What Does It Feel Like? by Sophie Kinsella on October 8, 2024
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Literary, Fiction / Women
Pages: 144
Format: Audiobook
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Eve is a successful novelist who wakes up one day in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. Her husband, never far from her side, explains that she has had an operation to remove the large, malignant tumor growing in her brain. As Eve learns to walk, talk, and write again, and as she wrestles with her diagnosis, and how and when to explain it to her beloved children, she begins to recall what’s most important to her: long walks with her husband’s hand clasped firmly around her own, family game nights, and always buying that dress when she sees it.
This is a hard review to write because the book and the story are so raw, real and personal. I wasn’t aware that Kinsella was ill until this book came out. She deserves a medal for her strength and bravery and the fact that she kept her sense of humor. I love that about the book as well, both Sophie and Eve never lose their positive outlook on life…so if you’re expecting a pity party or a woe-is-me story you won’t find it here. Eve (and Sophie) have a wonderful support network including a loving husband. I love the structure of the book as well, each chapter is a little antidote on going through a health crisis, it includes: telling family, all of those plastic chairs in waiting rooms and how brutal physical therapy can be.
I gave this novella four stars. I’m so thankful Kinsella shared her story it really helped me see it from the ill person’s perspective. I really admire her resilience, I applaud you, Sophie Kinsella. This book is very poignant relatable and believable. It was a hard read but a really great one too.