Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

I am actually a bit ahead of the game and have completed our book club's selection for February a little early. I have had my eye on this one for a while and Rob bought it for me just before Christmas so I wanted to get started on it as soon as I could.

Wow. This book grabbed me right from the start and I read it fairly quickly, even though I've been pretty busy lately. I had to put a stop to things last night at midnight with only 30 pages left to go and was able to finish it this morning.

Eleanor Oliphant is a fascinating character, I haven't met anyone like her in real life or fiction in a long, long time. It is very clear from the beginning of the book that Eleanor has been the victim of some serious abuse and trauma at the hands of her mother, but it takes until the final pages of the book to really figure out what that means and what she has endured. She has physical and emotional scars that affect her every day. There was one twist at the end that actually made me gasp out loud! That has only ever happened two other times (in Gone With the Wind and I Know This Much is True for those keeping track).

As a result of this trauma, Eleanor's life has been very lonely. She was in and out of foster homes through her teen years and then lived on her own from the age of 17 on. She goes to work, she goes home, her routine is very established. She eats the same things, enjoys a drink and a program on the radio and goes to bed. She doesn't need anyone else, and no one has ever needed her.

Then she goes to a concert with a co-worker and discovers the man of her dreams. The singer captivates her and she is convinced they will have a happy life together and tries to prepare herself for that new relationship. At the same time, she and a co-worker help a man on the street who has a medical emergency. Is it possible that someone could need her after all?

All my life, I have been heartbroken by the loneliness of others. I am an extreme extrovert who refuels by spending time with people. The thought of living such a lonely life overwhelms me. I ached with Eleanor and struggled to see her struggle.

At the same time, I loved her personality. She has a great vocabulary, she sees the world in very defined ways and anything outside her expectation is hard for her to process. Her genuine surprise at what most people would consider normal activities was pretty funny at times. Gail Honeyman has created a fantastic character and I absolutely loved reading about her.

Everybody's Son by Thrity Umrigar

I had heard very little about this book when I started reading it, it is our book club's selection for January. I borrowed it from a friend who said she and the rest of her book club had really enjoyed it, so I was excited to get started.

This is the story of Anton, who as a 9-year old boy is left alone in an apartment by his mother, Juanita, during an incredible heat wave. She leaves to buy drugs and is kept by her dealer for 7 days. Anton is alone the whole time in the sweltering apartment with little to no food. After he breaks a window to get out, he is taken into protective custody and placed in a foster home.

His foster parents have recently lost their own son in a car accident and are thrilled to have Anton in their lives. David, his foster father, is a judge and has connections that can help keep Juanita in prison longer to allow Anton to stay in his home. When the time comes for Juanita to be released, what should happen to Anton? Where does he belong?

As an African American child being raised by white parents, Anton thrives but sometimes feels like he doesn't quite belong. As he heads to university his girlfriend causes him to question who he is and where he belongs. Is he the whitest black man, or the blackest white man? These are words that haunt him into adulthood.

Anton follows in his father's footsteps and ends up in a career in the law. But there is a lot he doesn't know about his past and as he learns more he begins to question who he really is.

This book raises some excellent questions. Which is the better home for the boy? In poverty with his mother who has made bad choices but truly loves him, or in his lavish home with his foster family who can afford to provide what she never could? Who gets to make that decision? What role does race play in it? White privilege, institutional racism and poverty are all themes. I was reminded again of how I can never truly understand what challenges people of other races and cultures face that I will never have to even consider. It is a challenging read in that light, and especially in view of all that is happening in today's world. It is beautifully written and a very compelling story.

Wishin' and Hopin' by Wally Lamb

I love this book! I think this was the third time I've read it, and it still makes me laugh out loud.

I mostly love Wally Lamb's writing (just don't get me started on We Are Water). This one, however, is my favourite. It is a light and fun read, one I love reading at Christmas.

This is the story of Felix Funicello (you can also read about him in I'll Take You There) a 10-year old boy growing up in small-town Connecticut whose family has three claims to fame:

• his mother is about to appear on TV nationally on the Pillsbury Bake-Off
• he will be on TV locally on a kids' TV show
• his cousin is the famous Annette Funicello

As if these things weren't exciting enough, his teacher has a breakdown and the substitute teacher has exciting plans for their Catholic School Christmas pageant. 

The characters are hilarious and as the mother of a 10-year old boy, I feel like he nails Felix's voice perfectly. I find Felix's perspective to be hilarious, wanting to be more grown up than he is but not quite understanding all that is going on around him.

You can read this one in a few hours (I know everyone has a few spare hours at this time of year). If you are travelling and need a book to take with you, I highly recommend this one. There are some very funny moments and little lines that just crack me up. I've bought it as a gift for several people and it was enjoyed as my book club selection a few years ago. 

If you like A Christmas Story I think you'll like this book. 

Cometh the Hour and This Was a Man by Jeffrey Archer

I haven't posted in a while because I've been busy adjusting to my new job and haven't had a lot of time for reading. Over the last couple of months I have been wrapping up the Clifton Chronicles series by Jeffrey Archer. The books were very repetitive, so I decided to combine them into one post.

I've been a Jeffrey Archer fan for over 20 years. When I need a fun, quick page-turner Jeffrey Archer is my go-to guy. So when I heard about the Clifton Chronicles, I couldn't wait to try it. It started out strong but the last few books could probably have been combined into one.

There are seven books in the series but I think the story could have been told just as well in 4.

The series covers the life of Harry Arthur Clifton and his life in Bristol, England. We read about his difficult childhood and his years at school. We are there as he falls in love with Emma Barrington and see the obstacles they face on their path to a life together. The following books follow them through the second world war and life afterwards. Harry becomes a world famous writer while Emma becomes the first woman to chair a public company in the UK.

Emma's brother Giles Barrington is Harry's best friend and a Member of Parliament. All of their lives intertwine over the course of the seven books. Because of their prominence in society, they have some enemies along the way who make things interesting.

The last two books seemed like carbon copies of each other. There were business mergers, elections won and lost, false accusations and family drama. None of it was overly exciting, but as I had invested so much time in the series I wanted to see it through to the end.

I was particularly disappointed how some of the loose threads from the earlier books were tied up in a couple of sentences at the end of book seven. Questions that haven't been answered for decades were barely given a mention. I feel like some of them could have been a bit more dramatic. One character just disappeared for the final third of the final book and didn't really get any closure.

On the whole, it was a fun series to read, but it should have been shorter. If you're a fan of Jeffrey Archer, have a look. I'd love to know what you think.

The Little Old Lady Strikes Again by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg

A few years ago I read and loved The Little Old Lady Who Broke All the Rules and absolutely loved it, so I when I heard there was a sequel I wanted to check it out.

The back of the book talks about how the League of Pensioners have relocated to Las Vegas and are planning on pulling off a heist in a big Vegas casino. Can they pull it off? It sounded fun and exciting. Well, by page 40 you know whether or not they had pulled it off and they had left Vegas, never to return again. Their time in Vegas wasn't the plot of the book, it was the introduction. I just found it strange that the description on the back of the book barely had anything to do with the plot itself.

It has taken me nearly two months to get through the rest of the book. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't a compelling read. It was very similar to the first book, with the League of Pensioners plotting their crimes, attempting them and encountering funny little mishaps along the way. I just felt like I had read it already and wasn't all that interested in picking it up each day.

There is a third book in the series, and I won't be reading that. It sounds like more of the same again and I feel the story has already been told.

I really need to get over my thing of always finishing a book I start. My time could probably have been better spent than finishing this book. Oh well, it is done now!

I'd say that if you liked the first book, leave well enough alone and skip this one.

The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad

This book is definitely a departure from my normal style, and I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about it.

This is the story of Frank Rath, a private investigator in Vermont who becomes involved in investigating the disappearance of a young woman from his small town. As the search deepens, other women are found to be missing in their area. Is there a connection? Who has these women?

At the same time, Frank is a single father, raising the niece he adopted after her parents were brutally murdered in their home. Rachel is now grown and off to college, and Frank is really missing her.

I nearly put this book down after the first chapter, which was really creepy. It didn't continue that way, so I'm glad I kept going.

I didn't really love the characters in this book. Frank seems bent on self destruction, Grout, the lead detective also seems miserable, and we don't learn enough about Sonja, the other detective on the case. I would also like to have gotten to know Rachel better.

However, what bothered me most about this book is that it contained several grammatical and sentence structure errors. It felt like it hadn't been edited. For example, a character was "slapped across face" instead of "across the face".  At the end of the book, the initial victim's last name was changed from Wilks to Wilkins. That sort of thing drives me crazy. And the author had this weird way of using the word but as a complete sentence continually, no matter which character was speaking.

“She sort of seems familiar. But. In that way that reminds you of someone from TV or a dream.”

“But. State borders aren’t going to stop a sicko,” Sonja said.

But. How did one person, or even two people, choose these girls. And why?

“Of course I can read.” Gale sighed. “But. Her handwriting is a first grader’s. I’ll give it my best.”

Argh! 

Another thing that bothered me is that all Christians are portrayed as being zealots who protest outside abortion clinics. It paints a lot of people with a broad brush and I don't like that. 

If you can get past those things then the story is entertaining and compelling. But if those sorts of things bother you, then skip this one.

Also, the story ends on a cliffhanger, trying to force you to read the next book. I'm not sure if I will. I hope it has a better editor.

*** Thanks to Goodreads reviewer Christie for isolating these quotes for me so I didn't have to do it.

Three Wishes by Liane Moriarty

This is another one on loan from Tracy, my schoolyard mom friend. This was a fun, light read, perfect for a vacation.

The book begins with several different voices telling about the night they saw a set of triplets celebrating their birthdays together in a restaurant. Everything seems fine until the triplets start fighting and one sister ends up throwing a fondue fork which lands right in her pregnant sister's belly...

We then go back in time a year and get to know Lyn, Catriona and Gemma, the triplets in question. Lyn is a successful business owner trying to juggle the demands of work and family, Cat has just discovered her husband's affair, and Gemma has been trying to find herself after the tragic death of her fiancé several years earlier. We also get to know Maxine and Frank, their divorced parents, as well as various friends and partners who are all part of the triplets' lives.

Mixed in with the story are accounts from people who have seen the triplets in action over the course of their lives.

All of this works together to bring us back to the fateful night in the restaurant when they are celebrating their birthdays. Who is pregnant, who threw the fork, and how they got there all get answered along the way.

I have never read anything by this author before, but I have heard great things about her and would definitely like to read more. This was a perfect summer read, quick and fun, without a lot to think about. If you are looking for something to take to the beach or a cottage, this could be the perfect book for you.