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Oct 13, 2019DorisWaggoner rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
In her late 20s, Eleanor Oliphant is definitely not fine. Her classics degree fits her for an office job, where she's a lonely outsider. She feels superior because her grammar and vocabulary are better than anybody else's. The women she works with are interested only in gossip, clothes, and men. Eleanor reads serious literature, and on weekends buys 2 bottles of vodka to get her through until she can get back to her desk and accounts receivable She speaks impeccable proper English, dresses in comfortable if not fashionable clothing in a dirty apartment she's lived in for decades, since she'd graduated from state care. She tries not to think about the scars on her face from arson when she was 10. She has no friends, but one day she and a co-worker, Raymond, who she'd learned to know when she had to call on him for his assistance in his specialty—computers. He's sloppy, always late, and pays no attention to her suggestions that his chain smoking's bad for his health—and hers. One day they see an elderly man across the street fall, and by the time they get to him, he's unconscious. Raymond tries to get her to call 999 for help, but she had no cell phone, so he tells her to talk to Sammy while he calls the authorities. Raymond goes with Sammy in the ambulance, and she calls the old man's family. This is the beginning of a new life for all 3, as they become friends. Friends! Eventually she realizes she's depressed, and get sinto therapy, thanks to Raymond, when Sammy dies. Mostly she's silent, but eventually begins to cry, then to talk. Finally she tells Maria that she fells guilty because she couldn't save Marianne, who was her sister, age 4, locked in a wardrobe by their mother. Maria reminded her she couldn't save both children, given their ages. Raymond and she both looked up online to find out what had really happened. Two people died—their mother, and Marianne. Eleanor was the only survivor, and felt very guilty. And every Wed. night her mother called her, telling her how worthless and useless and clumsy she was. This was the only part I didn't understand. If her mother died, who was calling Eleanor weekly? Was it one of the bad foster mothers? If not, who? Even Maria, let alone Raymond, agreed she was right to tell her Mummy to buzz off, and that she wouldn't answer the phone ever again. But that bit still bothers me. Otherwise, a lovely book showing growth and development, and a probable heading toward Raymond and Eleanor moving in together eventually and being able to be happy together. But who was her “Mummy?” Her sense of guilt? Her need to forgive herself for not saving Marianne?