Eleanor Rigby - Douglas Coupland

Gifted to me by my particularly prolific bad blogger friend Rhinoa, this was my first experience of Douglas Coupland.

Eleanor Rigby is a novel about loneliness. And by that I am referring to both meanings of the word. Liz Dunn is alone; a forty-something woman who lives alone, with no friends and has never had a romantic relationship. Everything changes when Liz receives a call from a hospital informing her that her son has been admitted.

Liz finds herself building a relationship with her long-lost son, Jeremy, who is afflicted with severe multiple sclerosis and having to adapt to no longer living alone. Jeremy is quite an enigma. His illness causes him to have visions, that are sometimes beautiful and sometimes quite terrifying. But his free and enigmatic outlook on life, and death, is refreshing and lighthearted, and ultimately liberating for the repressed and lonely Liz.

The title is an obvious homage to the Beatles song, but while it is about loneliness, it is also about rediscovering oneself and learning to grasp life and not let it pass you by. While sad and bittersweet, Eleanor Rigby is also witty and warm and never becomes depressing or morose. As someone to is not a stranger to loneliness or depression, Eleanor Rigby was particularly meaningful to me and I was quickly won over with Coupland's entertaining prose and smart dialogue.

A lovely story, I cannot recommend this enough!

Other blog reviews:
Rhinoa's Ramblings