Jana is on maternity leave, so has not given us any new subjects. Therefore, I try to come up with a new subject myself So, I've decided to come up with a different new subject myself.
These are four totally different books. But all worth reading.
The story is about a small village in Friesland and the changes it underwent in the first half of the 20th century, changing from farming to a commuting place, the influence of modern technology on a people that had lived off the land for centuries.
Still, this is one of the most difficult books I have ever read. It is hard to follow the stream of consciousness, actually it is hard to follow the stream at all. A lot of books are easier once you get into them, not this one. I had the feeling with every chapter it got more confusing. However, the longer I distance myself from this novel, the more it makes sense and the bigger an impact does it have on me. I am glad I read it.
N
Wiesel, Eli "Night" - 1958 Elie Wiesel wrote this novel as a report about his life in the concentration camps Buchenwald and Auschwitz/Oswiecim.
The author comes from a Mormon house and was home-schooled - or rather not. I'm not a big fan of home-schooling since I saw too many negative examples. This is one of the worst. Mind you, I have to admit that I know a few good examples, however, they still don't convince me that it is a good idea. In those cases, the parents themselves were highly educated and could pass that on very well. I have helped many kids to catch up in school in languages and math but I would have pitied my children if I would have had to teach them any science subject.
We are going back to the time between the two wars, we can see both the life in Ankara and Berlin during that time behind a classic set-up. A man and a woman, a love story that doesn't have much hope.
The story of a young man trying to find himself, a story about James Joyce himself, his character Stephen Dedalus is partly autobiographical. Stephen comes from a poor Irish family who goes to a religious boarding school which he has to leave for financial reasons.
This summarizes almost all of Europe's history as well as the North American one, compares both "empires" in chronological order and gives a great overview over today's' troubles, as well. There is so much information with so many details in this book, it's amazing how the author managed to put it all on under 600 pages.
This memoir wasn't written by a president. It wasn't even written by a president-hopeful. Barack Obama had just finished his law school and was starting in politics, so I believe he wanted a real book about his inheritence.
I would have never thought I'd enjoy a graphical novel this much. This is not just another comic strip, it's a memoir, a historical novel. This is the story of a young child growing up in wartime.
A favourite classic book for everyone who was lucky enough to read it at the time. A wonderful story about an orphan who gets the chance to get a higher education because a rich man is willing to pay for it. His only condition is that she writes a letter to him about her life once a month.
After a couple of pages, it was the first time that I would have liked to throw this book away. But it was a book for our international online book club and I hoped it would get better. It didn't.
I am not the biggest fan of all those mystical stories but I thought this might be interesting. It wasn't. And the worst bit, the author had a terrible style of organizing his writing, he was jumping from one part to the next without any warning or any connection between the parts. And I'm not prude but could have done without the detailed description of sexual abuse, violence and gay activities.
But I seem to have been the only one with such a strong reaction. Here are remarks from the group:
Kiss of the Fur Queen is considered a semi-autobiographical novel. In his 2021 memoir 'Permanent Astonishment' Tomson Highway recounts the early years of his life with his younger brother Rene Highway. (1954-1990)
Comment: This absolutely makes perfect sense. I did not look it up, but felt there was real history behind much of the story, and very well researched, if not all personal experiences.
I had mixed feelings about Kiss of the Fur Queen, but overall I am glad I read it. The story follows two Cree brothers from northern Canada from somewhere around 1950s into the late 1980s. Through their lives, the book shows the effects of the Canadian residential school system and the pressure placed on Indigenous people to abandon their language, culture, and traditions.
What interested me most was learning about Cree culture, mythology, and traditional stories. I enjoy reading about different cultures and legends, and this was something I knew very little about before reading the book. The mysterious Fur Queen character and the mythological elements gave the story a unique atmosphere. At the same time, I appreciated the deeper themes of identity, faith, culture, and how people cope with trauma. The brothers are caught between Cree traditions and Christianity, and I thought the novel explored this conflict in a powerful way.
The writing is often beautiful, especially the descriptions of nature, dreams, and traditional stories. At the same time, this is a very dark novel. Much of the story deals with abuse, violence, loss, and the long-lasting effects of trauma. There were parts that I found difficult to read. However, I do not think these elements were included only for shock value. They are connected to real historical experiences, which makes them important to the story, even when they are uncomfortable.
This is not an easy book, and I can understand why some readers may dislike it because of the difficult subject matter. In some places I felt the focus on suffering was overwhelming. At the same time, I think the novel offers an important perspective that many of us outside Canada may not know much about. For me, it was a valuable read because it combined history, culture, mythology, and personal stories in a memorable way.
There you have it, some people were glad they had read this. I didn't.
Book Description:
"Born into a magical Cree world in snowy northern Manitoba, Champion and Ooneemeetoo Okimasis are all too soon torn from their family and thrust into the hostile world of a Catholic residential school. Their language is forbidden, their names are changed to Jeremiah and Gabriel, and both boys are abused by priests.
As young men, estranged from their own people and alienated from the culture imposed upon them, the Okimasis brothers fight to survive. Wherever they go, the Fur Queen--a wily, shape-shifting trickster--watches over them with a protective eye. For Jeremiah and Gabriel are destined to be artists. Through music and dance they soar."
I have read this book in 2015. This was my review back then:
"As most of my friends know, I am not a big fan of short stories. However, I read 'The Namesake' by the same author and really loved it. And several of my friends had recommended 'Interpreter of Maladies' to me, one had even left a copy to me when she was moving, I just had to read it.
I was pleasantly surprised. What a lovely collection of short stories, some of them even interlink, so it doesn't seem like there are a hundred small stories that you forget right away. On the contrary, Jhumpa Lahiri has created some wonderful characters that you won't forget that easily. She incorporates all sorts of problems anyone might face who lives in a culture different from the one they or their parents grew up with. She describes some lovely people (and some not so lovely ones) who are all confronted with a life in two different parts of this world. Since the author is Indian herself and grew up in the United States, this is the background to almost all her stories. Having lived abroad (though not in such a different culture as the characters in the book) almost half of my life myself, I can certainly relate to a few of them.
Jhumpa Lahiri has a good, elegant style, her stories just flow, I will certainly read more of her writings."
A while ago, I joined an online group called Literary Wives and this was the next book on our list. So, I re-read the book because it was a while ago that I read it and we read it with a different topic in mind. What does the author say about the wives in his book?
Most of these stories take place in India and/or around Indian couples.
A Temporary Matter
We look at the end of a marriage. A couple suffers from the loss of a baby that was stillborn. They have nothing to say to each other even though they try hard.
When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine
In this story, a woman remembes a man from East Pakistan/Bangladesh coming to visit her Indian family in the States while his family is back home. It is more a story about the man than about this particular wife but it still gives us an insight into the life of the Indian wives in the US.
Interpreter of Maladies
This is about an Indian American family visiting the country of their heritage. We learn even more about the life of such a wife, she is so lonely. I can relate because as a non-working wife abroad, you don't have the sort of social life your husband and children habe and it is hard work to try and find your place.
A Real Durwan (doorkeeper)
This story is about an eldery woman who is a stairsweeper and lives on the roof ot the building she works in.
While this is less about the situation of a wife, it tells us about poverty and how you can be even poorer than all the others around you.
Sexy
We're back in the US. Again, not the story of a wife but of a mistress. And of a husband who is leaving his wife. A good reflection about this kind of situation from every point of view, the wife and the mistress.
Mrs. Sen's
Her we have the story of an Indian woman living in the States who doesn't drive and doesn't have any contact outside the house. She looks after an eleven year old boy after school and teaches him about their food. Probably one of my favourite stories. I really felt for the lady.
This Blessed House
A yound married Indian couple in Connecticat who moves into their new house and find many Christian relics. The wife puts them on the mantel of the fireplace. A good story about how different people can have different opinions about what to keep and what not and what to embrace. And how they have to work on your marriage.
The Treatment of Bibi Haldar
A woman suffers from seizures and a doctor recommends to marry her off. But it costs money to get married and you have to find a suitor. So, her relatives rather let her live on the roof. This story focuses on the treatment of illness and of prejudices.
The Third and Final Continent
This guy has moved from India to London and then to the States where he rents a room from a 103-year-old lady. They develop a good connection until he gets married and moves out. We follow his and his wife's life and how they get to know each other.
As I mentioned in the stories, they are not all about the wives, some of them don't relate to their status at all, they are just there. But where they are mentioned, we learn a lot about the differences between Indian and (mainly) American wives, their rights and their duties.
I think it also helps to understand why immigrants so often stay among themselves. It is not just about the language, though that doesn't help if nobody teaches them the host language, it is more about the culture and understanding each other. Especially the wives are invisible, they disappear in the crowd. Especially if it has been an arranged marriage, the husband often doesn't understand his wife.
From the back cover:
"Navigating between the Indian traditions they've inherited and the baffling new world, the characters in Jhumpa Lahiri's elegant, touching stories seek love beyond the barriers of culture and generations. In 'A Temporary Matter,' published in The New Yorker, a young Indian-American couple faces the heartbreak of a stillborn birth while their Boston neighborhood copes with a nightly blackout. In the title story, an interpreter guides an American family through the India of their ancestors and hears an astonishing confession. Lahiri writes with deft cultural insight reminiscent of Anita Desai and a nuanced depth that recalls Mavis Gallant."
Jhumpa Lahiri received the Pulitzer Prize for "Interpreter of Maladies" in 2000.
#6Degrees is a monthly link-up hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. I love the idea. Thank you, Kate. See more about this challenge, its history, further books and how I found this here.
It doesn't happen often that I have heard of a starter book or the author before it comes up as a starter book (only read 13 of them).
And because I always wanted to read another book by Stefan Zweig, I ordered this straight away and read it. So, this month, you can see the description on my post.
I just had to start with the other book I read by Stefan Zweig and then I'll carry on with the words in the titles.
Stefan Zweig wrote this book in the 1930s—nearly a hundred years ago. However, it was not published until 1982, when it was released posthumously from his literary estate. The publisher revised the manuscript fragment and supplemented it with notes left by the author.
The story is set in Austria shortly after the First World War. In truth, it could have taken place in any of the post-war nations. Many men never returned home from the war; most people could barely find work and eke out a very meager existence.
Then, an invitation arrives from some wealthy relatives, inviting Christine—a young postal clerk—to stay at a hotel. She is catapulted into a completely alien world—one, however, that does not last very long.
After this holiday, she meets Ferdinand, a returning war veteran who is struggling just as much as she is.
It is a sad story—a bleak story. Stefan Zweig himself did not lead a happy life, and this is reflected in his work here. Yet, he possesses a rare gift—one unmatched by almost any other writer—for gazing into the human soul and making it accessible to us.
I absolutely must make a point of reading another book by this magnificent writer. Do you have any suggestions?
Book Description:
"The post-office girl is Christine, who looks after her ailing mother and toils in a provincial Austrian post office in the years just after the Great War. One afternoon, as she is dozing among the official forms and stamps, a telegraph arrives addressed to her. It is from her rich aunt, who lives in America and writes requesting that Christine join her and her husband in a Swiss Alpine resort.
After a dizzying train ride, Christine finds herself at the top of the world, enjoying a life of privilege that she had never imagined. But Christine’s aunt drops her as abruptly as she picked her up, and soon the young woman is back at the provincial post office, consumed with disappointment and bitterness.
Then she meets Ferdinand, a wounded but eloquent war veteran who is able to give voice to the disaffection of his generation. Christine’s and Ferdinand’s lives spiral downward, before Ferdinand comes up with a plan which will be either their salvation or their doom.
Never before published in English, this extraordinary book is an unexpected and haunting foray into noir fiction by one of the masters of the psychological novel."
"Blütenzauber der gelben Schwertlilien" "The Floral Magic of Yellow Irises"
Frank says to this picture:
"Ich mag die Schwertlilien. Mich faszinieren die Formen der Blüten und die verschiedenen Farben. Nicht um sonst ist der botanische Name der Schwertlinien, Iris, von der griechischen Göttin des Regenbogens, Iris, abgeleitet ist. Bisher habe ich Schwertlilien in Blau und Violett gemalt."
"I like irises. I am fascinated by the shapes of their blossoms and their various colors. It is not without reason that the botanical name for irises—*Iris*—is derived from Iris, the Greek goddess of the rainbow. So far, I have painted irises in blue and violet."
Irises are not my favourite flowers and yellow is also not my favourite flower colour but isn't this a fabulous pictures???
Some of you might have noticed that I was quite absent from the blog this month. That's because I have been ill for several weeks. I am geting back on my feet again slowly but surely but it might take a while until I am back to normal. I have prepared a few posts for the beginning of the month that I will post but other than that, it will take a while.
Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.
Like the last two weeks, this doesn't fit my usual genres, but I have read a few books with the word "Secret" in the title. So I'm going with that twist. All of the books are fantastic but very different. And they span a lot of different countries and cultures, Australia, China, Syria and the USA.
Grann, David "The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder" - 2023
What an interesting story. Not just because of what happened with this ship in particular but about life on a ship at the time. I have read a few books about voyages on a boat (e.g. Master and Commander) and they are always interesting. This one is about life during a war on a ship, a shipwreck, a mutiny. This is the background to many novels we read from that time where there are sailors, I think especially about stories by Jane Austen whose brothers were sailors and who included seafaring men as well as the clergy (which represented her father and a brother) in most of her books. This book adds to those stories.
So, if you want to know more about the life on those vessels, this is the book for you.
Oh, did I mention that this is based on a true story?
Book Description:
"A page-turning story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as 'the prize of all the oceans,' it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
But then . . . six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.
The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound."
"Words and Peace" is a blog I've been following for a couple of years and I have always found some interesting new (or old) books there, especially French ones.
On her page, I found the posts by "The Classics Club" asking us to create a post, this time before next Sunday 17th May 2026, and list our choice of any twenty books that remain "to be read" on our Classics Club list. They'll then post a number from 1 through 20 and we have time until Sunday 7th July 2026 to read it.
This time, I only read the one book from my old list (Classics Spin #43) (Fathers and Sons). I do want to concentrate on a couple of books in the near future, so I have listed only ten books and repeated them. The books are all in chronological order.
Dumas, Alexandre fils "Camille: The Lady of the Camellias" (La Dame aux Camélias) - 1848
Conrad, Joseph "Victory: An Island Tale" - 1915
Hamilton, Cicely "William - an Englishman" - 1920
Hesse, Hermann "Wir nehmen die Welt nur zu ernst" [We just take the world too seriously] - 1928
Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.
As I said last week, I'm not a big fantasy reader. So, my mysterious houses might not be the same as those of other bloggers. Northanger Abbey tells us of an old house and a family with (maybe) secrets. Jonathan Strange ... well, we have two magicians here. North Woods is indeed a house with a long history and lots of stories. And The Clockmaker's Daughter makes the house mysterious. The most mysterious one is maybe The Chibineko Kitchen where we can get connected to the dead.
Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here. This week's topic is May Flowers.
I found quite a few books about tulips which shows, how long I lived in the Netherlands. And two with the name of my favourite flower, peonies, the rest of the stories feature gardens.
This is the second book by Ian McEwan that I've started. I finished the first one, but I didn't like it at all. I stopped reading this one after a third of the way (150 pages); it was simply too boring, bloated, rambling, and tedious. I just can't find the right word to express how much this book bored me.
It could have been a good book in principle. But the author simply fails to engage the reader. The writing style is incredibly stiff, the whole approach utterly bland and outdated. The protagonist's life isn't just boring; you want to shake him. The eternal victim—what have others always done to me…
And this is supposed to be his masterpiece?
This will definitely be my last book by Ian McEwan. No matter what anyone else tells me, I won't touch another one. There are so many good books and outstanding writers out there.
Book Description:
"When the world is still counting the cost of the Second World War and the Iron Curtain has closed, eleven-year-old Roland Baines's life is turned upside down. 2,000 miles from his mother's protective love, stranded at an unusual boarding school, his vulnerability attracts piano teacher Miss Miriam Cornell, leaving scars as well as a memory of love that will never fade.
Now, when his wife vanishes, leaving him alone with his tiny son, Roland is forced to confront the reality of his restless existence. As the radiation from Chernobyl spreads across Europe, he begins a search for answers that looks deep into his family history and will last for the rest of his life.
From the Suez Crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the fall of the Berlin Wall to the current pandemic and climate change, Roland sometimes rides with the tide of history, but more often struggles against it. Haunted by lost opportunities, he seeks solace through every possible means - music, literature, friends, sex, politics and, finally, love cut tragically short, then love ultimately redeemed. His journey raises important questions for us all. Can we take full charge of the course of our lives without damage to others? How do global events beyond our control shape our lives and our memories? And what can we really learn from the traumas of the past?
Epic, mesmerising and deeply humane, Lessons is a chronicle for our times - a powerful meditation on history and humanity through the prism of one man's lifetime."
My youngest son read this in 3rd grade and it was his favourite book for ages.
So, when the 1961 Club read somehow went wrong for me (see here, my book was published in 1962), I decided to pick another one from that year. So this is my official book for our 1961 challenge.
I asked my son whether he could remember why he loved this book so much. We are neither American nor big animal lovers nor did we live in the middle of nowhere. He said that it's a long time since he read it (of course, it must have been more than 20 years ago) and that he just remembers it being a nice story.
I guess you have to be an eight to ten year old boy to really love that story. It was well written but I think I was a little too old for that.
But it deserves to be a classic children's book, emphasis on children.
Book Description:
"For fans of Old Yeller and Shiloh, Where the Red Fern Grows is a beloved classic that captures the powerful bond between man and man’s best friend. This special edition includes new material, including a note to readers from Newbery Medal winner and Printz Honor winner Clare Vanderpool, a letter from Wilson Rawls to aspiring writers, original jacket artwork, and more.
Billy has long dreamt of owning not one, but two dogs. So when he’s finally able to save up enough money for two pups to call his own—Old Dan and Little Ann—he’s ecstatic. It’s true that times are tough, but together they’ll roam the hills of the Ozarks.
Soon Billy and his hounds become the finest hunting team in the valley. Stories of their great achievements spread throughout the region, and the combination of Old Dan’s brawn, Little Ann’s brains, and Billy’s sheer will seems unbeatable. But tragedy awaits these determined hunters—now friends—and Billy learns that hope can grow out of despair."
Here are my #ThrowbackThursday reviews from May 2016.
Aboulela, Leila "The Kindness of Enemies" - 2015 Such an interesting book. A lot about history and also a lot about current politics. A woman with a Russian mother and Sudanese father who lives in Scotland and researches the life of a 19th century Muslim leader. What's not to like?
The author has a special way of telling a story, a quiet, almost dreamy way. I think the author is one of the best ones German language writers at the moment.
After having lost his wife, Philipp Perlman hosts a linguistics conference in Italy. While there, he reflects on his life and notices that he has lost all his willpower to go on. We follow him in his endeavour to find a reason for getting out of his predicament.
Mitchell, David "Cloud Atlas" - 2004 An interesting book. Quite different from anything I've read before. It's almost like several short stories in one book, only they do belong to each other.
Oates, Joyce Carol"The Man Without a Shadow" - 2016 This story captivates you from the first page and doesn't release you until the last page has been turned. We get to learn the characters all so well, their thoughts, their hopes, their ambitions, their wishes for the future. Only, that for one of them in this novel there is no real future, it always ends after seven minutes. One of the two main characters suffers from amnesia, the other one is a scientist who studies his brain in particular and thereby hopes to find more insight into the human brain in general.
A heartfelt memoir by a woman who was a good and kind person, who wanted the best for everybody. After her father died, she struggled to keep up his apple farm, more or less on her own. What a tough life, quite hard work, even for a man it would have been hard.
Honeyman, Gail "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" - 2017
Eleanor Oliphant is definitely not fine. Saying that she struggles with social skills as they do in the description is quite an understatement. I am sure she has some sort of mental illness or suffers from an event that happened earlier in her life.
I had some trouble getting into the story or into Eleanor. I am very sociable, I always like to have lots of people around me and can talk to anyone who is only lightly inclined to respond. I am sure Eleanor would not appreciate me. And I don't want to intrude, so I guess I would speak a sentence with her and that would be it. I am sorry about that but that's just it. She doesn't really want to talk to anyone, right?
The story itself was quite interesting, though, how she meets this colleague who helps her getting acquainted with this world, the writing wasn't bad, either. But I couldn't warm to this story.
Two quotes that I completely agree with:
"... the front door of the hospital ... a woman in a wheelchair – she’d brought her drip out with her, on wheels, so that she could destroy her health at the same time as taxpayers’ money was being used to try and restore it."
I always get mad when I see people smoking in front of a hospital, especially just right outside a hospital where everyone has to pass, sick people, visitors ... Hospitals and its surroundings should be a smoke-free zone.
and
"Sport is a mystery to me. In primary school, sports day was the one day of the year when the less academically gifted students could triumph, winning prizes for jumping fastest in a sack, or running from Point A to Point B more quickly than their classmates. How they loved to wear those badges on their blazers the next day! As if a silver in the egg-and-spoon race was some sort of compensation for not understanding how to use an apostrophe."
... or get your times-tables right or do anything that will get you somewhere in this life!
"Our book club had a very positive discussion about the book. Most members rated it highly, and one of the strongest shared reactions was how much our view of Eleanor changed as the novel progressed. She may initially seem rigid, socially awkward, overly formal, or emotionally distant, but by the end we felt genuine warmth toward her, were invested in her future, and sincerely wished her well.
A major part of the conversation focused on Eleanor’s neurodivergent traits and how they were portrayed. Given the nature of our group, this aspect of her character was immediately recognizable rather than speculative. Her literal thinking, reliance on routine, difficulty reading unspoken social norms, and unusual communication style all felt authentic to many readers. What interested us more was how these traits intersected with trauma, loneliness, and years of isolation. The novel was praised for allowing that complexity without reducing her to any single label.
Loneliness was another central theme in the discussion. Many readers felt the book captured a particularly modern kind of isolation: someone who is intelligent, employed, capable, and outwardly functioning, yet profoundly disconnected from other people. Eleanor is not excluded from society in any obvious sense, but instead seems to exist beside it, unable to fully participate. This subtle portrayal of loneliness resonated strongly with the group.
We also talked extensively about trauma, addiction, and coping mechanisms. Eleanor’s drinking was generally seen not as recklessness, but as a form of self-medication and emotional numbing. Her routines, detachment, and narrow life structure felt less like random dysfunction and more like survival strategies that had become fixed over time. Several members noted how realistically the novel shows pain becoming embedded in everyday habits.
Spoiler:
The revelation of the dead mother led to one of the most engaged parts of the conversation. Readers saw this as a powerful representation of how abuse can continue internally long after the abuser is gone. The mother’s voice remains active through criticism, shame, and control, shaping Eleanor’s life even in death. Many felt this was one of the novel’s strongest psychological insights.
* * *
Relationships were another important topic. We appreciated that the story avoids a simplistic romantic rescue arc. Raymond was especially valued because his everyday kindness, patience, and consistency give Eleanor a model of safe human connection. Rather than dramatically 'saving' her, he helps create the conditions in which she can slowly begin to emerge from isolation and reconnect with life. Many readers felt this understated portrayal of friendship was one of the book’s greatest strengths. (I do agree there.)
Language and translation also became a particularly interesting part of the discussion. Some members read the novel in English, some in Finnish, and one in Russian, which allowed for direct comparison. Eleanor’s character is strongly shaped through voice: her formal diction, blunt literalism, unusual phrasing, and emotional reserve. We discussed how each translation inevitably influences how readers perceive her. The portrayal of the mother was especially interesting here, since tone, cruelty, manipulation, and emotional pressure can shift subtly depending on language.
We also discussed the novel’s balance of humour and pain. Eleanor’s voice often creates comedy through precision, bluntness, and social mismatch, yet beneath that humour lies real emotional suffering. Many readers felt the book handled this contrast skilfully, allowing warmth and sadness to coexist without either feeling forced.
Overall, the group agreed that Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is an intelligent, humane, and emotionally perceptive novel. It succeeds not only as a story of trauma and recovery, but as a reminder that people who seem merely difficult, odd, or distant are often carrying far more complexity than others realise. The fact that Eleanor ended as someone we genuinely cared about was, for many of us, the clearest sign of the book’s success."
Book Description:
"Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . ."
Top Five Tuesday was originally created by Shanah @ Bionic Book Worm, but is now hosted by Meeghan @ Meeghan Reads. To participate, link your post back to Meeghan’s blog or leave a comment on her weekly post. I found this on Davida's Page @ The Chocolate Lady.
Since I am just as fond of them as they are, I jump at the chance to share my lists with them! Have a look at their page, there are lots of other bloggers who share their lists here.
This week's topic is Authors. A while ago, I made a list of many of my favourite authors (see here) and could easily choose ten of them. But I thought it would be more fun to present some German authors. I think everyone knows that I love authors like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Günter Grass, Thomas Mann, but I thought I'd introduce you to some contemporary German authors that are all worth reading. Not all of their books have been translated but there is at least one from all of them.
