Thursday, December 26, 2019

Top ten books about loneliness

Fay Bound Alberti's newest book is A Biography of Loneliness: The History of an Emotion.

At the Guardian, she tagged ten "books for what they have to say individually, as well as what they represent collectively, about the historically changing meanings of loneliness." One title on the list:
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017)

The winner of the 2017 Costa first novel award, this book focuses on the eponymous social misfit, who is isolated and lonely. An abusive childhood, facial scarring and her social awkwardness contribute to her sense of being misunderstood. When asked how she is, she always replies: “Absolutely fine.” It is only when she befriends Raymond, or is befriended by him, that she begins to understand how to have a friend, and to belong.
Read about another entry on the list.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is among Liese O'Halloran Schwarz's top ten books about self-reinvention.

--Marshal Zeringue