Eleanor Olliphant

So far I am loving it. In some ways she reminds me of my aunt who is socially very very awkward and not up to date on things. I loved the bit about the waxing and her getting advice on what to wear to a club. Her thinking a 'nice' blouse and skirt would do!!

I usually hate chick lit but am really enjoying this and wish I had more time to read more of it at one time, I seem to be reading bits before bed.

Am about two thirds through, I too loved the cheese slice bit in McDonalds and I found lots of it to be plausible.

I have a friend at work who lives alone and can easily spend the entire weekend not speaking to anyone.

And the parts about being touched by the hairdresser for example I liked too. Lots of people don't have much physical contact with others, easy to not touch anyone and not speak to many people these days.

I'm in chapter 10 at the moment. Parts of it are incredibly dull and the descriptive observations are making me zone out a lot that I've got to the end of a chapter and not have a clue what just happened. I shall keep going but I can't quite grasp why it's such a best seller.
As someone who is quite socially awkward myself, I actually like Eleanor and would attempt to befriend her, just like Raymond has.

I read this yesterday, took me a few chapters to get into it but once I did, couldn’t put it down. Definitely think it’s quite a divisive one though, I don’t think it’s for everyone.

I thought it was quite shite.

Eleanor's way of speaking was highly implausible and the story really dragged.

I don’t really know who spongebob is. I mean I sort of do but I have children and am perfectly happy to potter about in the world of pop culture. If I wasn’t connected to people or interested in knowing such things I would have no idea

But it wasn't just she didn't know about things that was implausible- it was the way she apparently had never heard of so many things. Like "orange juuce with but" / tablet/laptop/pc. The stuff about McDonald's. Even if you never eat in McDonald's surely every one knows what it is.

Re the McDonald's bit- Eleanor had been in care/ foster care since she was 10.

I might be completely wrong here but as McDonald's is such a common shared experience I would be surprised if a foster parent had not taken her there. It seems a very cheap, quick and obvious way to normalise a situation for a child.

I really loved this book. The character intrigued me from the beginning and I loved following her story. It was sad but compelling seeing how her traumatic childhood and mental health issues affected her relationships and daily life. The detail of her observations was brilliant - one particular thing that stuck in my mind was her wonderment at why Mr McDonald would put a slice of cheese in a filet of fish burger. A brilliant first novel.

I really loved this. I liked how you warm to Eleanor as you start to understand her and I love the premise that a small act of kindness and friendship can go a long way in someone's life.
It has some implausibilities but on the whole it is a lovely novel.

I'm reading this at the moment! I find it both funny and sad! I started off thinking she was so bad mannered, but now I've began to warm to her!

Another ridiculous implausibility I've remembered is that Eleanor can't tell the difference between a laptop and PC

I've just finished this and I LOVED it. I cried. As someone who works in adolescent mental health services I thought the portrayal of Eleanor was excellent. It would fit perfectly with someone with , for example , an attachment disorder which can look very similar to ASD. Her language style, and lack of understanding of general unwritten social rules could totally be explained by her traumatic past. I thought she was brilliantly portrayed.
Best book I've read for some time.

Yes that’s what I meant too - it felt fairly original for me, as I’ve been stumbling over different things

By other books like it, I meant the isolated, lonely, awkward angle. Perhaps it's just what I have stumbled across

I mean, she could be autistic, it’s not explicit. They are not explicit about autism in a few other books where it is generally nonetheless accepted as a probability. It wouldn’t preclude her from also experiencing trauma, and it affecting her dramatically, and she wouldn’t have ever been in a position to be diagnosed. I think that the past stuff and mother’s voice was a weakness of the book and the character portrait/exploration of social impairment and loneliness was its strength. I haven’t read any others like it. I did think that there were a glut of Male protagonists with possible implied autistic traits, but hadn’t personally seen that angle explored from a female perspective.

I had a conversation with someone at work about this book yesterday. She said it fascinated her because it was such a compelling portrait of autism. Now, it's a while since I read it, but this thread has reminded me that she isn't autistic, is she?

Anyway, to me EO is one of those 'meh' books : there is a bit of a glut of books like this at the moment : about lonely, isolated (usually) women with a traumatic or buried past. This, to me, didn't stand out form that crowd. I can't even remember the name of the one I preferred a while back but I remember stuff buried in a garden, if that means anything to anyone ?

I had a friend at university who was not familiar with many very famous Beatles tracks and wasn’t really aware of them as a band. Also someone at work that needed The Grand National explained to them as they’d never heard of it. My dh grew up in a strict religious family, who nevertheless were part of the world, and there are loads of cultural touchstones he only became aware of as an adult, so I didn’t find it that implausible I suppose.

I don’t really know who spongebob is. I mean I sort of do but I have children and am perfectly happy to potter about in the world of pop culture. If I wasn’t connected to people or interested in knowing such things I would have no idea.

how long she'd gone without being touched by another human
That made me really sad too- then I got to thinking of how many people must be in this situation with a lack of human physical contact - most widowers with grown up children for example
I laughed out loud with the cheese slices gift bit and sobbed at most of the last quarter

I didn't know who Spongebob was (beyond kid's cartoon character) until I just looked him up.

If you don't live conventionally, have kids, or associate with kids - how would you automatically know?

Apparently Spongebob started in 1999, making Eleanor 10 years + - is that too old to have subliminally absorbed Spongebob - as an isolated loner in a care/foster environment where you may not have your own TV?

I don't know.

Seemed plausible to me. But then I also know people who've never been in a McDonalds!!!

I liked the book overall despite the saccharine ending but hey!

Just finished! Really enjoying the new book club and look forward to the next read.

Overall it was an ok read, took me a while to get into it. Felt it was a bit like reading an extended version of a women’s magazine, I think it definitely needed the underlying plot about her disturbed upbringing. I thought some parts regarding Eleanor were far fetched. I liked the positive ending and I thought the author mostly dealt with the mental health aspect quite well.

The connection she built with Raymond seemed so laboured, and the getting together to support the bloke in hospital seemed utterly at odds to her character as the picture that was built up of her was that she was all about staying safe in her routine.

I agree. And I felt the author telling us that Eleanor believes that McDonalds is owned by a Mr Mcdonalds, for example, and doesn't know who Spongebob Square Pants is, (despite being thirty years of age, going to university and having a decent job) was shit and insulting storytelling. This book was pure crapola. I get that she's lonely but she hasn't been on Mars all her life.

I finished it in 3 days which is amazingly quick for me!

It's actually made me think of a work colleague who isn't very likeable but may well fall into this category of loneliness/ lack of nurturing

I enjoyed it.

Laughed a lot at some of her expressions of speech and thought processes. Also cried at her sadness.

I read it in two sittings.

I didn’t really enjoy it.
Ploughed on because my mother in law had leant it to me and she had loved it and read it in one go. I was really looking forward to getting stuck into it as we tend to like a lot of the same books.
Found it painfully slow, the character was just purely bizarre and I never felt any kind of connection with her. The connection she built with Raymond seemed so laboured, and the getting together to support the bloke in hospital seemed utterly at odds to her character as the picture that was built up of her was that she was all about staying safe in her routine.
Didn’t like it, wouldn’t recommend. Was glad to finish it and read something else with a bit of a storyline to be honest. Sorry!

One thing that really got me was that Eleanor would buy two bottles of vodka on a Friday night basically to cope with sitting alone all weekend. That made me feel so sad. The other was how she reacted when people touched her, such as getting the head massage and she realised how long she'd gone without being touched by another human being.
Eleanor felt like a very real character. We all know people who are regarded as oddballs or weirdos because of their poor social skills. Perhaps they are likely because they didn't grow up in a nurturing environment like Eleanor. I wish there were more people as kind and warm as Raymond though.