Liz Dunn erzählt ihre Geschichte anfangs wie eine Frau, die sich aufgegeben hat. Sie lebt in einem unpersönlichen Apartment, hat einen langweiligen Beruf und keine Freunde. Zu ihrer Familie hat sie ein mehr distanziertes als liebevolles Verhältnis.

Das ändert sich, als plötzlich ihr Sohn in ihr Leben tritt. Nicht nur, dass er ihr Leben auf den Kopf stellt: die Art, wie sie ihre Geschichte erzählt, wirkt plötzlich lebendig. Vielleicht liegt es daran, dass sie auch heiteres zu erzählen hat. Die Geschichte, wie ihre Schwester Jeremy kennenlernt, ist herrlich.

Aber der heitere Ton täuscht nicht darüber hinweg, dass in Liz' Vergangenheit etwas gründlich schief gegangen ist. Dass sie mit ihren Eltern nicht über Jeremy reden konnte, nicht über die Vorfälle in Rom, noch über die Schwangerschaft oder die Zeit danach, sagt viel über die Familie aus. Da hilft es auch nicht, dass die Mutter die Abwesenheit des Enkels genauso spürte wie Liz selbst.

Es ist eine bittersüße Geschichte, mit einem zu süßen Ausgang. Aber warum sollte Liz nicht ein bisschen Glück finden, wenn auch auf einem sehr ungewöhnlichem Weg.

Liz Dunn is lonely. She’s overweight and bitter, with a nondescript office job and absolutely no one in her life except her mother and siblings. Her future stretches ahead, each day no different than the last, each year no different than the one before.
The story begins in the summer of 1997. Hale-Bopp comet streaks across the Canadian skies, and Liz comes to a realization. From that moment forward, Liz decides to go with the flow. No more trying to control everything. All she wants from life is peace. She heads for home with a lighter heart and absolutely no idea that her world is about to turn upside down.
Everything changes with one phone call. A young man has turned up in the local hospital wearing an id bracelet with her name and phone number inscribed on it. She is his “in case of emergency, contact.”
Jeremy Buck is an unusual young man. He’s beautiful, charming and funny. He has visions of the end of the world. He is the son Liz gave up for adoption over twenty years before – the product of a class trip to Rome. Jeremy has multiple sclerosis. He is dying.
Liz opens her heart and her home to her ailing son, determined to make the most of the time they have left. She learns that even the most simple things in life – dinner, watching a favorite television show, shopping – are more enjoyable when shared with someone else.
Jeremy’s visions intrigue Liz. They are horrifying, beautiful and poetic. Liz saves them all – little scraps of paper she finds scattered around the apartment – tiny windows into Jeremy’s world. When Jeremy becomes to sick to write them down, she records what he says. It’s something solid to hold on to, to prove that he passed through her life.
When Jeremy dies, Liz is devastated. Having tasted life with another person, she is unwilling to return to her bleak existence, but unsure how to move forward. Her life takes another unexpected turn when Jeremy’s father resurfaces. Propped up by courage gleaned from her experience with Jeremy, Liz travels to Vienna to face her past and finally finds hope for the future.
I have been a fan of Douglas Coupland’s books since he published Generation X in 1991. His work is by turns haunting, funny, heartbreaking and irreverent. He has been labeled by critics “the spokesperson of Generation X,” but has resisted the title, claiming he speaks only for himself, not for an entire generation. His loyal readers disagree.
Pop culture is the backbone of Coupland’s books. His references to things, places and events work together to create an incredibly strong sense of time and place. Girlfriend in a Coma is Vancouver in the 80’s and 90’s. Hey Nostradamus brings to life the horror of a school shooting similar to Columbine and takes a long hard look at the lives of the people left behind. Liz’s reminiscences in Eleanor Rigby evoke a perfectly typical 1970’s childhood. Those of us who fall into the “Gen X” group (born between 1965 and 1980) always find familiar landmarks in the pages of his books.
Coupland’s greatest gift as a writer is that he “gets” people. He has an uncanny ability to crawl inside his character’s skin, dragging his readers along for the ride. His characters aren’t always likeable or glamorous, but they are always, always completely human. Dialogue rolls off the page in crisp sound bytes packed with wry humor and witty banter.
Eleanor Rigby (yes, he did get the name from the Beatles’ song) is perhaps Coupland’s best book to date. He has matured as a writer. The acerbic wit of the early 1990’s has softened a bit – he is considering life from the other side of forty now, and seems to have a deeper understanding of the boomers he so ruthlessly impugned in Generation X. Coupland’s observations of modern culture are crystal-clear as ever, but his voice is wiser.

(Review published in the Burlington Times-News, Sunday, March 27, 2005)

The author did a splendid job on describing loneliness but I don't know what to make of this story otherwise. So much weirdness that didn't seem to serve any purpose. I think the deeper meaning, if there was any, was lost on me.

Giving up halfway through. I wanted to love this book but the plot kept getting flimsier as it went. Even though the content was serious, it just felt silly.

Funny realism with a tiny smattering of bizarre bits thrown in there. Some of the most accurate descriptions of loneliness I've ever read. Coupland, why on Earth did I ever stop reading your books?!

i wanted to like this book because i typically enjoy Coupland's books ... but i was bored and didn't care about the characters quite early in the book ... i gave up

This book is a hidden gem. It sat on my bookshelf for an entire year before I picked it up, and I regret not having read it sooner. Liz is one of my favourite Coupland protagonists—painfully self-deprecating, self-aware, and in touch with her emotions. Her clumsy approach to parenting an adult child, and to building her relationship with Jeremy in the short amount of time she has with him, is so bittersweet and heartbreaking, but Coupland’s wit and warmth make it an easy read. I cried a few times reading this book, and made about a million annotations. I can’t wait to reread it one day and notice all the little things I missed out on the first time.

I can't remember what made me buy this, but I'm so, so glad I did.

Очень крутая история об одиночестве, даже сиропным финалом не прикрываемая горечь. Прорывающееся в мир через видения и голоса *странное*, ломаный таймлайн повествования, резонирующие с моими чувства героев. Прочитала в два приёма, с трудом сделав перерыв на сон.

Коупленд у своєму стилі.
Спочатку все перевертає з ніг на голову, а потім помаленьку розгрібає то всьо...
але слабенько..

Todo Douglas Coupland es ORO. Y este lo es especialmente.

Interesting story about a middle-aged woman written by a man. She's about the most unglamrous woman I've ever read as a main character. Good character study.