Why Doesn't Eli Shower?

[EEA]

Eli also says she has forgotten many things, maybe that's one of the things she forgot about since it is not important in her life. Then through Oskar she is awaken to that part of her humanity that was gone.

[metoo]

People generally are less aware of their own body odour that that of others. The reason, I guess, is that senses mainly register changes, not static levels.

The reason why Eli didn't wash probably was that he didn't care. He didn't need to appear pleasant to others.

A practical reason would have been that the bathtub was filled with blood. The hassle of scooping back the blood into the canisters just to shower or take a bath in water might have been too great. But then the question arises about how Eli managed to wash when he finally decided to do that...

That said, Eli's blood bath and not washing doesn't fit. The blood would have made him so utterly dirty that Oskar would have noticed it visually. Just another reason why I dislike the blood bath.

[a_contemplative_life]

People generally are less aware of their own body odour that that of others. The reason, I guess, is that senses mainly register changes, not static levels.

The reason why Eli didn't wash probably was that he didn't care. He didn't need to appear pleasant to others.

A practical reason would have been that the bathtub was filled with blood. The hassle of scooping back the blood into the canisters just to shower or take a bath in water might have been too great. But then the question arises about how Eli managed to wash when he finally decided to do that...

That said, Eli's blood bath and not washing doesn't fit. The blood would have made him so utterly dirty that Oskar would have noticed it visually. Just another reason why I dislike the blood bath.

Yes, you'd think that unrefrigerated blood would begin to break down and coagulate pretty quickly. It would turn into a smelly, gooey mess in no time and I couldn't imagine how even someone like Eli would enjoy lying in it.

[EEA]

The bath fill with blood also did not work for me. I could not find a reason why Eli would sleep in a tub full of blood.

[BravoHotel]

Same here It would have made sense if he'd have filled it after being burned so it could help him heal his skin, but from the sounds of what it says in the book it was already filled.

rest turned him of as he sank down into the wet darkness.

But he may have filled it just then before he kicked the plastic jugs away and the book simply didn't describe it to keep it as a mystery so when Lacke shows up we're suprised more.
Or since it is described somewhat from Eli's point of view it wasn't mentioned because Eli was in a hurry or something along those lines, although I find the former more likely.
What I find a problem with is who's blood it would have to be, I assume Hakans' first victim and that Eli simply didn't need to drink all of the blood and couldn't late since by then it would have gone "bad" but could still save it for other things such as this occasion which could show forward thinking on Eli's behalf, or something more about his nature.

[drakkar]

IIRC the blood filled tub is only mentoined once in the book - when Lacke is (sort of) planning to kill Eli when he is totally exhausted from nearly being killed by the sun. John explained why here on the board - it's a homage to Le Fanu's Carmilla which he read to learn about vampires. I like little hints like that, and it didn't even bother me the very least - the tub was so totally out of setting it didn't interfere with rest of the book. John himself was also weasy about it in the dvd commentary, joking about Eli killing a preschool class to fill the tub.

[BravoHotel]

it's a homage to Le Fanu's Carmilla which he read to learn about vampires.

Of course Elizabeth Bathory as well one of the inspirations for many a vampire tale I'm sure, how could I have missed that .
I like that JAL finds it funny though, he is right I suppose it would take a preschool to fill a tub I find it a little scary that he knows that .

[drakkar]

I like that JAL finds it funny though, he is right I suppose it would take a preschool to fill a tub I find it a little scary that he knows that .

He is a horror writer!

[metoo]

Same here It would have made sense if he'd have filled it after being burned so it could help him heal his skin, but from the sounds of what it says in the book it was already filled.

rest turned him of as he sank down into the wet darkness.

But he may have filled it just then before he kicked the plastic jugs away and the book simply didn't describe it to keep it as a mystery so when Lacke shows up we're suprised more.
Or since it is described somewhat from Eli's point of view it wasn't mentioned because Eli was in a hurry or something along those lines, although I find the former more likely.

When Lacke had pulled the drain plug, he noticed a line of darker red where the surface of the blood had been. He thought:
It must have been there a long time.
So, no, the blood bath was Eli's normal resting place. That is why he dissuaded Oskar from entering the bathroom.

What I find a problem with is who's blood it would have to be, I assume Hakans' first victim and that Eli simply didn't need to drink all of the blood and couldn't late since by then it would have gone "bad" but could still save it for other things such as this occasion which could show forward thinking on Eli's behalf, or something more about his nature.

I share your doubts. A bathtub can hold about 150 to 200 litres. To cover Eli completely, it has to be at least half full. A grown up man has 5 litres of blood. That is a lot of victims, especially when considering that you most certainly cannot empty a man completely. And Håkan killed only three of them, so Eli carried around almost a hundred litres of blood, or four 25 litre canisters, when he met Håkan the first time. In addition to his three cardboard boxes, of course.

Right?

[metoo]

... it didn't even bother me the very least - the tub was so totally out of setting it didn't interfere with rest of the book.

It didn't bother me, either, when I read the novel the first time. It's only later, when I started trying to put the background pieces together for my own fan fiction, that I've begun having problems with it. But as a ff writer, I do wish there was no blood-filled tub in the novel!