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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

Start date: December 15, 2019

Finish date: January 15, 2020

Discussion: Author of the Month

Why we're reading this: Third place in the October Poll on New Authors
[close] Third place in the October Poll on New Authors

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What Members Thought

May 23, 2018 Julie rated it it was amazing

I was given this book by a good friend who thought I would like it. In fact, she was wrong. I absolutely loved it. I found myself totally inside Eleanor's world as she struggles with social interaction - sometimes to comic effect but the reader is laughing with her, not at her. The poignancy as we discover why she is the way she is almost had me in tears yet at the same time the book is very uplifting. I loved how, with tiny steps, she manages to transform herself - literally and figuratively un ...more

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May 16, 2018 Tabitha Bird rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2018-books

Wow!

I think I need a few days to sit and hold this book and just think on everything I read.
Eleanor Oliphant is COMPLETELY BRILLIANT! (yes, that did need to be in caps lock)

I don't know if I am emotionally ready to give this review (or ever read another book again), but I'll try.
I just...words... I need some words.
Devastatingly good.
This book took my heart out, examined it and the dark, sore corners I was keeping hidden, and completely took me apart. I cried. Many many times. Every page had m ...more

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May 30, 2019 Wealie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: listened, non-traditional-hero, mng-read, 0-purchased, 0-series-read, 0-audible, 0-kindle, standalone, read-in-2019, positive-masculinity

5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 - Witty, incisive, touching, funny, heartwarming and heartbreaking. A wonderful wander through the world as seen through the eyes of of a decidedly un-average woman. A literary masterpiece and incisive look at how it's easy to be lonely when you're a little different.

A simple, but effective plot that makes plenty of room for character development
I'm not surprised this book has won so many awards. The characterisation is spot on, you fall in love with all the characters, warts and all. Th ...more

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Aug 21, 2019 Kristy Brown rated it liked it

Totally unsure how I feel. Wanted it to grab me but it didn't, which is probably my fault as I read lots of fantasy and PNR . The main character was hard to warm to but I think that was the point. However by around the 60% point I started to care and really wanted to know the deal with her vile mother. Well written and quirky.
3.5 ...more

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Mar 16, 2019 Sarah Carter rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-ve-reviewed

“The voice in my own head – my own voice – was actually quite sensible, and rational.”

Eleanor’s life thrives on a routine – well, thrives might be the wrong word. It’s a rather boring life, but it’s a life Eleanor can handle. The less emotion in her life, the better. She doesn’t know how to deal with being happy or sad. She can handle being bored. She works, eats, listens to the radio, reads and drinks vodka – over and over again. Until one day a coworker follows her as she leaves work and they “The voice in my own head – my own voice – was actually quite sensible, and rational.”

Eleanor’s life thrives on a routine – well, thrives might be the wrong word. It’s a rather boring life, but it’s a life Eleanor can handle. The less emotion in her life, the better. She doesn’t know how to deal with being happy or sad. She can handle being bored. She works, eats, listens to the radio, reads and drinks vodka – over and over again. Until one day a coworker follows her as she leaves work and they see a man fall unconscious and they both help get him to the hospital. Her routine slowly gets shaken up from then on and she can finally find a way to deal with why she is the way she is.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Just Fine by Gail Honeyman was my local book club’s March book choice. We all enjoyed reading a book where the plot and characters were very different from books we typically read. It was hard to put down the book once you got towards the end. I have not read anything by this author before, but the book has been on the bestseller list for a while, so it seemed worth reading.

Raymond, her coworker, and Eleanor start meeting for lunch regularly and a friendship begins to form. No matter what tidbit she throws to him about her past or present, he listens and stays. She has scars from being in a fire in her childhood and lets Raymond know there was emotional abuse, including starvation, in her childhood. When she finally hits rock bottom, Raymond convinces her to get counseling, which ends up being exactly what she needs. Only when she finds out the truth of the past she’s blocked out can she face the idea of thriving in life.

Fans of A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman and The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion will enjoy this book as the main character has social quirks that keep the book lively and interesting amidst some very heavy topics of child abuse and its ramifications. I read it in just a few days because I really wanted to know why Eleanor was such a social misfit. The book is geared toward adults.

Read more here: https://sarahannecarter.com/eleanor-o... ...more

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