Eight titles with characters who go to therapy

Lisa Zhuang is an intern at Electric Literature. She holds a BA in Creative Writing from Emory University and currently resides in mid-Missouri.

At Electric Lit she tagged eight books that "showcase characters who receive some kind of mental health care," including:

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant is a bit of a social misfit, but she’s fine with that. Really. She enjoys her life of solitude, routine and her weekly “chats” with Mummy. She even splurges on pizza and vodka over the weekends. Nothing is missing—until she sees Johnnie Lomond in concert and realizes he is the love of her life. What follows is one woman’s unhinged attempt to fill every empty vacuum of her life with her celebrity crush. When Eleanlor’s attempts predictably prove unsustainable, she subsequently crashes and burns.

Read about the other entries on the list.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is among Emily R. Austin's seven books that will make you feel happy to be sad, Fay Bound Alberti's top ten books about loneliness and Liese O'Halloran Schwarz's top ten books about self-reinvention.

--Marshal Zeringue