A deeply harrowing, terrifying, funny, beautiful and relatable tale of a young woman coming to terms with her past and the ghosts that she carries inside.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Comedy, Emotional Drama, Coming of Age Story.
Publisher: Picador
Review in one word: Uplifting
** Contains no spoilers**
I didn’t initially think much of this book having found it in a charity shop. It’s premise sounded compelling enough so I gave it a go. I was more than pleasantly surprised! This book is a quietly spun and beautiful masterwork. It’s the story of Eleanor Oliphant, a young woman with unusual habits and personality foibles that initially make her seem cold, aloof, a bit old-fashioned. She refers to her outer garment not as a jacket but as a ‘jerkin’. I didn’t know what the hell that was, so I looked it up – it’s some kind of vest from the 17th century haha!
She lives alone in Glasgow and has worked in the same admin job since leaving University. She speaks with her ‘mummy’ on the phone once per week and drinks two litres of vodka every weekend. She tells herself that she is ‘completely fine’.
“If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”
The loneliness of her existence is palpable and hits hard like a wrecking ball. As time goes on, it is clear that Eleanor is followed around by looming, dark ghosts from her past. I won’t go into the detail of this or else I will ruin the plot, but it’s more intense that you could imagine.
“A philosophical question: if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? And if a woman who’s wholly alone occasionally talks to a pot plant, is she certifiable? I think that it is perfectly normal to talk to oneself occasionally. It’s not as though I’m expecting a reply. I’m fully aware that Polly is a houseplant.”
Although Eleanor is 30 in many ways she seems much younger, she has never dated she has no social circle, she is a novice in many aspects of life. She is at times viciously rude to people around her and this caustic way of dealing with people may serve to repel the reader – yet this may actually be some kind of protective shield she puts around herself.
“No thank you,” I said. “I don’t want to accept a drink from you, because then I would be obliged to purchase one for you in return, and I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in spending two drinks’ worth of time with you.”
It’s her deep vulnerability, gentle kind heart and hunger for connection with others that sings off the page, that makes you warm to her.
“All of the people in the room seemed to take so much for granted: that they would be invited to social events, that they would have friends and family to talk to, that they would fall in love, be loved in return, perhaps create a family of their own.”
“A human hand was exactly the right weight, exactly the right temperature for touching another person, I realised. I’d shaken hands a fair bit over the years—more so recently—but I hadn’t been touched in a lifetime.”
When Eleanor and her work colleague Raymond help an elderly man who has fallen over on the road, this spontaneous event brings together the three people and friendships blossom and form. Suddenly the doors to Eleanor’s tightly controlled and hermetic world come flying open and in spills new experiences, new people and gently funny interactions happen.
This is a deeply satisfying and joyful book with equal measures of light and darkness. If you have ever dealt with the darker sides of life: childhood trauma, loneliness, alcoholism, or if you have ever wondered how other people manage to navigate through life and felt like an alien parachuted onto our green and blue world, then you will really enjoy this book and it’s deeply satisfying narrative arc.
Eleanor Oliphant is a misfit and an oddball but she is also in many ways – any and every person that is seen walking along a busy street. She carries an invisible weight of history and vulnerability behind her and just trying to create methods to cope with crippling sadness and loneliness and to navigate through the confusion of life.
I believe anyone with a heartbeat and a history would be able to relate to Eleanor – this is a timeless character for the ages. It is gratifying to see that the Reece Witherspoon’s production company has bought the rights to turn this story into a film.
Content Catnip 