Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Book Review
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Book Review
The lowdown from Goodreads
Publish date May 9, 2017
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.
Then 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.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman Book Review
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was a delightful, emotional & unexpected read for me. Reading the title description, I thought I was in for a quirky, heartwarming read that would end with a unique love connection. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is all those things, and so much more.
What can I say about Eleanor?
Eleanor is routined & disciplined. She eats pizza a certain night of the week.She has worked at the same place for years & has never used a sick day. She drinks quite a bit of vodka. Eleanor’s Mummy is away, but she & Eleanor have a phone date. Seems to me that Mummy is a bit controlling & condescending. Although Eleanor has no pets & no friends, she seems somewhat complacent in her structured existence.
Scars, isolation & telephone dates with Mummy
Eleanor is a complex character with a past. Gail does a masterful job of throwing out little tidbits about Eleanor’s family that intrigue the reader. This bit of added suspense kept me turning the pages late into the night. We meet a social worker that comes to visit Eleanor, but we’re left questioning exactly why she’s there. Eleanor has a scar & burns on her face & we aren’t quite sure how she got them. Eleanor becomes quickly enamored with a musician & throws herself into this fantasy of expectations for their eventual courtship. It’s funny in some ways but incredibly sad in others. She’s lonely & there is a longing for touch & affection that is utterly heartbreaking. There’s also a sense of innocence & naivete that’s present throughout the book.
This sounds kind of heavy
It is. There are parts of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine that will make your chest tighten. There are other parts that make your heart soar. Gail Honeyman is somehow able to marry Eleanor’s painful past with her hope for the future. Similar to Frederik Backman’s A Man Called Ove, this story is ripe with humor, loss & love. Readers get to see all sides of Eleanor & her story is definitely one you want to hear.
THE VERDICT
Eleanor Oliphant is one of a kind. You don’t want to miss a chance to get to know her. I was Really Into This book.
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About the Author: Gail Honeyman
Gail Honeyman is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress and is Honeyman’s debut novel. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.
2 Comments
Yvo
Excellent review! I’ve heard a lot of great things about this book and your review only confirms I really have to get a copy soon.
Sarah Slusher
Thank you so much. <3 I hope you enjoy it!