So cute! This was the first book I've read from this author and I enjoyed it very much. It was very well written and the characters were well thought out.

Elvira doesn’t see the world in quite the same way as most people. As a result, she lives a fairly sheltered life, caring for her overbearing mother and indulging her interest in biscuits. But then her mother has a stroke and Elvira has to find her own way in the world. With a great storyline, well-rounded characters and plenty of humour to boot, Frances Maynard’s debut novel is a triumph.

Really enjoyed this book, a sensitive subject but well written and I love how the story made me feel just like I knew Elvira!

An absolute gem of a book ..... The main character Elvira or Ellie draws you in from the very first page .... Coping after her mothers illness and subsequent death we see her life unravel dealing with work and day to day tasks - helped by her flamboyant neighbour Sylvie. This is a treasure of a read - coping when you think you can't and around every corner they are surprises.

Elvira Carr is twenty-seven years old, lives with her controlling Mother, loves animals and knows a very great deal about biscuits. Elvira likes life to be regular and predictable, but things become very unpredictable when Mother is hospitalised with a stroke. Suddenly Elvira's restricted life is opening up in unexpected ways, but it's hard to know how to act and how to cope with all these new situations. Some Rules are clearly needed to guide her...

Inevitable comparisons will be drawn with books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. I was also reminded of Emily Barr's The One Memory of Flora Banks. All great books which feature protagonists who do not function in, as Elvira would put it, NormalTypical ways.

Elvira knows only too well that she has some difficulties because of her Condition, but she is resourceful, determined and potentially more capable than she has ever been allowed to be. Life without Mother is different, often frightening, but also more interesting and ultimately fulfilling. There are mysteries to be solved and challenges to be faced.

Elvira's voice is engaging and completely believable. It's a pleasure to share her unique way of viewing the world. In fact all the characters are easy to visualise (for some reason I envisaged Elvira's fearsome Mother as something like Neville's Gran from Harry Potter, only maybe without the vulture hat). Sylvia next door and her family, the staff at the nursing home and at the animal rescue centre are all vividly drawn. I especially loved Paul and his father, Charlie and of course Akira the dog.

Elvira's story is enthralling, often funny, sometimes sad, and ultimately uplifting. Highly recommended.

This book was very different from what I was expecting, that should probably teach me not to read the synopsis beforehand! I was attracted by the guinea pigs on the cover, I'm not going to lie, and you don't have to worry, these guinea pigs do feature in the story and I loved them. This was a really interesting read and the eponymous Elvira Carr was a really interesting narrator of the story. He rules, that she makes for herself after find message boards online posted by other 'Neuro-atypical' users and I loved the way they wove in and out throughout the story.

Elvira was an easy character to get to know. The fact that she even finds that she wants and uses these rules is obviously very endearing and seeing the world through her eyes is really quite something. Obviously we have her mother and father as characters in the book too and we know that there is something being hidden about her father, or maybe about both of her parents but we need to see if Elvira will manage to find out herself or whether she will allow others to get close enough to help her. I really enjoyed the way she interacts with all the other characters in the novel and it was interesting to see how her social interactions developed once she started using the rules.

There are some serious issues covered in this book but because they are transported via Elvira and her rediscovery of the world once she finds herself more alone than she has veer been, none of these issues seem to turn this into an 'issues' book but are just another thing that is dealt with along the course of the storyline. I won't go into the issues but there are a couple of triggers in this book that I would look into if you know you may be triggered by something.

The story did move quite slowly and so I found myself straying from it at some points but I read this during a readathon and so I found that setting myself time limits really helped keep me on track. The good thing was that I felt like Elvira wasn't ever made fun of or belittled by this author and I thought that said author did a really good job of having Elvira think in the very literally sense and not use any kind of sarcasm or turns of phrase, that was definitely well done.

Overall I enjoyed the issues that were explored in this book, it did move a little slowly for my liking, and slower than the books I tend to prefer, but overall she was a likeable character and the liked the direction that this story ended up taking. This was an enjoyable read.

All the other reviewers on Goodreads are glowing about this book, being feel good and inspiration bullshit. I have yet to come across another own voices review, so here's mine: I'm autistic (Aspergers side) and therefore this book is not meant for me. It very reminiscent of the "The curious incident in the Nightmare" (I mean to write night-time, I'm keeping that in), a book I despised for its ablelist bullshit. Even if he not autistic, its still horrible book of presenting my disabled peers. I've rated this book super low for two specific things.


Ellie never disclosed to the reader what her diagnosis is. It's refer to only as 'her condition' and that is gutless. If you're going to write a book about Autism, do it. Don't be spineless about it. I am sick of coded Autistic characters without the label. There is not enough representation of Autistic Adults to go without it. The term neurodivergent or neurotypical is hinted with the wrong term of "NeuroNormal". This is the wrong term. Normal is subjective and is not found in science. The correct term is Neurotypical. People on the Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) like correct terms when comes to sciencey things like the brain typically, and the way Ellie is presented I don't buy use the term "NeuroNormal". Normal is a dirty word when it comes to talking about neurodivergent people. Maybe once upon of time, but as of 2016 when this book is based, No one uses this term. Also another thing to know that neurodivergent/neuroatypical is also used to describes people with mental health disorders and other learning disabilities. For example, someone with mild dyslexic would be consider neuroatypical technically. Therefore, not neurotypical. Another random point, my autism makings me disabled, that is not a bad thing, it's just a thing about me.


Another big factor is there is random (trigger WARNING) sexual assault in this book. It happens twice, getting worst. Most women will experience sexual assault in some form in their life, from being slapped on the butt to worst thing possible, so realistic. But you can't bush past sexual assault of women considered mentally disabled. Sexual Assault and manipulation is a bigger problem for people considered disabled because they are vulnerable or seen to be. She doesn't tell anyone. The most that happens is someone guesses.This book is about learning life lessons, but she doesn't learn one from this. One of the next things that happens is she tells a strange man where her house is over the internet. Sorry, spoilers which I don't do in reviews, but I have to address this. I am going to do a video about this is Spoiler discussion about why in extreme detail about how this is done wrong because I can't without spoiling a big chunk of the book. I hate sexual assault being used as life lesson tool. It can be augured that there is victim blaming in this book also. She could have had that lesson another way, it could have stopped at one. She could have told someone. Sometimes books shouldn't be realistic, but the ideal and with the stigma about sexual assault, the representation is extremely important. How it's handled. Silence is might be realistic, but it shouldn't be.


Without the above, this book probably a three star book. But I rated it one stars after the first assault and so far I don't feel like changing that.


Now for my fun, less problematic and more just issues. Ellie reads Mills & Boon as 27 year in 2016, whose mother hates that sort of thing. Mills & Boons are an old lady thing and it is never explained why she would read them as 20 something. Romance books sure, I'm borderline Asexual and read romances. Lots of Aces do. (she repeatedly says she doesn't want a boyfriend). Yeah, ASDA still sell them, but why would she ever pick them up? Like I don't know anyone that reads Mills & Boons religiously in the that age group or even a few above it. I've read them but only cause an elderly neighbour gave me them. 'Chick-Fiction' seems more realistic, they are always on deal.


We going to just pretend that the term Autism is used in this book and talk about that. Ellie comes across as actually being high-functioning (I hate that term too, but there's not a better one to my knowledge) but she has been gaslit her whole life by her mother, whose an old lady at the age of 72 (I did the maths). I don't know how old Frances Maynard is but she comes as across as someone much older than someone in their late 20s, like at least a few decades. The relationship with her parents is interesting and probably best part of this novel.


So Autism, there are two autistic coded characters, our protagonist and someone she meets. There are the same, which equals bad representation. So...like I really can't separate their traits to argue they're not. Maybe this book is a little too much about her 'Condition'.


The writing is well done for a Début. I mean, if I hadn't blacklisted her in my mind, I would probably pick Maynard up again.


Overall, I give this book 1/5 stars for handsy "NeuroNormals". This may be a book about the Neuroatypical, but its not one for them. Therefore, I could never recommend it, but I'm don't absolutely hate it. This book will be compared to the "Curious Incident" and for me that's a real bad thing. That is not the book to based on what a book about Autistic person should be like. This probably does a better job of personifying them than that horrid book. My big tip is if you want to write about Autism, write about Autism, don't just thank the National Autistic Society in your Acknowledgements. Remember Autistic people will be reading and we will be taking notes.


My last few books I've reviewed, I have been tearing them apart for seemly small things, but small things can be important. Maynard also credits a few books by Autistic people, which is weird that she missed a few things normal to Autistic/Aspergers life. Like neither coded characters have sensory issues. I have mild issues compared to others, but there still comes up in my life. It also like she never came across why Autistic people don't like to be touch or that it effects all senses: e.g. sound, light, and I've heard of people having taste issues. I'm going to go over this stuff in the video discussion.

This book was touching, funny and, at times, so deeply uncomfortable that it made me worm around in my seat and want to stop reading. But I couldn't put it down!. A perfect mixture of the Curious Incident.. and Eleanor Oliphant, this was a wonderful tale which has given me an awful lot of food for thought about how I treat those around me.

A really well written and compassionate story about a 27 year old woman who has a Condition, Elvira Carr is neuro- atypical and lives a very sheltered life with a somewhat overbearing mother. However everything changes when her mother is taken ill and Elvira needs to learn to adapt to real life.
I don't know a great deal about autism personally and I found this book to be a fascinating insight, Elvira is believable and loveable. All of her rules can be applied to everyday living for everyone.

Elvira is a twenty-seven year old woman who lives at home with her elderly mother. "A surprise" in later life, Elvira was born when her parents were in their forties. With her father long passed, and her mother taken ill suddenly, Elvira is forced to look after herself for the first time ever. With her set of seven rules, carefully researched, she is determined not to be sent "Away" and instead, embarks on an adventure to try and navigate the world in her own way.

Having read a number of books with main characters on the Spectrum (The Rosie Project, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) and a couple of books about "quirky" young women used to being alone (Eileen, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine), I wasn't sure how this book could be unique.

Well, it is. Elvira is delightful - she's no Eleanor or even Eileen (thankfully), and she has a strong, interesting personality. Her quirks are hers alone - she's obsessed with biscuits, and can rattle off a handful of facts about McVitie's given the opportunity. Here, she is faced with a terrifying prospect - change. With her mother taken ill, things will change. While she knows this, she's not quite sure how to handle it - especially when her mother never really had any faith in her being able to do anything for herself (instead referring to her as "a life sentence").

I won't even begin to pretend that I understand Asperger's or Autism, but I found this a really realistic portrayal of an honest, genuine young woman trying really hard to understand social cues and make friends while being utterly confused by sarcasm, figure of speech, and puns. Her good nature is taken advantage of in some really uncomfortable scenes, and I couldn't help but root for her from very early on. I also liked her neighbour, Sylvia, who seemed to have more faith in Elvira than her own mother ever did.

This is a nice, pleasant read that raised a smile on more than one occasion (that toilet paper thing is INGENIOUS). I really enjoyed it.

The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr is a memorable and touching novel about being neuroatypical and having to adjust to the unpredictability of life. Elvira is twenty-seven and lives with her mother since her father—who was often away on trips—passed away. She has a “Condition” and her mother has a number of rules to keep Elvira safe. But when her mother has a stroke and has to go into a care home, Elvira has to make her own rules and find ways to navigate the world whilst uncovering the secrets of her father’s past and making new friends, both animal and human.

The narrative is similar to the recent novel Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine in the way it follows the experiences of a narrator with a specific worldview as they must find ways to go beyond their usual boundaries, drawing the reader into their viewpoints through first person narration and the character’s rationality. Unlike Eleanor Oliphant, however, Maynard specifically focuses on autism and the way in which Elvira is treated by others is a major theme in the book.

Elvira is an endearing narrator, who wants to be good to those around her and knows she must try and understand how the “NormalTypicals” interact if she is to get along with them. Despite the focus on her rules, the book tries to highlight that she does not need to change who she is, just understand other people can be different to her and may need different considerations. Unlike the maths genius autistic stereotype often played out in the media, her special interests are biscuits and animals and she is good at being organised, though her mother did not always allow her to do this herself. The point at which Elvira discovers she can talk online with other autistic women who share her experiences is one of its most memorable points, showing the importance of sharing stories and giving everyone the chance to realise they are not alone.

The Seven Imperfect Rules of Elvira Carr is an important novel and a great read, with elements of mystery, discovering friendship, and working out how to be independent in the world. It depicts elements of neuroatypicality, particularly in women, not always shown in popular culture, whilst also being a story about a character discovering the secrets about their parents once grown up.

Elvira or Ellie is left to look after herself when her mother goes in hospital. She lists seven rules to deal with the world as she is autistic. This is a lovely book that shows courage and gives the reader a character to root for.

Charming, touching, and entertaining. Most people can relate to Ellie in some way or another, even if it is only her biscuit addiction!

It is always a pleasure to read about a character discovering independence. Most of us take this for granted along with other small things in life.

Ellie's rules have made me rethink my own behaviors when socializing or engaging with others. I probably could stand to be more of a listener and less of a talker. Sometimes we all forget to ask how others are feeling, or to be polite in these times.