Awarded five stars on Goodreads
Distinctive, deep and rich, this memorable book focuses on the ability one human can have on the life of another — for good or ill.
Eleanor is a quirky 30 year old with a steady job and her own apartment. But she seems emotionally stuck in her pre-teen years. She has her own unique way of looking at the world that does NOT include a gift for reading the social cues of others. Consequently, she lives the life of an outsider.
Through a chance encounter alongside Raymond, the Information Technology person at her company, Eleanor winds up helping an elderly man (Sam) facing a health crisis and begins experiencing a series of life changing events.
It’s Eleanor’s unique take on the world that makes this book such a joy to read. She is VERY funny, even though she doesn’t often intend to be. I wound up reading a few passages aloud to my husband because they made me laugh.
The book gets increasingly more serious as it unfolds. Some of the themes explored are loneliness, love, friendship, motherhood, foster care and child abuse. But in the end, all is well. And readers find out that there’s nothing bad that a good friend and a good therapist can’t make better.
More about Gail Honeyman. Here’s a link to her Wikipedia page.
Toby A. Smith 