Paul’s review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine > Likes and Comments

Seems promising. I'm looking forward to have your feedback on this one, Paul.

Paul wrote; "not too cold, not to hot,"

For the sake of brevity, might one substitute "tepid?'

I didn't know it was Be Kind to One Star Books week. Now I feel like a curmudgeon...

there was a memo that went out, although I can't quite locate it right now....

alas - you did not review this book but it clearly stirred some emotion...

I may have pursed my lips. Emotionally.

Paul wrote to Peter, prior to consulting Mary; "alas - you did not review this book"

So what? GR doesn't even require that you read them or write something modestly bright or factual. If they did, the pecking order of "top reviewers" would undergo a radical change.

thanks Kristy - most people seem pretty happy with Eleanor and swallow all the stretchers (Mark Twain's term) in the book whole so maybe we should go with the flow and not be so picky.

well I'm sure I do that all the time! I try to be more forgiving to these authors but as you see from the above review it can be a struggle

I don't know about Eleanor, but it's quite patent who's the one thawing out here. Oh, Paul...

When favored by the facts, argue the facts. When favored by the bullshit, guess what?

Hey TW, isn't it time for you to blow up your gr account and reappear as someone else, like Doctor Who ?

ha, and just like magic, so he did - pouf!

"For 70% of the time this novel is gentle comedy, of the sort you can find in sitcoms like Not Going Out or The Vicar of Dibley if the Vicar had a brain injury. "
----
Do I know what the Vicar of Dibley is? No. Did this comment make me laugh aloud? Yes.

Thanks for the great review.

Thanks - you should thank your lucky stars for not knowing who the Vicar of Dibley is.

What a wonderful review! I've nearly read this book a few times, but wasn't convinced by the extract...your review is much more convincing. I wouldn't have appreciate such an instrumentalisation of such an evident autistic personality to write a feel good book :/

thanks Helene

Interesting review. I do think you've hit the nail on the head when you say that this novel is about 'kindness' - a rare theme in fiction, I think. I also scoffed at some of the random things she seemed to know or not know. However, the character is younger than me and (I suspect) you, (or is that (I suspect) you and I!), so it's not unbelievable that she hasn't heard of Laurel and Hardy.....
However, I don't agree that Eleanor's voice is unbelievable... in fact, the character reminds me a lot of a cousin of mine, albeit an exaggerated version. Also, I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is amazing and really brings the voice to life.

does your cousin sound like someone from the posh part of the 1950s? that's curious. What I say is if someone is portrayed as knowing nothing about popular culture they also wouldn't be dropping the names of JD Salinger or the Unabomber. She had never even heard of traffic wardens, apparently - that's surely a bit extreme.

Just from the quotations you’ve pulled out I can tell this book would absolutely infuriate me. In contrast, your reviews always make for superb reading.

well, many thanks Alyssia

TradeWinds will no doubt be back, Paul, reborn like Doctor Who, despite your impressive disappearing trick. Coincidentally, someone who commented on one of my reviews just deleted themselves after I said I'd never read any Faulkner. But I admit I might be being a bit post hoc about this.

If only I could understand his comments (he loves commenting on my reviews). I'm sure they are really witty but he pitches them several feet above my head. I think he thinks I'm cleverer than I am.

Yup My reaction to them was generally ‘huh?’

I found the humour so embarrassing that I could not understand why so many people claimed to enjoy this book. Wonder if they’ll look back on it and ask how they’d been taken in.

Paul wrote: "does your cousin sound like someone from the posh part of the 1950s? that's curious. What I say is if someone is portrayed as knowing nothing about popular culture they also wouldn't be dropping th..."
It wasn't so much the words E.O said that reminded me of my cousin but the way she seemed so oblivious to social norms. A kind of oddbodness.
And yes, her knowledge of popular culture did seem inconsistent - I criticised this in my own review - but really, I do think that many real people are more inconsistent than most fictional characters.
Anyway, I do think your comments are valid but it's just a shame you didn't enjoy it more. I loved it and I know many others have too , so I hope the many readers of your entertaining reviews won't be deterred from giving it a go.

Chris wrote: "Yup My reaction to them was generally ‘huh?’"

You're a natural born reviewer. Aren't ya?

Like you're a natural born renewer?

Paul, I laughed so very hard, your review is so beautiful. Thank you

thanks Sonia... comments like that give me the courage to face another day in my frantic struggle with modern literature

Superb review, thanks for the chuckles

Paul wrote: "Like you're a natural born renewer?"

It's an acquired taste based on a misunderstood, Kabbalistic re-phrasing of the old standby smoke and mirrors. Simple enough for a reviewer?

No!

Hope not yet dashed, I timidly dare to refer you to Bergman's "The Magician," and ask if it really happened?

Your review, including the awkward quotes, actually makes the book more appealling. I think I know a couple of people rather like Eleanor, and one has mils Asperger's - the other is just very old-fashioned.

Fabulous review, Paul.

thanks Violet

Cecily - I'm going to bet that the couple of people you know are not 30 years old as Eleanor O is.

Suffice to say, I won't be taking you up on that bet.
;)

well, that's what makes Eleanor such an unbelievable character. Like a young female version of Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Why didn't the author just set it in the 1950s, I wonder?

because the whole idea was to construct this strange out-of-place woman who's the ultimate wallflower recluse and then contrive events to drag her into some kind of social life. There are plenty of shut-ins and recluses and hopeless cases in modern society but this version was really a fake, fictitious, no one is actually like this.

Ah, OK. In which case, your three stars sound generous.

Well. I absolutely don’t want to kick this novel down the cellar steps and have it look back up at me all begrimed with cobwebs and sing "Where is Love?" through big blobby tears.

Come on Paul, don't knock it until you've tried it!

you do it first....

Eleanor is Vulcan - nice! It's a big like Rainman or the other with Tom Hanks sitting their eating his box of chocolates - you know the loony people made safe and lovable for us normals - could be Eleanor has this same appeal?

..there..

Paul wrote; "There are plenty of shut-ins and recluses and hopeless cases in modern society but this version was really a fake, fictitious, no one is actually like this. "

I guess you never met my mother.

Hello Ian, again. Why do you do like you do?

I have a predilection to be argumentative and surly in "normal" times, and absolutely lash out when I feel rejected.

What's your excuse, daddy-o?

Me, I'm never surly or argumentative. Sweetness and light, 100%. Always a smile.

The most dangerous, surreptitious, and secretive sort.