Summary
After undergoing brain surgery to remove a tumour, Eve, a successful writer, doesn’t remember why she is in the hospital. She has to learn to walk again and improve her cognitive functions. As she goes through therapy with her husband by her side, she learns to live in the moment and appreciate small victories.
Quote
“You have incurable cancer, my beautiful Eve. But you keep forgetting and I have to keep reminding you and these are the hardest moments of my life.”
Interesting Facts
- I’ve been a fan of Sophie Kinsella since her first Shopaholic books, and I even met her at a book signing in 2007. It was with great sadness that I learned a few months ago that she has been diagnosed with incurable brain cancer in 2022.
- The author had an operation, rehab, radio therapy, chemo therapy and is still undergoing treatment. However, she continues to be optimistic and positive. She’s trying to enjoy the present and not think about the future. In fact, she has a bucket list of small pleasures (spending time with family, a perfect cup of tea or a delicious marmalade). 1
- Sophie Kinsella thought about writing a memoir, but she has never been very good at telling facts. She prefers to imagine story lines and decided to write a fictionalized version of her experience with brain cancer. She tried to turn it into a happy story, even though there won’t be a happy ending in real life. 1
- The author spends a lot of time planning her plot, her characters and the book structure. It doesn’t mean that the story doesn’t change along the way. However, she is a bit disorganized, as she uses Google documents, pieces of papers, emails, note cards, etc. 1
- While What Does It Feel Like? is her most autobiographical work, Sophie Kinsella chose to keep some things private, like her children’s lives. 2
- The Burnout, her previous novel, was a manuscript when the author had surgery, and she thought she would not be able to edit it and release it, because her cognitive functions were impaired by the operation. But eventually she got better, and her husband, agent and publisher helped her edit the book. 2
1 Source: Fane event
2 Source: Friends & Fiction
