This is one of the three books that I read over our vacation at Kemer this September.  The choice of leisure books I read these days are mostly governed by availability.  I loaned this book from Lausanne’s municipal library which has a surprisingly decent number of English books.  They also have the French version of this book on the shelf.

Douglas Coupland is known for having coined the term “Generation X” in his 1991 debut novel (which I have not read).  I read his later fiction about Microsoft employees – “Microserfs” – which according to Wikipedia was published in the same week Microsoft released Windows 95.

The novel is named after The Beatle’s song of the same name.  The song reference was inspired from a moment in the author’s past.  This book examines “loneliness”.  It sounds like a down-er, but it is not.  Quoting from the book jacket:

Liz Dunn is 42 years old and lonely.  Her house is like a “spinster’s cell block” and she may or may not snore, – there’s never been anybody to tell her.

New York Times reviewed it and said:

Eleanor Rigby dwindles chapter by chapter into a high-art twist on chick lit — aiming for bittersweet but tasting at last suspiciously of artificial sweetener.

… Did I just read chick lit without realizing it ?

It’s a good read.  Don’t let the comment put you off.

I am starting on another one of his books, this one titled:  “JPOD”.