Cover Image: As You Were

As You Were

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Funny, dark, well-written, heart-breaking. What more could you ask for? Feeney manages to find the sweet spot between painful and life-affirming. She keeps her cast small, and her space tight - a hospital ward - but all life is here.

I've spent a bit too much time in hospital myself, I usually avoid books that try to take me back there, but Feeney captures the camaraderie that can build up between people thrown together at random, and the honesty that develops there.

I thoroughly recommend this one.

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This book is centred around Sinead, a young women with a terminal illness lying in an Irish hospital. She has hidden this from everybody but has told a fat magpie!

Ms Feeney then shows us how to use words (and lists!) when Sinead describes life and all the other patients around her. I am still not sure if there is much of a story but there is sadness mixed with a bit of humour. Even if you struggle with the prose and writing style, the author's use of metaphors and adjectives is impressive""

"Galway Girl" (Steve Earle) it isn't!

Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the chance to read and review this book.

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Thank you NetGalley for an advance copy of this book!

I wanted to like this book. The premise was promising, and I enjoyed some of it, but it was ultimately hard work, as seen by just how long it took me to read it. I ended up telling myself that I would read a chapter a day, like I do with my physical books, so that I don’t neglect it, but even that felt tough. Some of it, perhaps, may be down to the fact that terminal = death, and that too is not an easy read.

Although yes, I do like the stream of consciousness style generally, it felt so disjointed that I often wasn’t quite sure what was going on. I mean, props to the author because honestly, being in a hospital ward full of uncertainty, I would feel that too. Unfortunately, the writing style was jarring for me. I also didn’t notice all that much googling past a certain point; I may have glossed over it, not sure.

To add that I appreciate the more phonetic way of speech here. It gave the Irish characters distinction between others, such as Molly and Michal.

The final chapter — I’m going to assume this is a metaphor for Sinead’s death, almost as if she became one with the lamb; she IS the lamb. I am pleased that she did manage to make it home to spend time with her family, perhaps making up for the absences before.

Sinead as a character... I couldn’t quite get to grips with her. She’s complex, but there’s a way to convey complexity without alienating a reader. Keeping her terminal diagnosis from her family, though I do, to some extent, understand her reasons, was unfair. Imagine if you were Alex, finding out because a doctor told you when your wife was having difficulties? That would be tough to bear.

Almost a DNF until the last 40% where I just decided to keep reading so I finished. 2.5 stars from me, rather than 2 — it is a well-thought out novel, I just couldn’t muster the motivation to pick it up often.

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I found it difficult to get into the book. I persevered but did not really want to bother to finish it and did not care what happened. Thanks for an advanced copy from Netgalley.

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Thankyou netgalley for this emotionally raw book. This book had me feeling everything yet at the same time smirking at the dry humour I love. As you were is a fantastic debut novel by Elaine Feeney that lands us in an Irish hospital with Sinéad. A wife, a mother, and someone dying of cancer. But she hasn't told anyone about the disease eating away at her, with the exception of Google. At times i felt I was reading something that came straight from the ramblings of someone who was mad, especially in regards to the character Jane who is also a patient, working in care myself I have come across many people with dementia and Elaines realistic portrayal had me reminiscing on many conversations I had in the past with such people. Sinéad's internal battles both mentally and physically are portrayed as she comes terms with her past and the day she saw that one magpie for sorrow and recieved her diagnosis. The characters were so lively and animated and felt so personal and relatable. It might not be everyone's preference in writing but I for one really enjoyed it

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This book was fantastic at creating atmosphere. Both in the ward and in Sinead's head. I could visualise the hospital clearly, felt everything that she did. I was wowed in the first few chapters by the quality of the writing.

Then the book went on and it was more of the same, amazingly constructed paragraphs about the minutiae of being on a hospital ward. Lots of well written pages about very little and I got bored.

The fringe characters added colour but I didn't need them to take up so much of the book. It was Sinead I wanted to hear about and who I felt, in a story where so much is depicted in great detail, we didn't hear enough about.

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Sinéad Hynes has a secret which she has told to a magpie but no-one else. Not even her family.
This is a story about women for women. It will make you cry. It will make you think. It is about inspirational women, women who fail and women who try.

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The start completely baffled me by talking about magpies, ostriches and chameleons. Talking in half sentences, half riddles. I wasn't sure what I was reading or what was going on!
7 chapters in, and I'm still not sure we are talking in full sentences. There are random paragraphs here and there that are just lists of stuff. I have deciphered that the main character has terminal cancer that she's not told her family about.

I got to half way, and was only just learning how the main character got together with her husband... And correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first time we've found out her name.
It took until half way through to get somewhat interesting, hence why it's taking me so long to get through it. The main characters health took a turn for the worst which brought her and her husband closer.. It also meant the doctors let slip about her diagnosis in front of him. Despite it getting interesting I felt we are learned more about everyone else but not sure how the ward patients stories linked in with the main characters story line.

Overall, it took me an age to get into the story, I didnt feel the story had much of a plot throughout. But I guess the point was to share that when on a ward you get to know every little detail about everyone's lives, there's no hiding the truth.

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I unfortunately didn't enjoy the subject matter or style of this novel but it may have more appeal to other readers.

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This has an intriguing rhythm to it and the stream of conscious writing feels very fitting for the working mind of someone extremely ill however it does make for a very challenging read. It’s hard to relate to the main character and she doesn’t really show many likeable traits, that said it has some other interesting characters once you get past their fragmented stories. The book deserves high acclaim however I think the reader needs to be willing to put effort into the reading of this.

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A topical and driven book which denotes the struggle a woman faces with her cancer diagnosis.
In lieu of the interesting stylistic decisions Feeney makes, and the complete commitment to exploring the human condition in such a devastating situation, I found that this did not quite pack the punch it perhaps intended to...
The prose came in hard and fast, bowling the reader over with it's gung-ho presentation of the protagonist and her plight. There are echoes of Milkman and The Glorious Heresies in the portrayal of the Irish 'way', and the Irish voice. However, the intensity and harsh freneticism of the narrative voice felt forced so early in the story, ultimately leaving little space for movement and growth to a most effective climax.
It's not to say that I couldn't appreciate that the 'blow' of such a diagnosis was reflected in the 'blow' of the dialogue and imagery handed to the reader. Yet, the effect got lost somewhere along the way because it was relentless. In the latter part of the book, I sadly, (and frustratingly), found myself caring less - wanting a change in pitch, in tone....more nuance in the way the emotions and experiences of this woman were shown.
This said - the prose style and its inventiveness in manipulating structure and image was intriguing, impressive and allowed for some particularly brilliant moments of metaphor to strike at empathy. The flashback sequences ensured attention was retained, the twisting pace of this novel simultaneously building a back story and illustrating the hospital stay.
Overall, despite the struggles I had with narrative voice, this was a book which tackles a dark subject matter with humour, dignity and truth. Feeney's core purpose is admirable in giving voice and humanity to cancer and our stark lack of control over it. The 'magpie' metaphor, woven throughout, is clever and poignant, and retains impact on the reader right to the end

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I struggled to finish this book I'm afraid to say! The staccato, strange narrative made it hard to follow and to empathise with the main character. I didn't care enough about her to try and decipher the brain to page narration.

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This was quite a tough read for me as I have been through cancer treatment but it was also quite deep. The main character is not always likeable But in the end, you warm to her. The story weaves its was through some pretty difficult topics like abortion and women’s rights.
The way it is written is a bit jumpy, a lot of thoughts jumbled together but I feel that was a deliberate ploy to show the reader what goes through someone’s head when it that position.
Ultimately heartbreaking and an amazing first novel but not an easy, lay on the beach type read....which is ok, as beaches are banned right now anyway!

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Siobhan has a terminal illness but she cannot bring herself to tell her husband and children or the other patients of the hospital ward she has recently arrived in. This marvellous book explores the long term effects our childhood can have on the way we lead our lives, the truth behind the veneer of a happy marriage and family, and the many ways women need and help each other Beautifully written, achingly sad yet strangely uplifting., this will stay with me.

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As You Were is a story about Sinéad Hynes, a youngish woman in the West of Ireland, living with a terminal diagnosis. Her old life was shattered by the diagnosis - on her way home she saw a lone magpie and this divides her live into Before Magpie and After Magpie. Sinéad decides not to tell anyone - least of all her husband and three children. As her condition worsens, Sinéad requires more intensive palliation and is eventually hospitalised.

There are also thoughts about the dying process - about how is becomes public property. However much Sinéad wants to keep it a private affair, she cannot do this. She believes she is entitled to a private hospital room, but she is put on display in a ward with others. The doctors' conversations are audible. Sinéad is expected to make particular choices, to respond in a predictable way. Dying has become a conveyer belt, the manufacture of a commodity. Sinéad can try to hold out, but inevitably there comes a point where her secret cannot hold out, and she has to confide.

As Sinéad languishes in hospital, she is able to observe the rivalries that play out between her fellow patients and their families. There are opportunities to explore their back-stories, giving vantage points from different strata within the Irish social order - whether from an uneducated woman with a large family; a doting schoolteacher; a local politician or the migrant healthcare workers who are part of the new Ireland. Their stories are compelling, sometimes heartbreaking. There was a sense that, as the patients died and passed the baton on to their children, so too the old order of Ireland was dying and being replaced by new hope. Goodbye to the all powerful church and state. Goodbye to the pious morality. Goodbye to the control of women's bodies.

This could have been a sad book, a dreary book. But it isn't. Sinéad is (somewhat ironically) full of life and determined not to just curl up. She still has opinions; she has a wry humour, she is still interested to watch the Irish economy disintegrating - seeming to compete with her in a race to the grave. This is a novel about a person, not a death. It's actually quite uplifting.

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"Father always told me I was Fine. So as the years went by I grew increasingly mistrustful of bad news bearers. Miss Sinéad Hynes was fine. Father said so. I was Fine. I am Fine."

Having spent a short stint in hospital at the beginning of the year, I found this book incredibly powerful. It tells the story of Sinéad, a young wife and mother in hospital with a tumour. Written from her perspective we learn not only her tale but those of the eclectic collection of patients surrounding her. I myself was on a ward with a Jane and a Margaret Rose who, over my brief time with them, I came to love for their little quirks and eccentricities.

This novel doesn't have a big, dramatic story arc, it instead focuses on the small interactions within the monotony of life in a hospital bed. The conversations that on a normal day would seem innocuous but under the circumstances become melodrama, Sinéad's endless list making in her head because there's simply nothing else to do, the fear but also the resignation to this life that has been thrust upon everyone in the ward.

Feeney captures these moments with such clarity and profound detail that at times I found it rather unnerving and quite a hard read, as if Sinéad was reliving my experience. This did not detract from the beauty, sadness and sheer reality of the story and despite it transporting me back to a personally difficult time in my life, I'm incredibly grateful to have read this beautiful book.

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This is the story of Sinead, a young women with a tumour in an Irish hospital. It is told through her eyes and follows the mixed group who share the same ward. Quite fast paced, at times very funny but also at times full of pathos as deeper stories are revealed. I very much liked the writing style, but some reader could find it chaotic. It gave the impression of family gatherings where a story was being told, the story-teller became distracted and set off on a complete tangent so that you never knew how the story ended.
Sinead has a lot to come to terms with and isn't a talker. I can identify with that. I hope things work out for her and her family .
Thank you to net galley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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When I first began reading this I did contemplate giving up as I found it difficult to get into. However, I persevered and am so glad that I did. This is a hard read inasmuch of the subject matter and the sub-stories of the other characters as well as the depressive setting but it’s good to read a novel that shows it “warts and all”. Although it’s fiction it feels that it could easily be non-fiction. It’s very well written with obvious compassion and empathy, you feel the despair, desperation and loneliness of the characters. It’s a very moving emotive read but one I would definitely recommend.

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A remarkably prescient story. Elaine Feeney has an incredible voice and insight into less-discussed aspects of our society. I was so impressed with this one, thanks for the ARC!

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A brilliant idea: presenting the tragicomedy of life through the patients of a hospital ward, delivered in an unbelievable annoying writing style that didn't work for me at all! Sorry!

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