Goodnotes Book Summary
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.
First Impressions
There’s something refreshing about how simple and direct Eleanor is; she’s the pragmatic, no-nonsensical type ~ she says what she means without the burdens of being “socially acceptable”. She reminds me very much of Brennan from the show Bones & I like it!
My thoughts
This book was so incredibly touching. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the societal norms we endure ~ they are truly outlandish. For example, why do women insist on wearing uncomfortable shoes? Or why are some purses too small to carry anything ~ what’s the purpose of them then?
It was refreshing, seeing Eleanor come into her own. To witness her isolation and her loneliness slowly turn into connections that eventually evolve into friendships. From the very beginning, it was apparent that she was lonely, though she didn’t consider herself to be. She was alone – a fact, nothing more. Without knowing it or maybe without acknowledging it, she was at a crossroads in her life – she’d either bottom out, likely drinking herself to death or she’d take a chance on a different kind of life – one that made her vulnerable to people (the scariest kind ~ to not just Eleanor but to us all, I’m sure)
Some people, weak people, fear solitude. What they fail to understand is that there’s something very liberating about it; once you realize you don’t need anyone, you can take care of yourself.
It was refreshing to read a story that wasn’t the typical lonely person meeting the love of their life and is introduced to a new type of world trope. Eleanor’s relationship with Raymond is the truest form of friendship – genuine, without expectations, without any pressures of it needing to be anything more than a cup of tea or a walk to the bus stop.
The other concept that drew me in was self-preservation. What Eleanor endures as a child is what fuels nightmares, the love or lack thereof is something no one should ever have to experience & yet she endured.. she endured and survived it. Knowing what she had gone through, her life choices made complete sense. Everything she did, how she interacted with others was all for self-preservation – she just needed to continue to survive.
When Raymond is introduced, she begins taking little chances – having longer conversations, deciding to have lunch with him as opposed to by herself. That’s when the story starts to unfold and it’s beautiful. Eleanor starts to allow herself to open up to others. There is beauty, resilience, and courage in vulnerability ~ all of which Eleanor is & yes, she is completely fine.
