Rating:

“Fate’s the boss. And there are no teasers. All we can do is wait and see what happens.”

Author: Sophie Kinsella

Eve is a shopaholic, subject to the siren song of THE PERFECT dress. Her world is bright and happy, filled with a loving husband, tolerant of her maxed-out credit cards and impulse purchases, and her two children. Eve’s own love of shopping has even led her to write best-selling novels, finally giving her a chance to wear that perfect dress that inspired her to throw away her current novel and write what she knows: love, life, and shopping. Life couldn’t possibly get any better. She is blessed. She is lucky. She is happy.

That is, of course, the moment when she loses everything. She wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. It is up to her husband to tell her the news: she is recovering from an operation. They removed a large, malignant tumor from her brain. She is, however, not cured. She cannot be cured. Her time is limited.

From here, she must re-learn everything: how to walk, how to talk, and how to remember. She doesn’t know who her children are. She can’t remember her own routines. She forgets her own husband. And she is frustrated with her body that will no longer do what she tells it. It’s a long journey back to a semblance of “normal,” and all along the diagnosis hovers. This is a respite before death, after all, and her “happily ever after” life has transformed into a nightmare.

If you’re thinking: this doesn’t sound like Sophie Kinsella’s usual chick-lit romance/comedy, you’re right. If you’re also thinking: huh, Eve sounds a lot like the author herself and like the inspiration for Becca in the Shopaholic series, you’re also right. This work still has Kinsella’s trademark style: her resilient cheerfulness and comedic turn, but it is ultimately heartbreaking and vignetted. This isn’t her normal story, because this story is Kinsella’s own real-life experience, worked out through a fictional character. I didn’t know this going into the story, expecting the usual fair (I just automatically buy anything by Kinsella.) I rapidly went from curious (hey . . . this sounds a lot like Kinsella’s own story) to shocked, upset, and teary when Eve’s happy life transformed into a hellscape of worst-case scenarios.

Image by Bianca Van Dijk from Pixabay

What Does It Feel Like stays with you. Kinsella’s way of capturing her characters and making us laugh along with them and empathize with their embarrassment and aspirations is even stronger when she describes this very personal tragedy. It’s an affecting story, with a tinge of comedy that quickly dissipates into a bigger concept. What would you do, what could you do?

For Kinsella to share something so intimate, so heartrending, is an honor to her readers, and hopefully this act enabled her to work out emotions and fears in writing. The way she talks about Eve coming to terms with her diagnosis and, perhaps even worse, having to share the news of what it means with her children, is heart wrenching and unforgettable. In the end, Eve and Kinsella choose to see the bright side, to live and love in the moment, to see the blessings still.

I admit, I wanted to hear Kinsella talk about what she/Eve thought happened after death. It always seems so strange to me when people in these circumstances don’t confront the bigger question, but perhaps Kinsella had decided that she shared enough.

The ending resonates with a call for hopefulness and joy, but the agony is still there, the sadness lingering after the last page. Researching What Does It Feel Like and discovering that this is Kinsella’s own true story was devastating. My prayers remain with her and my heart aches for her family.

I recommend this book for fans, but also for people experiencing challenging life/medical circumstances, looking for an insider’s rendition of what you do when the worst happens and how you survive to come out the other side and find joy again.

 

– Frances Carden

Follow my reviews on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/xombie_mistress

Follow my reviews on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/FrancesReviews

Frances Carden
Latest posts by Frances Carden (see all)