The Comfort Book by Matt Haig

Book review by Eliana

The Comfort Book is all about the beauty of being broken. It puts an emphasis on mental health, self-acceptance and all things encircling self-help. 

Matt Haig does a remarkable job of executing the normalization of not being perfect and excepting imperfections, he goes even as far as talking about his battles with depression, self-deprecation and suicidal thoughts in the past. Throughout my time reading this non-fictional book, I analyzed as well how striking the format of this book is.

Matt chose to write the book less like a standard mental health book, but more as a book of constant declarations and small glimpses of his and or others’ pasts and narratives in history. 

He wrote the book with such ease, you could connect to nearly everything that was in the book one way or another. There are several hearts-to-heart moments where it will have you altering your outlook on your life and the world around you.

Now for my take and opinion on this book. For starters, I have nothing negative to say about it, the format as I mentioned was so well done and different from anything I’ve seen. The book isn’t very long with only 250 pages, which is great if you want a quick and well-written read. From my own life experiences, I most definitely wish I had found this book sooner because I remember how badly I needed these types of words of encouragement to remind me that every moment of sadness, happiness and confusion I feel in my heart, mind and soul is for a reason.

One thing that I found fascinating about this read was the fact that Matt Haig doesn’t even have a background in mental health such as a bachelor’s degree of any sort, he uses his personal experiences to allow the book to have a more relatable touch to it.

I love how recent this book is as well because you can tell he was living and experiencing the same things as us all during the pandemic. His choice of releasing the book was also very practical considering everyone was in their homes, unable to live the life we all once lived. Matt speaking about things such as comfortability, awareness and a positive mindset was something that everyone needed during this time of hardship and stress.

The Comfort book, I could describe as a “personal best friend that always tells you the right things, the hard truth and reminds you of your worth”. The book touches on many difficulties and needs we have in life and one way or another I felt touched by Matt Haig’s words.

I most unquestionably would recommend this book to every and anyone, whether you’re going through something or just need more words of encouragement.