Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she'll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

the only way to survive is to open your heart. Goodreads

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This was a spontaneous read, a friend wrote a review about this and I picked it up. I kept reading because Eleonor's social awkwardness was relatable to me. She would look at other people in a room to see what behaviour was appropriate. The long weekends where she wouldn't talk to another human being and her voice would sound weird when she spoke again. 

I recently attended a workshop where I learned that the experiences between the ages of 0 and 8 have a heavy impact on your personality, the way you speak to yourself and how you see things. 

The constant criticisms Eleanor experienced with her mom was still affecting the way she thought as an adult. Eleanor grew up with an abusive parent and those early years of abuse, emotional neglect and criticisms formed her inner monologue and self-defences. I loved reading about her interactions with others and how through her friendships/relationships with others she realised certain things. She wasn't fine at all. I was worried about her during a lot of the book. It all ends well though. This was a weird and wholesome book. It was particularly beautiful to see a character come to terms with their health and acknowledge that everything is not okay. Not only the acceptance of this and that they need help but that they actually start healing, working on improving themselves and getting healthy. 

favourite quote from the book: 

 “I do exist, don’t I? It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination. There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar. A strong gust of wind could dislodge me completely, and I’d lift off and blow away, like one of those seeds in a dandelion clock.”

 _10/10

Review: The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

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Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna. This is a remarkable novel about divine female power, a story women will share and pass on to their daughters for years to come.Goodreads

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I liked the writing. The southern tone of the narration really set the scene of Southern Carolina in 1964. I also enjoyed the facts about bees at the beginning of each chapter.

This is a strong story about the intersectionality of women. Themes of sisterhood, motherhood, spirituality, race and segregation are also present. It's a beautifully written story that gives you insight into the 1960s and the relationships between the characters. Each one has their own tale and hurdle to get over.  

Favourite quote from the book

" People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different. I don't doubt he started off loving your mother. In fact, I think he worshipped her"

_8/10

Review: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

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Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.

So begins this exquisite novel about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. Lydia is the favourite child of Marilyn and James Lee, and her parents are determined that she will fulfil the dreams they were unable to pursue. But when Lydia’s body is found in the local lake, the delicate balancing act that has been keeping the Lee family together is destroyed, tumbling them into chaos. 

A profoundly moving story of family, secrets, and longing, Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.GOODREADS

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I'm gonna start off by admitting that I picked this book because of the cover and the synopsis about a Chinese  American family.  A family of two identities and two generations.  I identified with the expectations from parents to be perfect and the conflicting roles you can feel towards family members. 

The book starts on the day Lydia goes missing, there are some flashbacks to when the parents meet and to an important event and then it all comes together when they find the body and the aftermath of that. This is definitely one of the strong points of the book because it helps build an understanding of each character; especially the parents. Parents expect the best from their kids, they want them to do better and achieve what they couldn't. This is common in Asian immigrant families and this very expectation can be way too heavy sometimes.  

Favourite quote from the book

"If her mother ever came home and told her to finish her milk, she thought, the page wavering to a blur, she would finish her milk. She would brush her teeth without being asked and stop crying when the doctor gave her shots. She would go to sleep the second her mother turned out the light. She would never get sick again. She would do everything her mother told her. Everything her mother wanted"

_8/10