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JESS JUST READS

A BOOK REVIEW BLOG

September 25, 2016

Eleanor by Jason Gurley

September 25, 2016

Jason Gurley’s Eleanor is a literary fantasy novel that follows the lives of identical twins Eleanor and Esmeralda, whose lives are affected not only by misery, tragedy and unlikely circumstances, but they are moulded by otherworldly, fantastical events.

Don’t be discouraged by the fact that Eleanor is classed as a fantasy novel. At first I was deterred and didn’t know what to expect. But Jason Gurley has constructed wonderful prose and a lot of this novel is set in a contemporary, American town.

The novel travels across a few different time periods so that the reader can understand numerous tragedies that befell the Witt family. At the beginning of the book, we’re introduced to a young five year old girl called Eleanor, who’s mother enters the ocean for an evening swim and does not resurface. But the novel is not about this Eleanor, but her granddaughter, also named Eleanor.

Years later, in 1985, the granddaughter Eleanor is in a car accident alongside her mother Agnes and her twin sister Esmerelda. Her twin sister is unfortunately killed, and over the next eight years, Agnes’ guilt, resentment and shame drives her to become a withdrawn, alcoholic mother who blames Eleanor for the death of Esmerelda.

What begins as a beautiful, heartbreaking coming-of-age novel about Eleanor taking care of her sick mother and trying desperately to still live a normal life soon becomes quite a different novel. Eleanor’s life is disrupted when she starts disappearing in front of her family and friends, losing time as she is transported to another world. In this other world, Eleanor meets Mea, who lives in a fish bowl where she can see all of time and space. The reader is also introduced to The Keeper, a woman who holds omnipotent power over a grey forest and resents Eleanor for invading her domain.

At first, Eleanor’s disappearance and transportation to these other worlds seems to be conceived by an unrestrained imagination. But as the reader delves further into the book and the complex make up of the family timeline, we realise that Eleanor really is being transported to a ‘limbo’ world in which her sister Esmerelda ended up when she was killed in the car accident eight years earlier.

Jason Gurley has crafted a dysfunctional family with smooth, easy to read prose. Eleanor’s family is fractured over the eight years since Esmerelda’s death, and when Eleanor is unknowingly transported out of her contemporary, ordinary world into the strange and dreamlike world that her sister now inhabits, she is confused and doesn’t know what is happening to her. She is injured quite significantly every time she is transported back to her world, and so much time has passed that she finds it extremely difficult to explain her absences.

Despite being a beautifully written, well-rounded novel, the alternate timelines and the interchange between worlds forms a disjointed narrative. The reader is left confused at times, uncertain about the hidden meaning or significance of certain plot points. Some sections of the novel, particularly the chapters following The Keeper, seem undeveloped and the constant interchange between worlds jolts the reader and disinterests them. The story did feel like it dragged on a little bit, and I found myself wishing it would end about 100 pages before it actually did.

Eleanor is a novel that plays with time, and it explores grief, circumstance, consequences and family. It is certainly an intriguing, daring novel with both literary elements and fantasy fiction tropes. The characters are engaging, dimensional and raw – I’d recommend Eleanor to fantasy readers and also literary fiction readers who aren’t deterred by the fantastical elements woven throughout.

Leave a Comment · Labels: 6/10, Adult Fiction, Book Reviews, Fantasy Tagged: adult fiction, book reviews, eleanor, fantasy, jason gurley, literary

July 6, 2015

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

July 6, 2015

Fiona Maye is a High Court judge in London presiding over cases in family court. She is fiercely intelligent, well respected, and deeply immersed in the nuances of her particular field of law. Often the outcome of a case seems simple from the outside, the course of action to ensure a child’s welfare obvious. But the law requires more rigor than mere pragmatism, and Fiona is expert in considering the sensitivities of culture and religion when handing down her verdicts.

But Fiona’s professional success belies domestic strife. Her husband, Jack, asks her to consider an open marriage and, after an argument, moves out of their house. His departure leaves her adrift, wondering whether it was not love she had lost so much as a modern form of respectability; whether it was not contempt and ostracism she really fears. She decides to throw herself into her work, especially a complex case involving a seventeen-year-old boy whose parents will not permit a lifesaving blood transfusion because it conflicts with their beliefs as Jehovah’s Witnesses. But Jack doesn’t leave her thoughts, and the pressure to resolve the case—as well as her crumbling marriage—tests Fiona in ways that will keep readers thoroughly enthralled until the last stunning page.

I really wanted to like this short novel because it’s written by Ian McEwan, but truthfully, I found it slow and dry.

The main character seems a little devoid of emotion, and maybe that’s the point (her husband wants her blessing to have an affair). But when she meets a child whose parents refuse a life-saving because of their religious beliefs, she still seems to have the personality of a stone.

The story weaves between the apparent breakdown of her marriage and the court case, and the most interesting and engaging part of the entire novel is the during the court case when she has to decide and justify her decision about forcing the boy to have a blood transfusion. Apart from that, the story just seems to plod along with short dialogue and a bit too much description.

The good thing about this novel is that it’s only 200 pages, so it’s easy to finish quite quickly. I’d recommend this novel to literary readers and McEwan fans. As for everybody else, keep in mind that this novel is good and it’s well written, but it’s not a page-turner – I could easily put it down for three days and pick it up again and not have it concern me. This book exists for the literary prose and the moral themes it unearths, not for the thrilling plot or interesting and relatable characters.

My Score: 5/10
Buy at BOOKWORLD or BOOKTOPIA

Leave a Comment · Labels: 5/10, Adult Fiction, Book Reviews Tagged: adult fiction, book review, ian mcewan, literary, literary fiction, the children act

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