Book Club: Eleanor Oliphant Chapter 7-12 Check-In

Hello hello and welcome back to the book club! I hope you've all been enjoying Eleanor Oliphant as much as we have! For this week (Bad Ideas Podcast episode 5) we've read up to chapter 12, so make sure you're all caught up before reading further if you'd like to avoid spoilers!

Here are our discussion questions and answers for this section of the book!
Questions:

1. In chapter 8, Eleanor reads Jane Eyre (woo hoo, classic literature references!) What do you think is the significance of this and how does Eleanor connect to Jane Eyre?
2. Also in chapter 8, Eleanor declares "There are scars on my heart, just as thick, as disfiguring as those on my face." Can we begin to understand what those internal scars are at this point in the novel?
3. Raymond check-in! Do we still stan?
4. How does Raymond's relationship with his mother compare to Eleanor's relationship with her mother?
5. Favorite lines??

Our answers:

1. Oh man, we love a Victorian lit reference. I think this is a very telling passage: "Jane Eyre. A strange child to love. A lonely only child. She's left to deal with so much pain at such a young age-- the aftermath of death, the absence of love. It's Mr. Rochester who gets burned in the end. I know how that feels. All of it" (page 72). There's a lot to dissect here, but I think it's interesting that Eleanor connects not only to Jane (the difficult child to love) but to Mr. Rochester, who gets burned in the end. I have a sneaky suspicion that Eleanor is speaking literally here. I think her physical scares involve this. But the emotional scars are where she connects more to Jane Eyre, who is fundamentally misunderstood and is continuously shuffled around as a child, with no one to love her. Wow, I'm sad. 
2. Oops, I kind of answered the next question already. But to expand on my thoughts, I think we are only just beginning to understand the depth of Eleanor's inner world and internal scarring. One thing we can interpret is how Eleanor approaches relationships and how she conceptualizes love. She keeps everyone at a distance, which I believe is for her own safety.  
3. Yes. Enough said. 
4. Raymond's mother is lovely, isn't she? I have grand hopes that Mrs. Gibbons will become something of a surrogate mother for Eleanor (I mean it would be pretty great if she gets with Raymond and then has Mrs. Gibbons as a mother-in-law too just saying) because our girl has been through a lot and her real mother is horrifying. Mrs. Gibbons is a sweet, warm, tea-loving queen, and I hope we see much more of her.
5. Oof, so many. I'm a big fan of the quote in our graphic for this post. "Eyelids are really just flesh curtains" is such a great one, innit? I also really love Eleanor's thoughts after saying goodbye to Mrs. Gibbons: "I felt a little glow inside-- not a blaze, more like a small, steady candle." Gorgeous. 

How are you liking the tales of Eleanor Oliphant thus far? Comment down below!