As you might have guessed, I'm in the middle of Gail Honeyman's marvellous "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine". It's sad, truthful, of the moment and very funny. I mean funny in the laughing sense rather than being mildly amusing every fifth page. There are jokes, quirky characters and hilarious caustic observations all the way through. The book succeeds partly because the heroine, while delusional, pompous and disconnected from people, is consistently and achingly witty. She also gains sympathy because she suffers emotionally and physically, but her ability to floor us with her acid comments on what she sees around her makes us really root for her. It does me, anyway.
I'm pressing on with the read, my confidence in the modern comic novel hugely boosted.
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