By Liz
Book Review: Eleanor: A Novel by Jason Gurley
Official FC Rating:
How does one single decision, or event, impact the future? It’s
a question that many people think at some point or another. Every so often
thoughts like these may cross our minds: “What if I had done this instead of that? Could it have prevented that
from happening? Could I have done something to change these circumstances? Is it my fault?” These are a few of the
questions explored in Jason Gurley’s surreal and heart wrenching novel, Eleanor (which has nothing to do with
Eleanor Roosevelt, since I was asked this 800 times while I was reading this).
Long before Eleanor was born, tragedy strikes her family
that seems to leave them with a family curse. Then, in 1985, Eleanor’s twin
sister tragically dies, which puts her entire family in further emotional turmoil.
Eight years later, when Eleanor is 14, she walks through a door in her school
cafeteria, and exits into another world. She doesn’t return to her own world
until many hours later. From that point onwards, her life is never the same.
You’d think based on that summary that I would understand
going in this book was going to be sad, but nope. I was not prepared for ALL OF
THE ACTUAL TEARS I WOULD SHED. Gurley certainly did an amazing job conveying
emotion and creating stunning images through his words. I loved how he described
the other worlds, especially the realm that he calls the rift. It was one of
those novels that evoked both feelings and imagery, which makes for a great
novel. The novel also deals with some fascinating themes, which Gurley handled
in ways that I found both exceptional at points, and disappointing at others.
Death. Alternative universes. A dysfunctional family.
Bending of time. These are all intriguing concepts to me that are featured in
Eleanor. The themes
of this novel actually reminded of a couple novels I read in the summer of 2015
,
A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth
Ozeki, and
Norwegian
Wood by Haruki Murakami. However, in my opinion,
Eleanor differs greatly from those two novels in how the main
conflicts in its plot were addressed. Gurley, in some ways, uses escapist plot
devices rather than tackle depression, specifically, in any kind of realistic
way. I think this is likely a classic case of Deus ex Machina because the
conclusion of this novel was almost
too
satisfying.
From this point forward there will be some major spoilers. Don’t
continue reading if you plan to read Eleanor
yourself!
Ozeki, Murakami, and Gurley’s novels all use surrealism in
fantastic ways that make you question our own world. Each of their novels have bizarre
elements, but unlike Ozeki and Murakami, Gurley uses the other worldly aspects
of his story to literally solve the conflict his characters were facing. This
brings us back to the main theme of the novel, which is the question of “what
impact could one event, one decision, have upon the future?” Gurley’s answer to
this in Eleanor is everything. The decision Eleanor’s
namesake, her grandmother, made to swim into the sea while she was pregnant,
thus killing herself and her unborn child alter her family’s future. This event
devastates the family to such a degree that the answer to fixing the problem
was, in the end, setting the clock back so Eleanor’s grandmother never kills herself.
It was one of those conclusions that really shouldn’t have
surprised me, and admittedly, certain elements of the book became predictable,
like Mea actually being Eleanor’s dead twin sister, Esmerelda. I don’t mind
predictability in novels (unless it is painfully cliché), but in the case of Eleanor, what bothered me was that the
other worlds became the tool to handle problems in Eleanor’s family that are
very much the result of real problems we have in society.
Eleanor’s grandmother was very clearly battling depression.
She married very young, and got pregnant with Eleanor’s mother shortly after
her marriage, which led to her having to drop out of college and quit her
passion, competitive swimming. As she is pregnant with her second child, she
begins to question her choices, and, to some degree, resent motherhood due to her
depression. She doesn’t want to go through a second pregnancy because she feels
that, at times, motherhood has taken away some of her happiness, and of her own
self.
The depression Eleanor’s grandmother faces, her feelings of
disappointment with motherhood, and the fact that she didn’t really want to be
a mother to begin with, are real problems that women face today. And Gurley,
not only doesn’t address these problems in a meaningful way, but uses Eleanor’s
grandmother’s depression as the central point of the whole novel. She was the sole reason the lives of her
family members were ruined. I don’t
think this is the message we should send to young women. Now, should Eleanor’s
grandmother have killed herself? No, but Eleanor’s actions were the reflection
of a society that puts too much on women’s shoulders (to put it lightly).
It also leaves the message that a woman should sacrifice
everything to put her family first. The novel wouldn’t have necessarily set
that message if the novel goes on to show how Eleanor’s grandmother does end up
resolving her issues without committing suicide. But nah. It’s just implied
that everything gets magically fixed, more or less.
~~End Spoilers~~
From all that, it sounds like I disliked the novel, but I
truly didn’t! It was a wonderful, albeit sad, book to read. I do recommend this book,
but it’s a novel to be taken at face value. While the novel doesn’t examine
societal or philosophical problems in a way I usually prefer, the fantastical
elements were grabbing and Gurley’s descriptions were fun in a way that makes
you want to draw out the scene. If you’re down for a good cry, or three, and
enjoy fantasy, this novel is up your alley.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the Blogging For Books program in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.
