Eleanor Olliphant

[cleofatra]

Does it get better? I am constantly fighting an urge not to throw it across the room
Up to chapter 7

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 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.

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

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

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.

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

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!

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 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 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 thought it was quite shite.

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

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'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 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.

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!!