Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
2017
Weight: 7 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

This book was given to me by a friend.  I did not know what to expect and knew nothing about the book.  At first, I was blindly led by what was clearly an unreliable narrator, but in time the story unfolded fairly predictably.  Eleanor Oliphant is the epitome of loneliness.  She lives on her own after losing so much at the hands of her own mother.  Her life unfolds quietly and tragically until she is ultimately interrupted by one caring stranger that sets her on a different trajectory.  This trajectory is sometimes hard to believe as the reader, but it is a relief nonetheless.  I did not want to see Eleanor suffer anymore.  Overall, I would not personally recommend it, but plenty of people loved it.  Too each their own!

Pastoralia:Stories

Pastoralia: Stories by George Saunders
2001
Weight:6.7 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

I bought this while I was in college and studying Creative Writing.  I had read some amazing individual Saunder's stories.  Unfortunately, as per usual, this book got lost in the stacks and stacks of books I was collecting faster than I could read them.  It was not my favorite collection, but it had its stronger points.  The first story (and books namesake) about people living in pods in what is essentially a drive thru museum/constant reenactment clearly had eyes into the future.  There is so much there about being an employee in a larger company--a cog in a wheel--and about being monitored and observed (or at least available to be observed) all the time.  A society always pushing for the next odd thing and a consistent unhappiness with that odd thing. 

The last story "The Falls" might have been my favorite.  An anxious overthinker is lost in his thoughts when he finds himself in the position of  seeing two human beings about to die.  Is he a hero?  A coward?  Something in between? 

The Final Solution

The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon
2004
Weight: 10.4 oz
Method of Disposal: Leaving in a lending library

A short story I read for a class in college led me to buy several of his books, including The Final Solution.  It is a pastiche of the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with a nod to the short story, “The Final Problem.” Sherlock Holmes is a retired detective who is interested in a case about a murdered man and a missing bird. He is clearly unsure of who he is apart from detection and what his purpose is until a bird shows up speaking in german, goes missing, and clues are littered throughout. It was fun to read, and I hope it was fun to write!

Mortally Wounded

Mortally Wounded: Stories of Soul Pain, Death and Healing by Michael Kearney, M.D.
1996
Weight:8.8 oz
Method of Disposal: Lending Library

There used to be this magical place called Kudzu where you could buy all sorts of books for next to nothing. I got this book there back in the 90’s. I’m sure I got a whole box of books that day and, for whatever reason, this one was lost to the abyss. It has multiple fluorescent stickers on it. $1.50–Books Sold by the Inch.

I would have been a teenager. What would this book have meant to me then? It is hard to imagine. We spoke a lot about death. In our depressed, angsty, teenage ways. One of our friends died by suicide. We thought we knew all about it. We knew nothing.

I still know nothing though, as I get older, I can see death all around me. Coming for me, coming for those I love. Coming for those loved by those I love. Coming for strangers. Sometimes, late at night, this overwhelms me and I become increasingly anxious and scared. Sometime I think this offers a respite to how exhausting (though wonderful, painful, interesting, exhilarating, confusing) life can be. Sometimes I just want to be able to be better about sitting with my grieving friends and family members and allowing them a safe space to grieve when they need a friend. I thought, I study everything else I don’t understand, why not this? I want to get more comfortable with death.

So, when I found time to read I read Mortally Wounded and when I couldn’t physically read I listened to The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully by Frank Ostaseski. This was a good combination for me. They both have written from their extensive experience working with the dying and with the families of those who are dying/who have died. Frank came across with such kindness and calmness. I felt calm.  I felt open. I felt both authors’ compassion.

I am not done at all. I have a whole stack of books to read. I’m not sure what that will really get me, but it seems like a good place to start. It is definitely a more comfortable place to start. I guess I just hope I have the time to read them and think them through and that death gets no closer in the meantime. There’s no way to know.  That’s the scary part. The people you love can be taken from you at any time and there’s no going back. Here I am. Working myself up before bed again.

Good night, folks.

Heartland

Heartland: A Memoir of Working Hard and Being Broke in the Richest Country on Earth by Sarah Smarsh
2018
Weight: 16 oz
Method of Disposal: Leave in a Lending Library

I am shocked by how negative the negative reviewers of this book are when discussing it. People seem to lose sight of the fact that this is a real woman with a real family that she bravely shared with us. They express irritation with what they seem to think is her blaming the system for not taking care of her family. I really think these folks have missed a lot but, even if they were right, what’s with the vehemence?

I guess I should not dwell on that. It is really not the point, and the book was published to high acclaim. With such a bold title, of course it has attracted some loud naysayers. I felt drawn to the story, particularly the women in her family—their resilience and their strength. They have flaws, of course, but we all do and the less we have been able to trust those who say they love us the higher the walls can grow. One thing that rang loud and clear was how much pregnancy could change the trajectory of a young woman’s life and the impact of poverty on generations of people. 

While I was not, myself, overly keen on the author writing this novel to the baby the author never had, I also felt okay about it. That baby that never existed—that she ensured that she would not have—was clearly a big force in her life and a real reason for where she is currently at in life. It makes sense even if it does not speak to me.

I would recommend reading it.