‘So Sad Today is desperately honest — Melissa Broder lays herself bare but she does so with strength, savvy, and style. Sad and uncomfortable and its own kind of gorgeous. Reveals so much about what it is to live in this world, right now.’
Roxane Gay, New York Times bestselling author of Bad Feminist
‘An utterly bewitching book and … a thrillingly tangible account of what it is to be a human being, right here, right now. I loved it. So many staggering — and difficult — observations. So many beautiful turns of phrase. There aren't many writers who can stare into the abyss and report back with humour, panache, and a rich, gutsy spirit. Melissa Broder can. It's a book I'm going to read again, and talk about, and pass on.’
Emma Jane Unsworth, author of Animals
‘If symptoms could write, they would sound a lot like Melissa Broder’s So Sad Today. Broder's angst is existential and pathological and filled with as many holes as there are things to fill it with. An insight into the perverse persistence of hope and humanity, even in the age of clickbait and online individualism.’
Dr Nina Power, the author of One-Dimensional Woman
‘What a decadent, hilarious, important, devastating book this is. So Sad Today will explode on impact in your mind.’
Jami Attenberg, New York Times bestselling author of The Middlesteins and Saint Mazie
‘With irreverence and wit, Melissa Broder confronts the most hidden and grotesque parts of herself. Reading her, it seems that we're all fucked-up, but it's because of this that we connect with each other, fall in love, find contentment, and maybe even a little happiness.’
Sarah Gerard, author of Binary Star
‘Extravagantly intimate … There’s a bleak beauty in the way Broder articulates her lowest moments.’
Bookforum
'Melissa Broder: as raw as an open vein.'
Molly Crabapple, author of Drawing Blood
‘From the moment I started this book, I couldn’t put it down — Melissa Broder GETS IT. This book takes the side effects of mental illness and makes them funny ... Anyone that is battling with depression, anxiety, existential dread/crises, or just anyone who has a brain should read this book.’
Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast
‘Irreverent, ballsy, impossible to put down. With courage and humour, Broder shows us that the underbelly of self-awareness is the existential sads.’
Courtney Maum, author of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You
‘Broder embarks on an earnest, sophisticated inquiry into the roots and expressions of her own sadness ... [Her] deeply confessional writing brings disarming humour and self-scrutiny to secrets that include embarrassing sexual fantasies and her habit of eating a ‘whole pint of diet ice cream with six packets of Equal poured into it’ ... [The] central insight is clear: it is okay to be sad, and our problems can’t be reduced to a single diagnosis.’
Publishers Weekly
‘Broder fully embraces the peaks and valleys of her emotional landscape … Vividly rendered and outspokenly delivered … Compulsively readable.’
Kirkus
‘At once devastating and delightful, this deeply personal collection of essays is as raw as it is funny.’
Cosmopolitan US
‘Broder’s essays often left me with a sharp sense of feminine recognition. I would read her accounts of heartbreak, sexual dissatisfaction, and alienation and think, Same…’
NewYorker.com
‘Broder writes with the kind of honesty that can make you cringe and laugh, and then catch your breath, brought up short by a kind of existential dread.’
Salon.com
‘Her writing…feels like a friend reaching out and saying “Hey, me too.”’
I-D
‘…Melissa Broder is undoubtedly one of the best essay stylists at work today…Broder’s writing is funny and sober, her honesty uncomfortable and comforting, and reading her book is just like getting a text from your best friend...It’s easy enough to say that So Sad Today is brutally honest, but there’s a real kindness to Broder’s honesty, too, the intimacy with which it beckons a reader’s shy and tender heart. In Broder’s company, we can dare to tremble at our own depths.’
Ploughshares
‘Her poignant (and at times profane) writing remains a wonderful antidote to a constant stream of other people’s touted successes, delivered with generosity and without any judgment. This book is full of dirty secrets, all of which are transformed into something healing when they reach the light of day…The resulting collection is both gross and gorgeous, infused with explicit sexuality (content warning) and visceral ugliness, and often offers a perfect union of the two.’
The Globe and Mail
‘So Sad Today is astonishingly refreshing.’
Rookie
‘A rollercoaster ride … Unsettling but compelling.’
The Jewish Chronicle
‘[F]unny-sad.’
The Herald
‘Brilliant.’
Charlotte Cripps, Independent
