My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir

My Year with Eleanor: A Memoir
Noelle Hancock

I love books called memoirs because there really does not need to be much fact in them. They can be told in a “this is my story and I’m sticking to it" approach which I think is useful with Noelle Hancock’s memoir concerning her “Year of Fear”.

Noelle finds herself facing down her 30th birthday and has found that she has closed herself off. Her job as a blogger on an entertainment platform has left her more concerned about other people’s lives then where she is going with her own.

One day she gets a call that her job is no longer and she sees a quote on a chalkboard in a coffee shop:

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“Do one thing every day that scares you.”
-- Eleanor Roosevelt

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That sets the whole year in motion.

That is where my problem with this mentality began. A single twenty-nine year old woman with no children, a college degree, money in the bank and she needs to find herself. Really? Where has she been? Well, apparently it gets her on her analyst’s couch trying to figure out where to go from here.

What does any self-indulged woman do – shark diving, fighter pilot lessons, tap dancing stand-up comedy, running naked down a hall, trapeze artist, and climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. Well of course, why didn’t we all think of that?

I can appreciate her trying to shake things up a bit, but for goodness sakes, she is only in her woman infancy. What is she going to do when she is staring down fifty? Indy Drive? Lead Ballerina? Astronaut? Neurosurgeon?

Ms Hancock takes the reader along as she tries to face down her fears, including her addiction to sleeping pills. There are some very funny parts, not sure if they really happened that way or were embellished for the sake of a good story, but the readers do find themselves wondering what this woman will do next.

Using Eleanor Roosevelt as a mentor is a unique way of looking at your situation, just think that I should have read Eleanor’s books instead of this one. I can see how it would be inspiring for some, but for those of us that are way past our 30th birthday, will be annoyed by Noelle’s constant need for acceptance and wondering if she will ever be good enough. Eleanor lived it and made it through -maybe that just takes time and not fear inducing feats - and what older women need as an inspiration.

I rarely comment on editing in a book, don’t know if my grammar skills are good enough to point out the faults of others, but there are a couple tense problems that stop a reader in their flow. Also, just need to let you know that on page 260 (hardback) you do not urinate out of that part of your body.

Overall, would I recommend this book? Possibly, but not for anyone over 30. This book was not been written for my demographic. If you are under 30, you will love it. If you are on the downhill side of that – I recommend the works of the master herself – Ms. Eleanor Roosevelt.