Eleanor Rigby

The last book I read was just prior to our move. I started to blog it, but didn't get the chance to finish it before everything became too hectic.

After reading this book, I still have to say Douglas Coupland is still one of my favorite authors. In Eleanor Rigby, Coupland tells the story of a woman in her 40's who is not married, lives alone, and has only her work as a source of social activity. She doesn't particularly like her work, but she is good at her job. As her life goes on the same, day in and day out until one day something unexpected changes her life and her world forever. She receives a call from a hospital, where a young man has listed her as his emergency contact. The young man listed her as his mother.

Whenever I read Douglas Coupland's books, I feel like I know the characters. The people he writes about seem like people I've met or worked with before, so his stories always feel familiar and somehow comforting. Douglas Coupland has a knack for telling stories about ordinary people living ordinary lives, but as Coupland develops his characters, it become apparent that they are more complex than they seem at first glance. His characters become strange and extraordinary, after the reader discovers unusual events in their history. Coupland's characters are proof that life story of every person is profound when viewed in the context of what circumstances they have survived.