real sensitivity. The writing just flew off the page and there's a dark humour underlying it.
An immersive read and I feel bereft now I've finished it.
It was almost a 5 star read but I found the party scene unnecessary, and it didn't flow or fit in with the structure of the novel for me.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.
4.5 stars rounded up.

A gem of a book which made me smile, laugh and cry. I didn't want it to end.

So relatable and such great characters. I loved following the relationships within this dysfunctional family as they navigate life and all the challenges it brings. The difficulty is interwoven with comedy and each chapter unravels the family’s history and what has led them to their current reality.

Definitely want to read more by Wait! Sequel please!

Apologies, I got locked out my account and have only just got back in so it would be completely unfair of me to try and review a title archived months ago.. It was also archive back in July so I am unable to review.

Thanks to the publisher and my apologies I was unable to read/review this in time,

A well-written novel about a dysfunctional family and the intricacies of the relationship between mother and children, inter-sibling relationships, and the effect a fractured childhood and adolescence can have on us as adults.

I’m Sorry You Feel That Way by Rebecca Wait is a novel about family dynamics and relationships from different perspectives.

The depth of the characters and their interactions makes this book so believable and realistic. The story line itself comes second to the characters but this feels natural in a way that family life and problems so often build and develop over time without any defined catalyst. A very well written and reflective book

If you feel you are 'over' the contemporary novels about the sad millennial generation then this will restore your confidence in the genre.

It's a very character driven novel about a dysfunctional modern family. Each family member is given a voice and strong presence in the book that as a reader you feel part of the whole family set up , every character is so well developed (hence the length of the book ). The main focus is the subject matter of mental illness within a family and the effects this has on everyone .. It is handled so well and i know many people will be able to relate to this and how such illnesses can impact the whole family.

The writing is witty and sharp, funny yet also sad and it is all so relevant.

Cannot wait to read more from Rebecca!

Such a great novel about relationships. Enjoyed the dysfunctional family element and this piece of work just felt so real

Told from multiple viewpoints this story gave me the fear - as a mother to an 18 month old, reading Celia's parts (the mother) and her relationship with her three children made me feel so strongly about not ending up parenting my child the same way she does. An interesting read about the family dynamics and impact of mental health on the relationships I thought it was very well written. I felt the party scene with the ferret was completely unnecessary and seemed to add some slapstick comedy that was not required and also not very funny (but that's just me).

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus Books for the opportunity to read and review this.

Told from multiple points of view, follows the dysfunctional life of Celia and her 3 children, Michael, Alice and Hanna.

Clair is very serious and has no qualms about manipulating situations to suit her and manipulating relationships (of what friends she did have, husband and her children to suit her needs and situations), but she also has very little to no friends. Michael is shown to be arrogant, and Hanna and Alice are twins (maybe fraternal twins?), who have a strained relationship,

This was a very interesting read, as this book explores how the family tries to repair the fractured relationship they have, which mostly tends to backfire in their face, from Alice trying to be the peacekeeper who doesn't seem to show it in the right way, Michael being arrogant but is also disapproving of the choices made by his sisters, Hanna being her free-spirited/wild self, and Clair being her controlling ways, who also likes to think she knows everything and what is best, varying from wanting her children to still live at home with her and from deciding that instead of her daughter being depressed has a completely diagnoses and indirectly informing everyone around her that said daughter suffers from said diagnoses without correcting them.

This is a definite eye-opener, showing that families are basically victims of their own upbringing and how much it can impact a person, and how it can ultimately affect the relationships of those around them.

A really engaging tale of family dynamics! There’s a lot to like about this one - several amusingly expressed repeated styles of interactions and patterns of behaviour; especially between Celia and her children! I also liked the way that you were led to thinking a character was really obnoxious then found out significant events or influences from that character’s childhood that may have shared their behaviour and inclines you more to sympathy. The absolute fly by far best thing about this book is a hilarious extended farce involving a party and a ferret. I was really laughing!!
I was not convinced by the premise for the 4 year no contact that was set up from the start between Hanna and her family and had been expecting more. There was also quite a lot of “Alice says, Hanna says, says Celia” etc and I sometimes longed for more variety in expression during dialogue.
However, this really was an engaging and enjoyable read; at times really moving.
Hanna and Alice are twins who do not have a close relationship and are not at all alike. They have an older brother,Michael, who seems pretty pompous and arrogant when you first meet him in the book. Their mother, Celia, has her own stuff going on and serious control and manipulation issues with her children (& friends and husband!) She reminded me of the older teacher character in Zoe Heller’s Notes on a scandal. Hanna has always been seen as the wild sister whilst Alice is dependable and anxious. A good chunk of the story stems from mental illness and how that impacts identity and relationships.

Definitely worth a read! 3.5 stars from me. Thank you to Netgalley and Quercas publishing for the E-ARC.

This book revolves around a family, where the needy mother appears to have trapped her husband into marriage and consequently he then leaves her after their children have been born.

This sounded great, the description was right up my street but in reality this wasn’t for me. I found it long, long winded and I kept waiting for something big to happen but it never came.

An emotional rollercoaster of a book about the trials and tribulations of being in a troubled family. This was written with such emotion, and I enjoyed it quite a bit

I loved 'I'm Sorry You feel that Way'. A clever and arch tragi-comedy with instantly memorable characters and some hilarious set pieces including an unusual funeral at the novel's beginning. Rebecca deftly weaves hilarity with the quiet tragedy of family dysfunction, inherited mental illness and how hard it is to truly connect.. I recommend it highly.

Alice, Hanna and Michael. Siblings in a dysfunctional family. As adults can they put their relationship right?

"I'm sorry you feel that way" met all expectations. Dysfunctional family, difficult relationships, hard hitting dialogue, mental illness and quirky characters. I had a hard time with some of the characters. I wanted to shake them and give them a good talking to, but I guess that's what made it a good novel. All main characters have solid motifs and backstories (which is really important for me). Some of the situations were awfully relatable, although Celia, Hanna and Alice were portrayed in quite an extreme way.
I really enjoyed the ending too and I'll certainly check out future works from this author.

This would make a really good book club pick. Lots to discuss.

Thank you Netgalley and Quercus for providing me with an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I selected this book partly because of the cover, but also because I enjoy dysfunctional family stories & this seemed to fit with the ‘sad girl’ novels that are so popular right now.

Unfortunately, this was not a dysfunctional family story that hit with me. There was very little to redeem of the characters and I spent most of the read feeling glad that I didn’t know these people in real life! I enjoyed the story telling - the author is certainly a talented writer - and there were a few quirks & surprising twists to the tale to enjoy, but overall this wasn’t the book for me. I do however, recommend that other readers who enjoy dysfunctional family stories try this out as it might just be the book for them.

This was pretty interesting and kept me wanting more but I don't think it was top of my list so far this month, overall it was just OK.

Highly original and very funny. I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would and would highly recommend it, especially for a holiday. Every sentence had something to offer.

I loved this in the way I loved Sorrow & Bliss - an intricate portrait of a dysfunctional family that had me in tears more than once. Sharply observed, funny and devastating all at once. This will definitely be up there when it comes to books of 2022.