I am a Victim of Well-Placed Advertisements

photo: www.irishtimes.com

When I was in London, I saw this book cover plastered everywhere: the plasticky, raindrop studded sides of bus stops, the rounded tube station tunnels, the backs of soggy magazines...

It seemed to be the book of the moment, and so my softly rebellious nature kept me from picking it up. I wasn't going to cede to such an onslaught of advertisement and societal pressures of what one "should" be reading. A good book, I sniffed, closing my small chapbook by an obscure Japanese author, should speak for itself. It doesn't need posters plasters on every unmarked inch of London wall.

Eventually, though, my curiosity won out, but I wasn't expecting much. The last "phenomenon" book I'd read was Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn and it was, without a doubt, the worst book I've laid my eyes on so far.

But Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman was, actually, fine. It was even better than fine.

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Eleanor works at a design office in the finance department from Monday to Friday. On Wednesdays, she chats with her mysterious and hostile Mummy. On Fridays, she eats pizza, buys enough vodka to last the weekend, and mostly sleeps until Monday, when she can return to work. She doesn't take sick days or call off. She hasn't deviated from her routine in years. And while her social skills are lamentable, she finds herself intellectually superior to "normal" people and has no interest in them or their lives.

But things start to change when she falls for a local rock star named Johnny, and meets a coworker named Raymond. In her quest to win Jonny's heart, and as her relationship with Raymond turns into her first ever friendship, Eleanor finds her routine upset, and the painful memories and emotions that she kept out of sight flooding back into focus.

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I was worried that this novel would fall into the classic trope: girl meets boy and tries to change for him, only to realize that such superficiality won't lead to happiness after a life-affirming talk with the help of her boy-next-door friend whom she eventually falls for.

Loosely, this does exist in Eleanor Oliphant, but Honeyman subtly subverts the stereotype. Eleanor and Raymond's relationship could be read as having the potential for an intimate partnership, but it also just might be a close, beautiful friendship. And while Raymond helps Eleanor develop, she herself comes to terms with her past and who she is now.

The end introduces two major reveals, and while they were interesting, they were revealed too fast and didn't seem to have a strong stake in the ultimate outcome of the novel. I don't want to spoil it, but whether or not Eleanor acknowledged the facts of her family situation, her development and choices about them would remain unaltered. So in that sense, the reveals felt like little plot twists just for the sake of having plot twists.

Still, for a "phenomenon" book, it was pretty good. Too bad America never advertises books the way London advertised this one. Maybe then people would actually read. :0

7/10 📕