Eggshells by Catriona Lally is a story about a woman who just doesn't fit it. It's a touching and sweet story about loneliness and friendship.

Although I started off enjoying this book, the story became hard to follow and became uninteresting. Overall a good read to pass the time, but not to my taste.

Narrator Vivian brings the reader into a strange and funny-peculiar world in which the wonderful and mundane components of everyday life are varnished over by her unique take on things.

Friendless but fearless, she acquires a friend by advertising, but in other contexts her direct approach to issues further alienates her unpleasant sister and family.

Some might consider her "on the spectrum", but she is not to be pitied. The LOL moments are her re-enactments of myths, adjusted to conditions in modern Dublin and the adjustments that have to be made, accordingly.

You'll miss her when the book ends.

Set in Dublin this is a whimsical, somewhat strange story of friendship and loneliness.
I grew to dearly love the main protagonist Vivian; she was sweet and quirky. Although on the surface this is a somewhat strange lady struggling with social norms, beneath the surface this there is much darker reasoning to her behaviour, that I found deeply moving.
Spending the majority of the book in Vivien's head this is a slow burn meandering book, but go with it, enjoy it for the pace and the journey. It is a brilliant insight into the type of peoples minds you may cross the road to avoid,

Hmmm,not wholly convinced. I found Vivian to be funny and I liked her way of thinking but I am always dubious about these 'quirky' people who are only quirky due to abuse stories. It's character led and perhaps needed something extra to flesh it out, as you have to really adjust to Vivian's way of looking at things for the whole book. It's well written and the character was well drawn, but perhaps something more needed.

Eggshells by Caitriona Lally is a darkly hilarious and moving novel about feeling that you don’t fit in. Vivian lives alone in her dead great-aunt’s house and spends every day (like a 21st century Leopold Bloom) walking the streets of Dublin. Other people and all their words and conversations make no sense to her and she can’t understand how to live in the ordinary world. Vivian believes she’s a changeling, and is looking for a portal to take her back to where she thinks she belongs.
In the vein of the best-selling Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, this novel is a depiction of acute loneliness. Vivian’s parents are dead, her sister can’t stand her and she has no idea how to make friends, so writes a notice and pins it to a tree:
WANTED: Friend called Penelope. Must Enjoy Talking Because I Don’t Have Much to Say. Good Sense of Humour Not Required Because My Laugh Is a Work in Progress. Must Answer to Penelope: Pennies Need Not Apply. Phone Vivian
For me it took time to get used to Vivian’s strange world but once I did there were many moments of laugh out loud humour. Her neighbours comment on her behaviour:
“Ah, Vivian, would you look at yourself, a grown woman up a tree on a day like today.”
When reminded by David, her social worker to keep an open mind she says:
“I am open-minded … sometimes I wear my slippers on the opposite feet to change my worldview, even though it makes me hobble.”
At heart this is a book about language and how we use and misuse it. As she journeys around Dublin, Vivian collects lists of words making patterns and connections and trying to find hidden meanings. She’s not ‘neurotypical’ and is therefore unlikely to change her (to us) eccentric ways of thinking, so don’t expect character development, but if you love a novel that plays with language you’ll enjoy reading Eggshells. As an unreliable narrator her skewed understanding of the world makes for some very funny one liners and achingly funny set pieces.
She may be a tragic and lonely figure but Vivian is a feisty, determined character getting on with her life against the odds; by the end there are glimmers of hope that something may change for the better, even if she never finds her portal. Eggshells reflects our own image back as we observe Vivian’s struggles and is a bid for acceptance and understanding of human differences.
Newly published by the Borough Press, Eggshells was first published in 2015 and has recently won The Rooney Prize for emerging Irish writers. As chair of the selection committee, literary agent, Jonathan Williams said: “Caitriona Lally’s only novel, Eggshells, is a work of impressive imaginative reach, witty, subtle and occasionally endearingly unpredictable.

In 2018 Eggshells by Catriona Lally won The Rooney Prize; a prize for Irish writers under the age of 40, writing in Irish or English. I’m not familiar with the prize and have no idea of the shortlist but Eggshells would get my vote regardless.

Socially inept Vivian, who has an almost estranged sister also named Vivian (yep!), lives in the house of her late aunt. Her parents are both dead but not missed. She spends her days trying to do as little harm as possible and trying to be like other people. But she is not like other people; she is a changeling and frequently searches for the portal which will take her back to fairy land. Yet this is not a frivolous fairy tale and she, of course, not a changeling.

Who Vivian is, is someone who sees the world differently from the accepted norm and her observations and insight will make you see things from a different perspective, too; sometimes, a better perspective. She is obsessed with lists (butterfly names, plants, old cities, favourite food, conversation topics) and the visual aspect of speech. If her name is shortened, she prefers to “hear” VIV or viv, because it is symmetrical. Such quirks certainly made me think about words as more than a means of communication but an entity in their own right.

Vivian’s attempt at a dinner party, her attempts at conversation, her frequent bus journeys, befriending mice and one particular taxi ride had me questioning how we perceive those who do not conform and had me laughing, often out loud.

Eggshells is a quick, very entertaining and fairly easy read but it is also a complex comment on how difficult life can be for some and the ways they find to cope. It is funny, it is sad, it is rather brilliant.

And why doesn’t Penelope rhyme with antelope?

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins for the Advanced Reader Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

I am a fan of character driven novels, which this is. I love being drawn into their world and pottering around with them, getting a glimpse into their life. Eggshells is told from the point-of-view of Vivian Lawler and is a kind of stream-of-consciousness snapshot of a short period in her life. She lives alone in her great-aunt's house that she recently inherited. She has no job, no friends and a strained relationship with her sister.

Vivian is a very interesting, thought-provoking character. One that I've found myself pondering over the last few days since I finished the book. She has a unique way of looking at the world, to the point where I instinctively thought that she was perhaps autistic, although this is never stated. She has a complex mix of characteristics; ignorant of social conventions, yet very bright. She is also aware that her behaviour is different from other people's, 'She looks at me like I'm Christmas in July.' Sometimes she lies to people to cover up what she is doing, as she knows they wouldn't understand and she even says this to a bus driver after an encounter with a confused old lady, indicating a level of awareness about what others think of her: 'Then I say, 'Leeson Street, please,' in my most superior voice because for once I'm not the mad one, I'm the person who puts mad people on buses and pushes them off again.'

As I was reading I actually thought Vivian seemed childlike in many ways. She acts on instinct and doesn't think of the consequences of her actions, or about other people really. She meets a child on a beach and observes, 'The girl understands my answers better than any adult.' It seems that (her back story is only touched upon very briefly) Vivian has either reverted to or never developed from how children look at the world.

Plot-wise, there isn't really one. Vivian spends a majority of her time wandering the streets of Dublin looking for portals to other worlds. She believes she belongs somewhere else and is looking for 'a code or a message or a map, leading me to my rightful world.' This really does make my heart ache as Vivian is so lonely and this exudes from her throughout the read. She is so lost and alone in the world that she has convinced herself she is from somewhere else. A one point she even advertises for a friend, but one specifically called Penelope, 'I want a friend called Penelope. When I know her well enough, I'll ask her why she doesn't rhyme with antelope.' As this quote demonstrates, the sadness of this book was juxtaposed with some funny moments due to Vivian's misunderstanding of situations and social norms. But ultimately I just wanted to scoop her up and give her some love.

However, due to the lack of plot, I found Vivian's wandering of the streets of Dublin just a little too repetitive. I don't mind this as a concept, but I don't need to read 7 variations on it throughout the book. I'd liked to have found out a little more about what makes Vivian tick and had a little less looking for portals. Overall this was a unique read with a lyrical writing style (there were some lovely sentences in there too: 'I wake on a damp pillow; my dreams must have leaked') that introduced me to a character I ended up caring for and still find myself thinking about.

The jury is still out on this book. I'm still slightly unsure about whether I like it or not. It was a struggle in places. Did not appear to have much of a storyline. Which I was really gutted about.
Thank you to both NetGalley and the publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book

I have to say, I liked this book and the prose is absolutely beautiful. The book is actually quite funny and Caitriona Lally has succeeded in getting right into the mind of the character. However, I did feel like I was waiting for the story to start... it is one of those books where not a lot happens plot-wise but it's more how about Vivian. How she lives day-to-day, the people she encounters, the things she collects and the routes she takes around Dublin. While walking around Dublin, she is looking for the portal to the other world, as she has been convinced since childhood that she is a changeling.

I would recommend this book. Even though I was hoping for more of a plot and a bit more exploration of the changeling and how Vivian got to the point she's at, the writing is superb and Vivian is very likeable.

I absolutely loved this book. The synopsis of the book really didn't do it justice. It reminded me slightly of Eleanor Oliphant, but I enjoyed it more. I think the fact that the whole book is entirely written from Vivian's unique viewpoint and there is no particular unravelling of the mystery of her life or neat ending in which she is 'solved' like a tricky puzzle was incredibly satisfying. It's richly imagined and very, very funny. I loved the way that Dublin is as much a character in the book as Vivian. I finished this in two days and have already recommended it to at least half a dozen people. One of my top reads of 2018.

This was quite a short read, the character of Vivian was interesting, but not entirely likeable. It took me a while to get into this book

Vivian Lawlor is a natural, innocent wonder with a magical personality that held me spellbound throughout.

She embraces illusions about her origins and is regarded as something of a curiosity in a world where everyone she meets seems confident in what they’re doing and where they belong, while her own orderly confusion includes powdered Cornflakes for breakfast and finding herself guided by toilet door wisdom.

Her talents are for making endless lists of obscure subjects that capture her attention, and expanding her small talk knowledge by eavesdropping on strangers. While I adored how she borrows appealing dialogue for her private inventory of conversation starters (or rather Vivian stoppers), the lists themselves, although very different, became a little repetitive after the first few.

Her diverse daily commutes through the city are committed to grease proof paper on her return home and these routes form a unique shape that Vivian generously interprets at the end of each chapter. After I got to know her I found myself trying to decipher her ‘squiggled’ journey before she revealed it – alas, our unintentional tour guide is far more imaginative than I am!

I’m confident Vivian’s one-of-a-kind character and her rapidly declining roomie, Lemonfish, will have to reserve plenty of space in the hoarding room to store every reader’s heart they steal.

. After reading the description of the book I thought it sound very interesting. The first few chapters of this book are very interesting but as I read on I felt that after about the first 100 pages or so the story just seemed to fizzle out and became very repetitive. Also after the 100th page mark I was waiting for the story to start but then I realised the book was actually based on the character Vivian and her life and nothing else.

I felt there was a lack of character development and where there was a little it was too slow. I found myself trying to work out what was going on with the character and therefore I think that this may have been one of the reasons why I was distracted from the book.

I have to admit I did skim read some of the chapters.

Oh, on a positive I did like the cover of this book. I like the fish and they way the odd one sort of represents the character Vivian, and if I had brought this book then it would have probably been because of the front cover as in the past I have brought books just based on the front cover. I've also learnt that's not always the best way to buy books.

Overall I’d say it was OK read for me, but I know others will enjoy it more than me. I also think whether you like this book or not all comes down to personal preference.

Would I recommend this book? Yes and no. Yes, if you haven’t got anything else to read, but if you have then I wouldn’t rush to read this one.

Vivian was not quite wired right. She has no friends, she avoids mirrors, she tells unwelcome truths and fighters children. She has inherited her aunt's house, freeing her of the need to work, so she spends her days searching for a portal into the fairy world in which she believes she belongs.

Vivian has a distinctive voice that does remain consistent to the end. Initially this is beguiling; the reader wants to diagnose Vivian, perhaps cure her. The reader hovers uneasily between horror and humour as Vivian fails to comply with society's norms. Some of her actions are endearing - advertising for a friend called Penelope - and some are irritating - making long lists of words that the reader soon learns to skip. There is also a strong sense of pscho-geography with walks around Dublin, peeling street signs appearing to have been edited by fairies, and a tour of the various modes of public transport - we even get to go to the airport even though Vivian is not flying anywhere.

However, for a short book this feels very long. The unvarying voice and lack of narrative arc become very fatiguing. Perhaps there is supposed to be an unravelling of Vivian's sad background but it seemed quite obvious from an early stage. That left the whole thing feeling like a short story told over and over again, never going anywhere and certainly never arriving.

Socially inept Vivian walks round Dublin. Not much in the way of plot or character development. Similar to 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' in that it reads like a rather patronising creation of a character who is not neurotypical by someone who has little true insight into that experience.