|
Characters |
|
Eleanor
Oliphant Mother Marianne –
sister Raymond
Gibbons – IT Mother Sister June Mullen –
social worker Marie Temple
- therapist Samuel Thom
“Sammy” Laura –
daughter Keith – son Johnnie
Lomond – singer Co-workers: Bob – boss Janey,
Loretta, Bernadette, Billy |
For
Discussion:
NOTE: Page numbers are for the paperback edition.
1.
Do you think Eleanor’s social worker, June
Mullen, could or should have done more?
2.
Did you like the author’s design of giving hints
about Eleanor’s story throughout the first 161 pages? For example:
a.
Page 29: “It was hardly surprising that my
mother had become institutionalized…”
b.
Page 40, after Sammy had fallen: “I started to
dial 999, and then a memory punched me full in the face. I couldn’t do it again…”
c.
Page 48, June Mullen asked Eleanor, “You’re
still of the view that you don’t want to know anything else about the incident…”
d.
Page 135: “I had no one, and it was futile to
wish it were otherwise. After all, it was not more than I deserved.”
e.
Page 148 when Laura was brushing out Eleanor’s
hair in the salon: “A thought kept nudging me…me, brushing someone else’s
hair? Yes, someone smaller than me…”
3.
What did you think about Eleanor’s observation
of fast food: “I wondered why humans would willingly queue at a counter to
request processed food, then carry it to a table which was not even set, and
then eat it from the paper? Afterward,
despite having paid for it, the customers themselves are responsible for
clearing away the detritus. Very strange” (page 123).
4.
Discuss Eleanor’s progress through therapy with
Marie Temple. Would the same therapy
have been successful earlier in her life?
5.
As Eleanor more and more entered the world, what
did you think about her observations?
Which surprised you? Which did
you think are really true and insightful or totally wrong? Some examples are:
a.
Page 125, regarding tattoos: “How marvelous to
be able to read someone’s skin.
b.
Page 161: “I realized that such small gestures…could
mean so much.”
c.
Page 144, after exchanging texts with Raymond:
“I fear for our nations’ standard of literacy.”
d.
Page 193: “Being feminine apparently meant
taking an eternity to do anything, and involved quite a bit of advanced
planning.”
e.
Page 197: “It takes a long time to learn to live
with loss, assuming you ever manage it.”
f.
Page 198: “I’d worked out that social success is
often built on pretending just a little.”
g.
Page 266: “I realized what I felt…happy. It was such a strange, unusual feeling –
light, calm, as though I’d swallowed sunshine.”
h.
Page 307 (for us in this time of wearing masks):
“Your voice changes when you’re smiling, it alters the sound somehow.”
6.
Discuss your reading experience. Did you like the book? Did you enjoy reading it?
7.
The story is going to be made into a movie. Do you think the story will be easily
adaptable to a movie format?
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