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Eleanor Rushing: A Novel
Eleanor Rushing knows Maxim Walters loves her. At the crowded city council meeting, he chooses to sit beside her; from his pulpit, he preaches only to her, a vision in white sitting in the first pew. Soon, he invites her along on a business trip to Nashville, where they make love all night long. But Maxim sees things a little differently. The distinguished and very married preacher denies his love for Eleanor, but she understands his reluctance to walk away from the plain wife and the narrow path of virtue he chose long ago. Refusing to be refused, Eleanor showers Maxim with gifts and volunteers at the church simply to be near him. Though she appears to be undaunted, Eleanor is, in fact, deeply troubled. Sparing no detail, she recounts the tragedy that left her mute for four years, and the abuse she has suffered at the hands of her friends and family. Though these memoirs are often at odds with those of others around her, the now-loquacious Eleanor charms us completely until we can't help but become her willing and faithful supporters. In this narrative tour-de-force-- at once hilarious and deeply moving--Friedmann gives a memorable look at the willfulness of obsessive love, the caustic mix of money and leisure, and the power of memory to damage the soul.
- GenresFiction
284 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
14 people are currently reading
208 people want to read
About the author
Patty Friedmann
35 books36 followersPatty Friedmann is a darkly comic New Orleans novelist whose dozen works include the Amazon perennial bestseller Too Jewish and the celebrated Secondhand Smoke. Her essays, short stories, and reviews have appeared in Newsweek, Publishers Weekly, New Orleans Noir, Short Story, and Oxford American, among other places. A novel titled An Organized Panic and a collection of her stories titled Where Do They All Come From are 2017 releases. Patty has had two husbands, two children, and three grandchildren, and currently lives with an annoying philodendron.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 15, 2008
Patty Friedmann is my new favorite author! I have never read such a meticulous book about a woman who is clearly insane, but believes she is perfectly justified in her strange and delusional behavior. THis writer is the best discovery I've made in years.
November 23, 2009
My favorite example of an unreliable narrator novel. You will be so taken with Eleanor's narration that you will not question her version of events until the contradictions begin to pile up. This is in spite of the fact that she is stalking a married preacher.
May 8, 2015
Great writing. Best opening line to a book: "I think it is impossible to change the world unless you are truly evil and so mad for control you never sleep." I really enjoyed the characters and Eleanor is crazy!!
September 6, 2012
The truth about a delusional young woman and her obsession with a pastor. It's been over 6 years since I read this, but I totally enjoyed it, and will look for more by the author.
January 6, 2025
Wow. Another great book to start the year. So weird and strange but also hilarious. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed so much while reading a book before.
Particularly at the end when Maxim taps Eleanor’s hand and she thinks, “I felt nothing; someone could have been tapping my hand with an inflated surgical glove, and I’d have felt the same.” That’s a hilarious encapsulation of this book. Yes Eleanor is a stalker but also has some of the best inner monologue I’ve ever read. Snarky is a perfect word to sum it up and I loved it.
Adding to favorites and definitely want to read more of this authors work.
Particularly at the end when Maxim taps Eleanor’s hand and she thinks, “I felt nothing; someone could have been tapping my hand with an inflated surgical glove, and I’d have felt the same.” That’s a hilarious encapsulation of this book. Yes Eleanor is a stalker but also has some of the best inner monologue I’ve ever read. Snarky is a perfect word to sum it up and I loved it.
Adding to favorites and definitely want to read more of this authors work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 27, 2024
Oh me, oh my, what a delightful, whimsical romp through a clearly deranged narrator. Despite how unsubtly unreliable this narrator is, there remains a slow unfurling of the truly insane depths of her unreliability.
March 2, 2012
Wikipedia's entry defining the "unreliable narrator" states, in part:
"...(A)n unreliable narrator...is a literary device in which the credibility of the narrator is seriously compromised. This unreliability can be due to psychological instability, a powerful bias, a lack of knowledge, or even a deliberate attempt to deceive the reader or audience. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators, but third-person narrators can also be unreliable...(T)he story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to his unreliability. A more common, and dramatic, use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. This twist ending forces the reader to reconsider their point of view and experience of the story. In many cases the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving the reader to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted."
Eleanor Rushing is a fine example of such a narrator - if "fine" is the right adjective to apply here. One really can't call her a liar, because she certainly believes everything she's telling you is utterly true, even if she's the only one who remembers it that way. While it is fact that she was orphaned in a tragic accident at the age of ten and stopped speaking for the next four years, nearly everything else since is open to question.
This is an odd novel, and while it did pull me in and hold my interest, I'm not sure I can say I liked it. Eleanor is a fascinating, and frustrating, character. A brief word with a local minister at a City Council meeting has her convinced that he has immediately fallen in love with her, and she begins creating various situations to bring them together; the operative word to describe her activities is "stalking." She won't take "no" for an answer if it contradicts her view of things - although her view of things is usually, to put it charitably, quite delusional.
The story is set in New Orleans, and has a taste of that Southern-gothic flavor, mixing sad situations with elements of screwball comedy. Eccentric, unstable, wealthy belles are somewhat of a staple of the genre, and I think Eleanor fits into that niche. While there are clues throughout the book that things aren't really the way Eleanor describes them, the truth is saved till nearly the end of the story - and while that truth may evoke some sympathy for Eleanor, I really didn't find her a sympathetic character. She has no real self-awareness, nor any desire to gain it, which is one of the reasons I found her frustrating; I like to see some growth in the protagonist, and Eleanor just doesn't seem interested in that. Then again, you can't help anyone who doesn't want to be helped, let along those who can't admit there's a problem in the first place.
However, while Eleanor can be aggravating, she is compelling and rarely dull, and I suspect I won't forget her quickly. Author Patty Friedmann picked up her story again in 2007 in A Little Bit Ruined, but I'm not sure I'm up for spending more time with her. But considering that I bought Eleanor Rushing back in 2001 and took almost seven years to read it, maybe in another seven years I'll be ready.
"...(A)n unreliable narrator...is a literary device in which the credibility of the narrator is seriously compromised. This unreliability can be due to psychological instability, a powerful bias, a lack of knowledge, or even a deliberate attempt to deceive the reader or audience. Unreliable narrators are usually first-person narrators, but third-person narrators can also be unreliable...(T)he story itself may have a frame in which the narrator appears as a character, with clues to his unreliability. A more common, and dramatic, use of the device delays the revelation until near the story's end. This twist ending forces the reader to reconsider their point of view and experience of the story. In many cases the narrator's unreliability is never fully revealed but only hinted at, leaving the reader to wonder how much the narrator should be trusted and how the story should be interpreted."
Eleanor Rushing is a fine example of such a narrator - if "fine" is the right adjective to apply here. One really can't call her a liar, because she certainly believes everything she's telling you is utterly true, even if she's the only one who remembers it that way. While it is fact that she was orphaned in a tragic accident at the age of ten and stopped speaking for the next four years, nearly everything else since is open to question.
This is an odd novel, and while it did pull me in and hold my interest, I'm not sure I can say I liked it. Eleanor is a fascinating, and frustrating, character. A brief word with a local minister at a City Council meeting has her convinced that he has immediately fallen in love with her, and she begins creating various situations to bring them together; the operative word to describe her activities is "stalking." She won't take "no" for an answer if it contradicts her view of things - although her view of things is usually, to put it charitably, quite delusional.
The story is set in New Orleans, and has a taste of that Southern-gothic flavor, mixing sad situations with elements of screwball comedy. Eccentric, unstable, wealthy belles are somewhat of a staple of the genre, and I think Eleanor fits into that niche. While there are clues throughout the book that things aren't really the way Eleanor describes them, the truth is saved till nearly the end of the story - and while that truth may evoke some sympathy for Eleanor, I really didn't find her a sympathetic character. She has no real self-awareness, nor any desire to gain it, which is one of the reasons I found her frustrating; I like to see some growth in the protagonist, and Eleanor just doesn't seem interested in that. Then again, you can't help anyone who doesn't want to be helped, let along those who can't admit there's a problem in the first place.
However, while Eleanor can be aggravating, she is compelling and rarely dull, and I suspect I won't forget her quickly. Author Patty Friedmann picked up her story again in 2007 in A Little Bit Ruined, but I'm not sure I'm up for spending more time with her. But considering that I bought Eleanor Rushing back in 2001 and took almost seven years to read it, maybe in another seven years I'll be ready.
September 24, 2009
I had never heard of Patty Friedmann or her novel Eleanor Rushing before reading Florinda's review of the book, but she certainly piqued my interest. Florinda didn't exactly love the book, but her description of the main character as an unreliable narrator who is both frustrating and fascinating, made me curious. I said as much in my comment to her review, never expecting her to offer me her copy of the book, which I accepted (thanks, Florinda!).
Eleanor Rushing is a novel about a woman who sets her sights on a married pastor after meeting him in a council meeting. She is sure he loves her and goes to great lengths to learn about him and to draw him closer, including staging a car accident right outside his home, following him to Nashville, and insinuating herself into his life in just about any way she can think of.
Eleanor has a troubled past. Her parents died in an accident when she was ten, and she is haunted by memories of being molested as a child. Nearly thirty years old, Eleanor is wealthy and lives with her grandfather and housekeeper in New Orleans. She has never worked a day in her life.
Friedmann's novel is related in first person from Eleanor's perspective. From the first paragraph of the novel it is clear that her impressions of what is going on around her--or what has happened in the past--is not to be completely trusted. Rather, it is more in the other characters throughout the novel that the reader gets a more accurate picture of what is really going on. Eleanor is every bit the unreliable narrator. It makes the story all the more intriguing.
As I read Eleanor Rushing, I could not help but think of The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall which I read in June of last year. Like Eleanor, Eric Sanderson appears to be suffering from some sort of psychosis. The difference between the two books, however, is significant. In Hall's novel, the reader is left guessing. Is what is happening to Eric real or is it mental illness? I instantly connected with Eric; he was easy to relate to and sympathetic. He was likable.
Eleanor is not so easy to like. In fact, I cannot really say I ever grew to like her at all. I felt sorry for her, if anything. Yet even that was hard at times. She is extremely self-absorbed, not to mention does not believe she can do any wrong. It does not take long for the reader to realize Eleanor has mental health issues, that she is perhaps even delusional. Whereas I felt like I was a part of Eric's story, I felt more like an observer in Eleanor's. I looked on with horror at her gall and amazement at her tenacity. Eleanor has a distinct voice, a bit of wry humor with an underlying sadness.
Eleanor Rushing makes for a fascinating character study, perhaps more so because of my background in psychology and my never ending curiosity about what makes people tick. I read this book in two sittings because I hard a hard time pulling myself away. Patty Friedmann certainly has written an interesting novel about a character I won't soon forget.
Eleanor Rushing is a novel about a woman who sets her sights on a married pastor after meeting him in a council meeting. She is sure he loves her and goes to great lengths to learn about him and to draw him closer, including staging a car accident right outside his home, following him to Nashville, and insinuating herself into his life in just about any way she can think of.
Eleanor has a troubled past. Her parents died in an accident when she was ten, and she is haunted by memories of being molested as a child. Nearly thirty years old, Eleanor is wealthy and lives with her grandfather and housekeeper in New Orleans. She has never worked a day in her life.
Friedmann's novel is related in first person from Eleanor's perspective. From the first paragraph of the novel it is clear that her impressions of what is going on around her--or what has happened in the past--is not to be completely trusted. Rather, it is more in the other characters throughout the novel that the reader gets a more accurate picture of what is really going on. Eleanor is every bit the unreliable narrator. It makes the story all the more intriguing.
As I read Eleanor Rushing, I could not help but think of The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall which I read in June of last year. Like Eleanor, Eric Sanderson appears to be suffering from some sort of psychosis. The difference between the two books, however, is significant. In Hall's novel, the reader is left guessing. Is what is happening to Eric real or is it mental illness? I instantly connected with Eric; he was easy to relate to and sympathetic. He was likable.
Eleanor is not so easy to like. In fact, I cannot really say I ever grew to like her at all. I felt sorry for her, if anything. Yet even that was hard at times. She is extremely self-absorbed, not to mention does not believe she can do any wrong. It does not take long for the reader to realize Eleanor has mental health issues, that she is perhaps even delusional. Whereas I felt like I was a part of Eric's story, I felt more like an observer in Eleanor's. I looked on with horror at her gall and amazement at her tenacity. Eleanor has a distinct voice, a bit of wry humor with an underlying sadness.
Eleanor Rushing makes for a fascinating character study, perhaps more so because of my background in psychology and my never ending curiosity about what makes people tick. I read this book in two sittings because I hard a hard time pulling myself away. Patty Friedmann certainly has written an interesting novel about a character I won't soon forget.
August 26, 2011
Haven't we all had things we wanted to be true so badly that we believed them so hard it was like they were true? Welcome to Eleanor Rushing's world. Eleanor is a well off woman in New Orleans, but she's got problems. Her parents died in a plane crash when she was a child and she stopped talking for thirteen years. She's having an affair with a minister who's married and won't leave his wife. And she's full of shit. Eleanor Rushing is the epitome of the unreliable narrator and because the story is from her perspective, there's no telling how much of htis story actually happened and how much she only thinks happened. Including the parts that "set her straight". I loved this book because Eleanor is so endearing and at the same time, so completely, totally fucked up. Read it, but be prepared to discover your aghast face.
May 31, 2016
I almost gave up on this book two times but somehow kept going bc the writing was mostly good, then every so often it wouldn't make any sense for a couple pages. I couldn't figure out what she was referring to.
Eleanor is the Queen of unreliable narrators. How are you supposed to know what's really going on when the main character is crazy, delusional and lives in a world totally her own. She is a mentally ill stalker obsessed with a minister.
The real story is finally leaked out in a very unsatisfactory way. The grandfather character needed fleshed out a lot more. He was like a ghost in the background. This is a horrible story and Eleanor needed to be taken to a Psych unit for a long time.
I liked her Second Hand Smoke much better.
Eleanor is the Queen of unreliable narrators. How are you supposed to know what's really going on when the main character is crazy, delusional and lives in a world totally her own. She is a mentally ill stalker obsessed with a minister.
The real story is finally leaked out in a very unsatisfactory way. The grandfather character needed fleshed out a lot more. He was like a ghost in the background. This is a horrible story and Eleanor needed to be taken to a Psych unit for a long time.
I liked her Second Hand Smoke much better.
February 23, 2010
Wow, this book surprised me. I have never read a book where the narrator was so completely unreliable. You couldn't trust a single thing she said or how she characterized things so matter-of-factly. It got under my skin about halfway through the book. I felt sad for Eleanor but I also felt like she made things bad for herself too.
At the end I was just left wondering how much of her story was truth or fiction. It was unsatisfying not to be able to know definitively what the truth of the matter was.
I don't think this is a book I'd recommend to anyone except maybe to be able to ask them "what did YOU think the truth was?"
At the end I was just left wondering how much of her story was truth or fiction. It was unsatisfying not to be able to know definitively what the truth of the matter was.
I don't think this is a book I'd recommend to anyone except maybe to be able to ask them "what did YOU think the truth was?"
April 18, 2014
I Don't Like Eleanor But The Book Is OK
I read some of the reviews before I purchased the book and I am glad I did, but I just never really liked the character of Eleanor. She is the sort of person that just drives me crazy especially when she is indulged for her "eccentricities". She should be under care, I am not sure if the author believes that. I don't think I would read any more books about her.
I read some of the reviews before I purchased the book and I am glad I did, but I just never really liked the character of Eleanor. She is the sort of person that just drives me crazy especially when she is indulged for her "eccentricities". She should be under care, I am not sure if the author believes that. I don't think I would read any more books about her.
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October 31, 2014I did not finish this book and therefore it would be unfair of me to give it a rating. I read 50%, the first 14 chapter hoping I could figure out where this was going. It was like someone rambling on and on. Could see no purpose and did not like the style of writing. Really not sure what the author is trying to do! If I were to rate the first half I would give it 0 stars. J ust could not waste more time on it.
October 15, 2009
This book was a PHENOMENAL read! Every single person knows someone like this, whether they are just like Eleanor or only show similarities. Friendmann writes with a posessive knowledge of her characters that make them jump off the pages and into your head. I wondered around thinking about this book when I wasn't engrossed in it!
February 21, 2014
Different
while I was reading this book I kept thinking this is so bizarre! Unlike any book I had ever read before. I have read a couple of books since finishing this one and find myself still thinking about Eleanor. It was different, but I liked it. Might have to read some more of her delusions.
while I was reading this book I kept thinking this is so bizarre! Unlike any book I had ever read before. I have read a couple of books since finishing this one and find myself still thinking about Eleanor. It was different, but I liked it. Might have to read some more of her delusions.
April 18, 2010
creepy
July 12, 2010
Started out pretty good, but the main character kept getting crazier and crazier. I had no sympathy for her and the ending was disappointing.
January 11, 2014
I found this book a struggle to get through.
February 18, 2014
Hard to follow.
May 1, 2008
Disturbing, mysterious, unsettling... the ending haunted me for days.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews