I was just thinking about how there are constantly posts asking something along the lines of "Can you recommend a book about struggling with loneliness/a book about a woman who feels lost in life/a book about someone who feels rejected from the world" etc.
And every other response is "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine". Which if you've read the book you know that book has a lot of other stuff going on and doesn't really focus on the whole "woman who presents as normal but is secretly very lonely" thing. But the book's marketing was very much "woman who is alone and doesn't have a place in the world" and so many of us gravitated towards it.
There's SUCH a huge market out there for books about female loneliness, about women who crave friendship, about feeling alone, about the secret shame that comes with loneliness, wondering if there's something fundamentally wrong with you, etc.
by LevyMevy
2 Comments
Fiction written from the perspective of animals…but not cutesy, more like serious, thought-provoking literature.
I think the whole genre coming out of east Asia of “lonely woman finds sense of self through the power of books and community” may be inclusive of what you’re looking for?
For me it would be books that really capture the essence of the male mind without it turning into a book about the male gaze. The best I’ve read is Tom Sawyer and haven’t really found anything else that comes close to capturing it.