Eleanor Rigby

This was a treat of a book. The story begins in 1997, when protagonist Liz Dunn is stocking up on movies to get her through the recovery period for her wisdom teeth extraction. She sees the comet Hale-Bopp coursing through the sky and figures that's a sign of major change. A couple of days later, she gets a phone call from the hospital, because an unknown person has come in with her name on his medical alert bracelet. Thus starts a complete overhaul of Liz's solitary life that ought not to be spoiled -- part of the fun of this book is discovering all the twists and turns for yourself.

I really enjoyed this book because of Liz's voice. Because she's spent so much of her life alone and on the fringe of things (her siblings were always more show more interesting to her parents), she has a finely honed capacity for observation. A lot of these observations deal with loneliness vs. solitude, as one might expect from a title like Eleanor Rigby (referencing the Beatles song with the line "All the lonely people, where do they all come from? All the lonely people, where do they all belong?"). Take this quote from page 119 of my edition:

"I've always imagined that regular people are happy to be inside their bodies, whereas lonely people yearn to ditch their carcasses. I suspect lonely people wish they could forget the whole meat-and-bone issue altogether. We're the people most likely to believe in reincarnation simply because we can't believe we were shackled into our meat in the first place. Lonely people want to be dead, yet we're still not quite ready to go---we don't want to miss the action; we want to see who wins next year's Academy Awards."

Thematically, there are a few of the usual Coupland tropes: life in the modern world, musings on death and the afterlife, the End Times and so on -- not to mention solitary or socially isolated people coming to terms with their place in society. But perhaps because of the female narrative voice, this one feels less "Couplandy" than some of his other work, like Gen X or Microserfs. And by "Couplandy" I mean there are no pages full of numbers (jPod), random subconscious words (Microserfs), or abundant pop culture references (both of the previously cited works). These aren't necessarily bad things to have, but because Eleanor Rigby is a more straightforward novel while still dealing with the usual Coupland themes, I would be more likely to recommend it to people who haven't tried Coupland before. show less

Liz Dunn has verged on being invisible for most of her life and she spends much of her time attempting to avoid loneliness. Her dull life is irrevocably altered when she receives a phone call and discovers her name is on the Medic Alert bracelet of a young man she's never met.

Coupland is an excellent writer of literary fiction whom I've always enjoyed and I wasn't disappointed when I picked up this novel. He beautifully writes about the issue of loneliness for a middle-aged single woman living alone in Vancouver. Her voice is clear and the passages in which she reflects on herself and her struggle with loneliness are so evocative. The other characters in her life are equally rich that provide flashes of humour and contrast to Liz. The show more prose is harsh and realistic but beautiful at the same time, and the narrative, while heading to darker places, ultimately arrives in a more optimistic place. show less

I must confess to never having heard of Douglas Coupland until another of his novels, 'Generation X', was recommended to me. I read the blurbs and reviews for both books on Amazon, but chose 'Eleanor Rigby' as my introduction to Coupland's writing, because I could idenitfy with the main character, Liz Dunn. I won't tell you how much, but observations about turning bitter at 30 and being 'invisible' struck a nerve!

This is an emotional story about a modern Eleanor Rigby, from the Beatles song - 'All the lonely people' - whose blank, uneventful and empty life is changed forever when she is reunited with her son. The first person narrative from Liz is honest, funny, slightly random and bittersweet - she is who she is, although she does harp show more on about what it is to be lonely a lot. Her family is mildly dysfunctional, or 'messy', as she calls them, and she has no real friends, only colleagues and acquaintances. Jeremy, the son she had at sixteen and gave away, is possibly the most interesting and rewarding relationship she has - but their happiness at finding each other is cruelly brief.

I could sympathise with Liz's private thoughts, but I don't think that's necessary to enjoy the story. Coupland's writing is sharp, humorous and poetic (my favourite description has to be of the Gothic architecture in Vienna, which is so intricate that it is almost 'dreaming'), and it's impossible not to believe that Liz is what she states she is: real.

My one minor quibble is that the ending is perhaps a little bit too neat, like the romantic daydream of a lonely person rather than a convincing twist, but I won't begrudge Liz her happy ending.

A thoughtful book I shall no doubt read again and again, highlighting quotes and psychoanalysing myself as I go. show less

Love it! The central character is just so complex and funny. The story is all quite sad, yet it's told in such a light manner. Chock full of hilarious observations. I loved everything in the book except one part which I totally hated: the thread that runs through the book about the visions her son sees. Just couldn't follow that and didn't think it fit the tone of the story at all. Totallly worth reading regardless, though!

'Below a certain point, if you keep too quiet, people no longer see you as thoughtful or deep, they simply forget you.'

'Since I don't remember where I was before I was born, why should I be worried about where I go after I die?'

I love reading Coupland, beautiful little nuggets of words that make me stop dead and say YES! This was an interesting story with a few wait, wut? moments in the storyline. Some plot twists that smacked me over the head. Really enjoyed it.

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 show more 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! show less

I loved this one. As could probably be inferred by the title, this is a book about loneliness—a reoccurring theme for Coupland. The narrator, Liz Dunn, is the type of anonymous, forgotten woman described in the Beatles' song, wonderfully fleshed out—I found her incredibly believable and moving. (Coupland in general writes women very well—in other words, like any other character, male or female.) Aside from a bit of weirdness involving some radioactive material and a German prison, this is actually an incredibly realistic, plausible narrative, which, as much as I enjoy wackiness, was much more appropriate to the subject matter (thus making the pair of weird events I mentioned above seem somewhat inappropriate and out of place, but show more it's a relatively small misstep, so whatever). There's a very deep undercurrent of tragedy in this book, but still hope, still wonder—Coupland does bittersweet amazingly well. show less