I have been reading right on pace with the goal I set for myself this year. What I have not been doing is regularly posting my recommendations and responses to the books I have read. I hope that with the close of the school year (I have been grading English assignments online) that I will get back to a regular blog writing/publishing schedule. Here is my next recommendation. I read this novel in January, and the impact on me is lasting. In the months since reading the book, I have come to recognize the connection I have made about the reality people create in order to appease their own guilt, insecurities, and shame. I will say that there are some spoilers in my discussion, so please be aware if you are planning to read this novel.
Book title: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Author: Gail Honeyman
Date Read: Jan 11 – 25, 2021
Type of Book: Fiction
Publication Date: May 2017
Publisher: Pamela Dorman Books/Viking (I read the electronic version checked out from my local library.)
Ideas Expressed/Message/Plot:
Eleanor is quite the character. After experiencing a terrible tragedy as a child, she is now an adult living in a world where filters are required, but she does not appear to understand about that nor does she want too much human contact. She is working, living in an apartment, and slowly beginning to emerge as a lovable, likeable, and maybe “I’m not too far off from her” character. Goodreads puts it best: Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .the only way to survive is to open your heart.
Favorite Characters/Quotes/Lines:
Favorite character is Eleanor, of course. Who could not fall in love with this character?
In my notes, I wrote many more favorite lines/quotes than I am including here. Some favorite lines (again – some may contain spoilers so be aware):
Pg. 242-243: “I was glad nature should make her presence felt in the room in some way, I thought; living nature, not cut flowers.”
Pg. 247: “It takes a long time to learn to live with loss, assuming you ever manage it.”
Pg. 246: “Time only blunts the pain of loss. It doesn’t really erase it.”
Pg. 277: “I cringed. No, that’s wrong. Cringe denotes embarrassment, fleeting shame. This was my soul curling into whiteness, an existential blank where a person had once been.”
Pg. 298: “…–the chair released a tired whump of stale air from its grubby cushions.” (Just liked the imagery here.)
Pg. 362: “The voice in my own head – my own voice – was actually quite sensible, and rational. I’d begun to realize. It was Mummy’s voice that had done all the judging, and encouraged me to do so too. I was getting to quite like my own voice, my own thoughts. I wanted more of them. They made me feel good, calm even. They made me feel like me.”
When I finished this book, I felt:
A little stunned at first – I thought it would keep going. Not exactly what I expected with the ending, but it was a satisfying ending nonetheless.
Notes/Comments:
I loved Eleanor Oliphant – the character and the book. Definitely an insightful view into the mind of someone not necessarily “accepted” by society and its standards, but proof that a person can function under almost any circumstances while maybe also fooling those around her as well as fooling herself. All at the same time, she is drastic, she is funny, she is loveable, and she is triumphant.
I felt jolted a couple of times throughout the book – the extremes – but it was exactly the way the character was feeling. I also thought that the author did an excellent job portraying the depths of depression Eleanor was feeling and wrote it in such a way that the reader experienced those same depths. Not only depression but also alcoholism as a means of not coping with past trauma. Bad Days – that abrupt change to this section shocked me, but I have a better understanding, perhaps, of some people in my own life. I highly recommend this novel. You will be glad you read it.
Some other books I’ve read this year:
O is for Outlaw – Sue Grafton
P is for Peril – Sue Grafton
Q is for Quarry – Sue Grafton (this has a very interesting background)
The Likeness – Tana French
Faithful Place – Tana French
Audio Books
The Glass Hotel – Emily St. John Mandel
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy – John le Carré
Cross – James Patterson
Double Cross – James Patterson
Cross Country – James Patterson
The Trial – James Patterson
So you see….it’s all about the books right now.
I have been doing a lot of reading and listening, just not as much writing. That will change soon. I hope you’ll read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Please share your thoughts if you have read it! Take care.