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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

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'Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman is a novel that delves into the life of Eleanor Oliphant, a socially isolated and awkward office worker with a traumatic past. The story follows Eleanor as she navigates through her daily routines, forming unexpected friendships, confronting her past, and gradually undergoing a transformation towards self-discovery and healing. The narrative style provides insights into Eleanor's quirky and complex personality, showcasing her struggles, growth, and interactions with those around her.

The book combines elements of humor, poignancy, and personal triumph as it unravels Eleanor's journey towards overcoming her deep sense of loneliness and guilt. Through subtle storytelling and engaging character development, the author paints a vivid picture of Eleanor's life, highlighting the power of small acts of kindness, the importance of human connection, and the themes of resilience and hope that resonate throughout the novel.

Characters:

Eleanor is a compelling protagonist whose journey of self-discovery is complemented by well-developed supporting characters, especially Raymond.

Writing/Prose:

Honeyman's writing blends humor, wit, and deep emotional insight, leveraging Eleanor's perspective to create an engaging narrative.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot centers on Eleanor's transformation from a socially awkward office worker living a solitary life to a person who learns to embrace friendships and confront her traumatic past.

Setting:

Set in Glasgow, the location enhances the theme of isolation and highlights Eleanor's solitary lifestyle.

Pacing:

The pacing gradually builds momentum, moving from a slow introduction to a more engaging and rapid conclusion.
It’s definitely a two-tier system in the office; the creatives are the film stars, the rest of us merely supporting artists. You can tell by looking at us which category we fall into. To be fair, part...

Notes:

Eleanor Oliphant lives a monotonous life with a strict routine, only breaking it on weekends with vodka and pizza.
Eleanor's only regular contact is a weekly phone call with her verbally abusive mother.
She is socially awkward and often makes blunt, honest comments that can come off as rude.
The story explores themes of loneliness, trauma, and the importance of human connection.
A significant plot point involves Eleanor helping an elderly man alongside her coworker Raymond, which leads to a transformative friendship.
Eleanor's journey is compared to other stories about quirky characters overcoming their pasts, like The Rosie Project or A Man Called Ove.
The narrative unfolds mostly through Eleanor's perspective, giving insights into her thoughts and emotions.
The ending is both surprising and uplifting, with Eleanor beginning to let go of her troubled past.
The book addresses the impact of child abuse and neglect on adulthood and social functioning.
There is an unexpected twist regarding Eleanor's relationship with her mother that adds depth to her character.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include child abuse, depression, loneliness, and suicidal thoughts, which may be triggering for some readers.

From The Publisher:

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

"Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!" -Reese Witherspoon

No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart.

Ratings (323)

Incredible (57)
Loved It (140)
Liked It (68)
It Was OK (33)
Did Not Like (20)
Hated It (5)

Reader Stats (572):

Read It (328)
Currently Reading (1)
Want To Read (176)
Did Not Finish (17)
Not Interested (50)

13 comment(s)

Did Not Like
3 weeks

I couldn’t get into it

 
Liked It
2 months

Plot twist at the end

 
Incredible
3 months

****5.0****

Thoroughly enjoyed the story...

RTC

 
Loved It
3 months

the story line was lovely. No real peril, uplifting and easy to read.

 
Incredible
4 months

Just rolled on. Couldn't put down.

 
Incredible
5 months

One of my all time favorite books.

 
Incredible
5 months

The main character is known to the reader largely by how she characterizes others without actually engaging them. She is so certain of her perceptions. Eleanor is someone who does not fit in easily with others. She would be considered different.However, her habit of making assumptions about others without evidence is a common behavior.

 
Loved It
6 months

This isn't something I would usually pick up, but it was given to me by my mom after she read it for a book club and I figured I'd give it a shot. And I'm so glad I did, because this was wonderful! Eleanor is one of the most interesting, unique, and fully-formed narrators I've ever read, and I sympathized and empathized with her every step of the way in her journey of self-growth and learning to be vulnerable and establish human connection. I can definitely understand why there's been so much hype around this novel, and I think

Eleanor Oliphant more than lives up to (most of) it!

However, I do have a couple of light criticisms.

First, I didn't think this was very funny. (Perhaps this is more of a criticism of the mainstream reader reaction than it is to the book itself, because it doesn't

necessarily read like the reader was intended to be laughing—though I may be giving the author too much credit here.) The scenes that many people seem to be referencing as being funny, such as the bikini wax scene, are scenes where Eleanor's social awkwardness and lack of understanding of social norms lead her to say/think things or act in ways that are bizarre and sometimes inappropriate.

Other characters certainly seem to find this funny, or at least we can imagine them filing it away as a humorous anecdote to tell their friends later, but we readers are being asked to empathize with Eleanor. It seems horribly mean to laugh

at her when she is very much not laughing at herself. Instead, these scenes seemed very sad to me, and very strongly triggered my (admittedly overly sensitive) sense of secondhand embarrassment. I hope this was the reaction that the author was going for.

Second, I wish the author had just…dialed things back a bit. Eleanor's personality is completely over-the-top in every way. Her backstory is even more so, bordering on melodrama or soap opera-level insanity. While there's nothing inherently wrong with this, if the author had given us a character that was a little more relatable, I think that would have made Eleanor's journey more impactful and feel more real. My hope for her next novel is that she will explore an equally broken but slightly more "ordinary" character.

Overall, though, these are minor critiques of a novel that I very much enjoyed.

 
Incredible
6 months

This book took a few chapters to get into but there was a method to that. I'm glad that I hung in there.

 
Did Not Like
9 months

Story was ill paced and I didn't like the main character

 
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About the Author:

Gail Honeyman is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine won the Costa First Novel Award and the British Book Awards Book of the Year, was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish College Fiction…

 
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