I'm sorry, the writing style just wasn't for me. I tried, and then I came back and tried again. Too distracting, too jumbled.

DNF

As You Were by Elaine Feeney is about a group of patients on a hospital ward. I found the parts foccussed on the central character more enjoyable than the ones concerning the more peripheral characters.

Feeney's writing style is unique, albeit distracting at times, especially when it becomes stream-of-consciousness-like, yet "As You Were" is nothing less than a literary gem

This is about a young woman, Sinead, who is in hospital. The only "people" who she has confided in about her real reason for being there are Google and a magpie! This is her story and is billed as "wildly funny and desperately tragic". She is in a mixed ward with some very "mixed" people.

It did take me a while to get into Sinead's story. Indeed I'm not fully sure I really ever managed it. The narrative bounces around with great energy. Sometimes it is narrative, sometimes it is far more "stream of consciousness". It certainly is a modern style of writing.

I found myself becoming really engaged with parts of her narrative. Often this was the "tragic" parts - some were introspective, others were about events. On the other hand parts simply left me disinterested and I find it hard to work out exactly why. I guess it is probably the style of the writing. I personally found it hard to read given the sudden switches in topic, style etc. I have no doubt that some will love this book. I certainly wanted to when I started it however it didn't work for me.