As You Were

August 15, 2021
An Irishwoman avoids dealing with her cancer diagnosis in this debut novel. When Sin�ad Hynes, a property developer and mother of three boys, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, she keeps the news of her illness to herself. She avoids telling her husband, Alex, that she's ill even after she has been hospitalized and refuses to let her children visit her. Instead of lingering on her own mortality, Sin�ad spends her time in the ward observing her fellow patients. Chief among them are Margaret Rose, who manages her daughter's pregnancy from bed, and Jane, who suffers from dementia and recalls a friend's troubled pregnancy from decades earlier. As Sin�ad's health grows worse, however, her efforts to avoid her family and the reality of her situation become increasingly difficult. There is much to admire and respect in this debut novel from Feeney, also an accomplished poet, but also much that even readers who enjoy a challenge will find frustrating. Feeney is obviously an immensely gifted writer, with a gift for both dialogue and inner monologue: In one striking passage, Sin�ad rationalizes lying to Alex by telling herself, "It was a dreadfully selfish thing to do to another person, fill him up with worry and uncertainty, to try and make him figure out death, because that's a dead end, a spiral, even though it's always there, inside us all." But her denial about her condition, even to herself, can make her feel like a device for Feeney's considerable linguistic pyrotechnics rather than an emotionally engaging character in her own right. Though the female body is powerfully described in this novel, by avoiding the specifics of Sin�ad's cancer diagnosis, Feeney renders cancer a symbolic bogeyman instead of a disease. An arresting debut that impresses more than it moves.

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Starred review from August 30, 2021
Feeney’s brilliant debut follows an Irish woman’s struggle to accept a terminal cancer diagnosis. Sinéad Hynes, 39, a successful property developer, is married with two young boys. When first diagnosed with cancer, she refuses to tell anyone, including her husband, Alex. But when she lands in a poorly funded hospital, she is forced to contend with her new reality. Feeney skillfully tells the stories of other patients, including Margaret Rose, recovering from a stroke, and Jane, suffering from dementia. In the closed space of the ward, these three women share their secrets. Margaret Rose has a philandering husband and pregnant teenage daughter. Jane, a retired teacher, has a husband and nine children but no visitors. She tells Margaret Rose and Sinéad about her long-ago love for another woman, Ann, and about her and Ann’s tragic place in Ireland’s history of abuse of women. As Sinéad’s illness progresses, she comes to terms with her past, her illness, and her deep love for her family, which swells in poignant moments such as when Alex helps to “smuggle” her out of the hospital. Never sentimental, and full of well-crafted dialogue and rich descriptions, the story is driven forward by Sinéad’s strong narration. This powerful work perfectly balances tragedy and hope.