Graphic novels are really not my thing. But this is the first one I've read that *felt* more like an illustrated novel than a comic book. Or at least, illustrated short story. It might be because this one has as much narrative structure as dialogue and very little action, so the artwork seemed more for building atmosphere and mimicking a sort of stop-motion movie drama, like extreme closeups, rather than depicting characters in action with voice bubbles over their heads. 

 

The artwork is strange but compelling. The story is strange but compelling. And the ending is... unsatisfactorily unresolved. 

 

Paperback, picked up on a whim at a Friends of the Library sale, because the author is Neil Gaiman. 

 

I read this for the 24 Festive Tasks 2019 for Door 2 Japanese Culture Day (Nov. 3): Read a graphic novel or a book set in a school or academic setting.

By: Gail Honeyman 

ISBN: 978-0735220683

Publisher: Pamela Dorman 

Publication Date: 5/9/2017 
Format: Other

My Rating: 5 Stars +

 

30 Best Books of 2017 

Glasgow-based author, Gail Honeyman’s debut hits it "out-of-the-park" with her hilarious and emotional tale of a misfit with a secret past. A young eccentric (oddball) woman suffering from a mysterious childhood trauma— ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE. 

The author cleverly takes us on a journey of self-discovery through the eyes of an often “naïve” (peculiar), troubled, and sheltered young woman. With a dysfunctional past, she makes her way through adulthood to "first time" new adventures, and possibly love. 

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon! (It will be dynamite)! Can't wait to see the cast lineup.

For fans of Elizabeth Berg, Elizabeth Strout, Fredrik Backman, Jo Jo Moyes, and Jennifer Weiner.

Eleanor Oliphant is single and twenty-nine years old. She lives a solitary life. She lives alone. She keeps to herself and uses her Vodka to keep her warm and safe from the cruel outside world. 

She works Monday thru Friday and of course, on the weekends she has her Vodka, pizza, pills, and sleep.

And her . . . devastating weekly phone calls with her Mummy. She is cruel, evil, and hateful. (the narrator is "award-winning").

Eleanor thinks the outside world is foreign. She is clueless. Almost like someone with, Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). 

As she rides the train she watches observes and criticizes.She has a routine. She does not go outside this arena. 

Eleanor has a scar on her face, raised in foster care, and she is miserable. She is opinionated and highly intelligent. No social skills and awkward with interactions.

She does like to stockpile painkillers to keep on hand for emergencies. Weirdly obsessed with a local musician, whom she has not met. 

After a mysterious event in her childhood (the author keeps that under her belt until the end; leaving readers glued to the pages), that left half her face badly scarred. While in college she was in a very abusive relationship. We can only assume she had an abusive childhood. 

However, she thinks she is perfectly fine. 

 

 

Eleanor has no social or people skills and is awkward in social settings. She dreads her phone calls with her nasty mummy. 

Then one day at work she has some computer issues and meets IT guy, Raymond and they help an old man. They develop an unlikely friendship. They can relate to one another since he is a bit geeky as well. 

Through Raymond, Eleanor slowly goes outside her comfort zone. She ventures to the mall. She is introduced to restaurants, shopping, shoes, clothes, hair, makeup, nails. The makeup Bobbi Brown counter was hilarious as was the restaurant! All this is foreign to her. 

She has made fun of everyone; however, she never thought to look inside or beneath the surface to find the true meaning of people’s hearts and soul. Everyone has circumstances and baggage. Including her own self.

When she hits rock bottom, she is pulled out with the help of Raymond and is forced to seek the counsel of a therapist. The therapist helps her maneuver through her muddy dark past (this is when we learn the events of her tragic past) and the witch of a mummy.

Was dying for her to stand up to her dear mummy and cut her out of her life. 

Through it all, Eleanor desires love, friendships, family, and acceptance. However, there has never been any role models in her life; however, she still has the capacity to love and be loved when pointed in the right direction —with patience and understanding. 

Razor sharp and clever writing, ELEANOR OLIPHANT is compelling, quirky, moving, romantic, endearing, heartbreaking, sad, complex, witty, charming, and comical. Almost like a coming-of-age with a bag full of emotions, mixed with thriller, and comedy. Loved it!

Fans of Fredrik Backman’s Britt-Marie Was Here and A Man Called Ove; Elizabeth Berg’s The Story of Arthur Truluv and Elizabeth Strout’s Olive Kitteridge.

Highly recommend the audiobook, narrated by Cathleen McCarron for endless hours of entertainment! Looking forward to many more books by this talented new author. 

JDCMustReadBooks

Review to come... Once I can figure out my thoughts...

A while back, Rose posted a request on BookLikes for amusement park/theme park book recommendations, and this was one of mine. I hadn't read it in years, so I figured a reread was in order.

The title is long, so, from here on out, I'll just refer to it as Mr. Punch. The narrator of Mr. Punch is an adult recalling his childhood, in particular an extended period of time he spent with his grandfather, his father's father, before the birth of his younger sister. When he was a boy, those were just days he spent at his grandfather's arcade, hearing the mermaid sing and learning about Punch and Judy shows from Professor Swatchell. As an adult, those memories took on greater significance, because of disturbing things they revealed, or almost revealed, about the narrator's past and his family.

Although the Narrator-As-Child doesn't understand everything that's going on and isn't concerned with certain details, it's easy enough for readers to decipher the general situation. The narrator's grandfather cheated on his wife with the lady who played the mermaid at his arcade. That lady became pregnant and was convinced she was loved and would be supported. Various Punch stories and details about the show's history act as a sinister backdrop to all of this.

This graphic novel is not going to work for everyone. It's slow and reflective. The mixed media artwork is dark, shadowy, and sometimes confusing. The bulk of the text is done in a faux handwriting font, often white on black, that can be kind of annoying to read, although it fits with the artwork better than I imagine anything else would have.

One of the reasons this book works so well for me is that I can connect with it on a personal level. As far as I know, the past couple generations of my family don't have secrets that are quite as dark as the narrator's family's secrets, but they do have secrets. The messages about the way we experienced our childhoods versus the way we remember those experiences as adults resonates with me.

On a more surface level, I found the details about Punch and Judy stories and the history of the shows to be fascinating. Whether they're all true or not, I don't know, but they at least sound like they could be.

I vaguely remember attending a few shows when I was a kid in Germany, although I don't recall them being nearly as creepy-looking as the ones in this book. I used to own a set of hand-puppets, cheap rubber and cloth things, of all the basic characters. My favorite was the crocodile, so I got a kick out of the bit in the book that was specifically about that character.

 

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

The novel tells the story of Raghu Balakrishnan’s journey from being a financial advisor to becoming an author. At 25 he has a job that a lot of people would kill for and when he decides to give it up to give more time to hi true passion of writing, his parents think he is committing ‘the mistake’ of his life. While under the spotlight of his family and relatives, he shuffles between writing/motivational classes and actually working on his book. But soon he realises that writing the book isn’t just enough – getting a publisher to its promotion, there’s a long way ahead. Plus what if readers do not like his book? And then there’s the matter of the heart…

First the plot… I think it is a bit different in the sense that it handles the stage after the campus life that so many other authors have and are continuing to explore. It talks more about the struggles of a person and his choice of passion over profession. I did like that aspect of this book. In a country where all the parents want their children to grow up to be Doctors or Engineers or Management Gurus, we are often pushed to choose professionally fruitful line of study rather than vocational or artistic courses that our hearts truly want. So yes, it was good to read about a person who chooses to give up a financial career to follow his heart and become a writer. The novel also dealt with the aspect of our society where everyone is always ready with a judgement about other people’s lives. In some ways I did like Raghu.

What I thought was average was the humorous line that the author chose to narrate this story. Sense of humour is very individualistic and as such this novel may irritate some people with its pjs while making some people laugh throughout. For me it was a chuckle here and there and even though I could see the pov of the author - it wasn’t as hilarious at it was supposed to come out as.

Overall, it was a pretty light and fast read that is good for a lazy evening.