Some may consider Sophie Kinsella superficial, consumerist or irrelevant unless you are born priviledged, with a rich - eventually family - support that may help you pay the humongous debts done through random shopping sprees.
Personally though, I see her books from a very different angle. First and foremost, I used to be that kind of girl happy to shop. An activity that used to come with a price tag, and some bank letters about maxed out credit cards. Very often, I was just able to understand the characters. Second, I will always associate her books with a very interesting time of my life: I was working in the most glamorous and boring job of my life, being paid most of the time just to be present, doing nothing. I needed an escape from this and as usual, the escape was offered by books. Books in English that I spent most of the time reading it. Kinsella´s books to be precise.
I have skipped many of Kinsella´s books lately, but her latest time, What Does It Feel Like? interested me for a long time. Inspired by her own encounter with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, it is a fictional story about Eva, a successful writer, whose luck stops suddenly. As Kinsella herself, she is diagnosed with glioblastoma and survives the average of 18 months life expectations while coping with severe short memory loss.
It is a very short read - a novella a bit over 100 pages - which maintains the usual self-ironic and humorous style from her previous books, with a separate note though on fate and facing one own´s death - with a smile. How everything can change from one day to the next, with no further ado. (been there, done that).
Shortly, it says everything one may expect, but felt that everything ends too fast and the story could have had more narrative content. Enough for a short story, a bit too short for a novel.
Rating: 3 stars
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