Eleanor Rigby (novel)
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165674464
2007-10-19T18:03:47Z
142.58.82.11
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[[Image:Elanorrigbybook.jpg|right|thumb]]'''''Eleanor Rigby''''' is a [[2004]] [[novel]] by [[Douglas Coupland]], about a plain, fat and lonely 42-year-old woman. The novel is written as a [[first-person narrative|first-person narrative]] by the main character, Liz Dunn.
The novel centres on the changes to Liz's life when someone from her past unexpectedly re-enters her life. It is written in a light, often comic, tone, but touches on many issues, including [[loneliness]], [[family]], [[vision (religion)|religious visions]] and [[multiple sclerosis]].
==Plot==
Liz Dunn is a 42 year old single woman who has never had a partner and has no friends. She dwells on her loneliness.
Her life changes in 1997 when the [[Comet_Hale-Bopp|Hale-Bopp comet]] appears in the sky, and she meets the child that she gave up for [[adoption]] when she was 16. Her son, Jeremy, is outgoing, funny, troubled and suffers from MS. He has passed through a dozen foster families, and is now 20 years old.
The novel recounts their time together up until Jeremy's death, and then enters the present time, 6 years later, as Liz travels to [[Austria]] at the request of a detective investigating the strange behaviour of Jeremy's father.
The narrative includes a murdered [[cross-dressing|transvestite]], a school trip to [[Rome]], bed salesmanship, an international [[terrorism]] alert, and a [[meteorite]]. The title comes from [[The Beatles]] song ''[[Eleanor Rigby]]'' (alluding to the key theme of Liz's loneliness), which Liz uses as her email address.
== External links ==
* [http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,,1322844,00.html Book review] from ''[[The Guardian]]''
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804E6D91F30F931A35752C0A9639C8B63 Book review] from ''[[The New York Times]]''
[[Category:2004 novels]]
[[Category:Novels by Douglas Coupland]]
[[fr:Eleanor Rigby (roman)]]