As a person living with MS (and not realising that this is the condition that Abi Morgan's husband has), I was a little taken aback to start. This is no reflection on her - just something that I wasn't expecting so I feel it's important that others know it's about someone with MS as that might be triggering for them.

That said, the book is less about his MS and more about the side effects of a trial drug he was on for his MS that left him brain damaged in an induced coma. When he came around, he recognised everyone. Except for Abi. He was convinced she was some kind of imposter.

If there's one thing that I learned reading this memoir is that Abi Morgan is one hell of a resilient woman. She is truly remarkable. All in all I enjoyed this book. It's well written. It's meanders. It feels like a memoir in that it's quite reflective and dream like. There's no logical chronology to it and it seems to skip about in time and between events. Not unlike the disjointedness of a dream. But for me that wasn't problematic once I'd adapted to her style within the first few pages. I should imagine the formatting on a physical copy will be better than Kindle and make more sense too.

Enjoyed is the wrong way to describe this book. How can you enjoy hearing of the trauma that Abi and her family have been through? But I completely respect her and this book that she's written.

Abi Morgan is a very talented writer and this is an extraordinary story. I didn’t personally enjoy the style - staccato sentences with lots of repetition, change of perspective midway through sections and at times lists rather than true paragraphs. However, it does go some way to achieve the intended effect of putting the reader right in the middle of Morgan’s situation. There’s a lot left unanswered at the end of this memoir (and it probably should be, I’m being nosy) but it’s an incredible tale of devotion and resilience. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

This is Not a Pity Memoir by Abi Morgan and in her own words:-there is no such thing as a pity memoir. There are just words on pages and if they mean something to someone then they are worth saying.
I felt that Abi Morgan had an awful lot to say which had a value, meaning and a purpose and will resonate with many of her readers. They did with me.
Highly recommended for Not Being a Pity Memoir!

I have just finished the final page of this extremely thought-provoking and moving book by Abi Morgan and I just think it’s an incredibly brilliant piece of writing. I was keen to read it as I loved the movie ‘Shame’ and the TV show ‘The Split.’ I did not know what this book was about in advance but I knew I enjoyed seeing Abi Morgan’s writing being brought to life.

This book takes us through an incredibly tough few years for author and her family. Her writing is so honest and raw, you feel you are privy to her innermost thoughts at the toughest of times. What came through in this book is the strength and resilience of those at the heart of this story and the love and support of family and friends. Thank you to the author for sharing her moving story, it’s not one I will forget.

This is Not a Pity Memoir is screenwriter Abi Morgan's moving memoir about the trauma of her husband Jake's illness and the experience of her own health challenges at the same time. It is a very open and honest memoir and Abi does not hold back from conveying the events and her feelings. I found it a challenging read at the beginning as it's written in an almost stream of consciousness style that I found too intense and fast paced. However this style of writing does serve to draw the reader into Abi's experience and I did get used to it and the style gradually becomes calmer. I have mixed feelings about this memoir and I think this is partly because I found it difficult to connect with the writer and her life.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this digital ARC.

This was a compelling and moving book. Initially I found the writing style irritating, but after a while I was so drawn into the story that this didn't seem to matter. It's a great reminder that someone who seems to have everything can also have unimaginable stress and grief, but yet still feel that they have everything that matters.

Whilst I loved the sound of this memoir there was something about the writing style that I just really struggled with and sadly I had to DNF. It's such a shame for me because I really wanted to read it.

Abi Morgan has written a moving honest at times heartbreaking at times hilarious memoir of her life partners devastating illness.As the opening pages reveal Abi was living her normal daily life picking up Sushi pills for Jakes Ms as she comes into her room she discovers him collapsed o the bathroom flor and their lives will never be the same,Abi Morgan a screenwriter has the ability to bring her world alive,her wonderful childrenJake and her family& friends who gather around to support and help them.I will be recommending and gifting.#netgalley #johnmurraypress

Abi Morgan is a screenwriter and this memoir is about a traumatic period of time in her life. It’s hard to know what rating to give this. There is a difference between the quality of writing and whether I like it. A book could be incredibly well written but just not be for me and it seems a shame to give a rating to something for that reason. I didn’t dislike this it just felt relentless at times. I have never read anything like this before, the way it is structured and the way the author allows you to re-live the events with them. Maybe this is why I struggled with the mid-section, the writer is exhausted and does a great job at re-laying those feelings. I think Abi Morgan is a great writer. She is incredibly self-aware and there are many moments that have humour but overall the reality of the situation has an overwhelming bleakness.

I received an ARC of, This is Not a Pity Memoir, by Abi Morgan. I did not care for this book. It is a sad story about watching your husband change from the person you married to a patient in a hospital. I just never connected with Abi.

A real one-of-a-kind book, from a talented woman who managed to keep up a career during a period of Year of Magical Thinking-levels of trauma. At first I struggled with two things:

- the stream of consciousness temporal jumping around, intensified by the blurring of paragraphs caused by reading an ARC on a phone
- the ambiguity in how she describes Jacob - at the start of the book, you don't get enough of a sense of why she fell for her partner in the first place.

Both of these things become clear as you read on, and there are plenty of reasons for why her feelings about Jacob might not be straightforward, and why her experience might feel fragmentary. Told with humour and self-awareness, this is an instantly impressive book and one to treasure.

It was a real coincidence that just before I received this ARC I started watching the Split a drama written by Abi Morgan at the time she was going through a terrible traumatic time with her partner in hospital. I couldn't believe that she was working on the tv program and dealing with her partner being put into an induced coma.
At the same time she is diagnosed with breast cancer and has to undergo treatment and surgery.
The story is an amazing tale of human resilience and love for her now husband. She is brutally honest about how she feels when he comes home after his hospital stay and he is essentially a different person having sort of forgotten her. He thinks she is an imposter, as he has a brain injury and of course she is upset and hurt by this but has to rationally deal with it.
She wonders if it would have been better if he had died when he collapsed as he is unable to do much for himself and his personality had changed much. This is such an honest book which makes it hard to read. Slowly her partner starts to have small improvements and glimpses of his old personality come through.
A hopeful book but a difficult read, I hope Abi and family are all doing ok now.

Ok, so I didn't actually know who Abi Morgan was when I started this book - I do now! What drew me to this memoir was her husband's MS. Given my personal interest in the topic I requested an eARC of the book.

Imagine getting your husband back from the brink of death, only for him to not know who you are. Morgan's fractured writing style was a challenge for me to get into, but once you realise what's she been through it suddenly makes sense. This style of writing is the reflection of her mind these past few years.

Heart-breakingly honest, this is a difficult book to review. I flew through the pages but I couldn't say I 'enjoyed' it. It was a tough read for me, but nothing compared to what this family as been through over the past few years. I'm glad I read it and I won't be forgetting this book for a while.

It took me a while to get into the writing style of this as its frantic and at times quite stream of consciousness. I couldnt settle to read it for a while. I soon understood why it was like this as the details develop and could see it was a reflection of the state of mind at the time. Honest. heart breaking and resilient.

What a stunning book! I loved the writing and there were so many moments where it broke my heart. I can't wait to read more by this author.