O is for Oliphant

…as in Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor is one of my few adult female fictional characters. She might be the only one who is not part of a series. I was hesitant to read the book. Belonging to a number of reading groups online, I had read some mixed reviews. Finally I gave in and read it out of curiosity and mostly because the people who loved the book seemed to really love it.

And I really loved it too.

Why do I love Eleanor? Who better than Eleanor herself to show you-

• “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.”
• “I felt like a newly laid egg, all swishy and gloopy inside, and so fragile that the slightest pressure could break me.”
• “I took one of my hands in the other, tried to imagine what it would feel like if it was another person’s hand holding mine. There have been times where I felt that I might die of loneliness.”
• “I’d tried to cope alone for far too long, and it hadn’t done me any good at all. Sometimes you simply needed someone kind to sit with you while you dealt with things.”
• “…when you took a moment to see what was around you, noticed all the little things, it made you feel….lighter.”

If you haven’t read the book, you should give it a try!

#AtoZChallenge

-Kat