Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

by Gail Honeyman

Paperback, 2018

Status

Available

Genres

All Topics

General Fiction

Fiction

Description

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.

User reviews

LibraryThing member brenzi

"These days, loneliness is the new cancer---a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don’t want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that

it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them."

If there was ever a book that I had completely underestimated, or got completely wrong before the actual reading, it would be this book. I read the title and thought, “Hmmm, light and probably fluffy.” Wrong. I would have to change that estimation. Oh it was very funny in places. And the tone and language that the protagonist uses is anything but light and fluffy. Her language is precise and correct throughout, so much so that it provides a few chuckles in and of itself. ("Obscenity is the distinguishing hallmark of a sadly limited vocabulary"). I can’t really reproduce this tone but it was prevalent throughout the book and for me was a highlight of what otherwise could’ve been a maudlin narrative. Because Eleanor is lonely more than anything else and you understand that right away.

The cause of her loneliness and therefore her unhappiness is hinted at throughout but not revealed until the end. And that kept me turning the pages quite feverishly. This author knew just what she was doing. And I was putty in her hands. Highly recommended.

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LibraryThing member Whisper1

This is very well written with excellent character development and a story that will stay long after the last page is read. Eleanor is quite weird. Her clothes are all black; her shoes are old fashioned her hair is long, mousey and straight. She keeps to herself both at work and socially. Often she

reminds herself that she is just fine by without others.

As the story unfolds, the reader learns that Eleanor's mother calls each Wednesday evening, and the calls are filled with negative nasty comments. Accustomed to the derogatory words, Eleanor doesn't miss a call, listens to the nastiness, then waits for the next week's call.

When she got out of the house and attended a small venue, she immediately fell in love with the singer. He is just what her mother would like. And, she obsesses about how to meet him. In her mind, she will have a wonderful relationship and he will emotionally be there for her. This becomes somewhat creepy and when she faces reality, it is rather painful and powerful.

When she meets a co-worker Raymond who is the IT person at her place of employment, she does not consider him a possible lover/friend. She would rather continue to fantasize about Mr. Right. Walking out of the office building, she and Raymond see an elderly man who falls, together they visit Sammy, and then his family.

As Raymond gently brings her into his world, and she learns that while she social skills are greatly compromised, Raymond accepts her and gently, gradually she, Raymond and Sammy depend on each other for company and are no longer isolated.

Gradually, we learn of the horror of Eleanor's childhood. Her past is damaged, and with tremendous courage, and with the help of Raymond she moves forward. She no longer needs to obsess about what never will happen, nor does she need to listen to the internal words of mommy dearest. Endearing, charming, lovely, heart warming, this is a book to read and recommend. This book is destined to be one of the top of 2018

FIVE STARS

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LibraryThing member bragan

It took me a while to decide how I felt about this novel, because it took me a while to get to grips with its protagonist. Eleanor Oliphant is a strange, repressed, emotionally isolated, deeply awkward woman whose incomplete grasp of social norms is matched only by her willingness to judge other

people by her own bizarre standards. And for most of the early part of the novel, I felt deeply conflicted about her. She can be highly amusing, but as it becomes clear (gradually, but starting very early on) that there are reasons why she is the way she is and those reasons are utterly horrific, I wasn't sure I could feel comfortable about laughing. There were times I felt a great deal of empathy for her, and others when she just seemed frustrating, annoying, maybe even a little creepy. And I often found myself wondering: is she really just a caricature of a weird loner type? As a bit of a weird loner type, myself, should I be offended?

But Eleanor, it turns out, is not any kind of caricature. She is wholly and utterly herself and as her story went on, I found myself charmed by her, in her own strange way, found myself caring deeply about her, becoming deeply invested in her growing connection with her new friend Raymond, and rooting for her to find all the things she needed in her life but didn't even realize she could have.

In the end, well, I feel as if I could probably find aspects of the novel to criticize, but I don't remotely want to. It left me with exactly the right, warm, satisfied feeling as I turned the last page, and I'm really just glad to have made Eleanor's acquaintance and taken the time to get to know her.

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LibraryThing member asxz

I don't want to be overly harsh but this was a dreadful load of old tripe. Emotionally manipulative and unoriginal Eleanor Oliphant is such an obvious authorial construct that the novel is doomed from the start. She is weighed down with a whole bunch of movie cliches - selective amnesia, forgotten

sibling, imaginary correspondent - and a glaringly undiagnosed case of movie autism. She is also a bender-prone, bottle-a-day vodkaholic who just decides to stop. Nothing about her makes sense.

We are supposed to believe that having been sequestered from the world until the age of 10 followed by years in foster care, school, university and nine years working for a graphic design firm, she has mastered computers, Facebook, Twitter and the internet, but never in her life come across the concept of Jeremy Clarkson or SpongeBob SquarePants... because it's funnier that way. Nothing holds together. There is no consistency or integrity to Eleanor's condition. She's not a person, just a device to tell a story about loneliness.

Because that's all this book really is. It's a story about loneliness. Certainly a worthy subject for a 21st century novel, but there has to be a better way to write it than this cack-handed, curious incident knock-off, puddle of slush.

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LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe

Eleanor has everything under control. She’s got her routine. Each weekday she takes the bus to work (thanks, transit pass!) where she processes invoices as an administrative assistant. Each weekend she obliterates with a couple of litres of vodka. Oh, and each Wednesday there is the excruciating

call from Mummy. Mummy isn’t very nice. Mummy never was. And if Eleanor has everything under control now that’s only because she’s got her memories of life before and of Mummy under wraps. Tightly under wraps. But love has a way of unravelling us all and Eleanor’s life is about to open up.

Gail Honeyman has created a character that is both wonderfully transparent and completely opaque. Her Eleanor might appear to be on the autism spectrum, but in reality she is a much rarer case. The loneliness she suffers from is both a curse from early childhood trauma and a blessing that helps keep her safe and sane. Her burgeoning friendship with her work colleague, Raymond, and especially the aid they render to Sammy, whom they encounter suffering a heart attack on the street, leads to new possibilities. But also maybe Eleanor is just ready for something more, as well as ready to finally say goodbye to her past. It’s a surprisingly enchanting mix, filled with kind and good people even if they don’t fully know it yet.

Gently recommended.

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LibraryThing member passion4reading

Eleanor Oliphant likes to keep herself to herself. She is content to go to work, dressed every day in the same clothes, and to stay at home at the weekend, drinking vodka, until the cycle begins again on Monday. Aged twenty-nine, she has no friends and no meaningful relationships; at work she is

regarded as a weirdo. But during a rare night out, her eye falls on the handsome singer of a local band, and she decides that he is the man for her. So she sets out to make small but significant changes to her life.

I can see why the book has garnered rave reviews and a host of awards: the author has tackled the difficult themes of child abuse, mental illness and social isolation and made them central to the book's main character, but has done so skilfully and with an easy and humorous touch. There are a lot of truths about today's society hidden inside the book. I couldn't help warming to Eleanor, who is so content to defy everyone's expectations of her and to be just herself, but felt sad for her at the same time, because it's obvious that she avoids looking at her life too closely and prefers to numb her emotions with copious amounts of vodka. And yet I didn't think the novel entirely successful: I found Eleanor's judgemental attitude rather irritating after a while – considering she especially should know how wrong first impressions can be, though I guess no one can blame her – and thought the way the author uses Eleanor's social ineptitude and naivety to take cheap swipes at various conventions and business practices very tiring. I also disagree with how Eleanor is used in socially awkward situations almost as an object of ridicule, with the aim to elicit a chuckle or disbelieving shake of the head from the reader; a person as strong as Eleanor Oliphant doesn't deserve such treatment. From a plot point of view, I found the novel to be fairly predictable, though not without its moments of genuine connection, joy and sadness, and I was very glad to see how Eleanor learns slowly, and through adversity, to turn her life around.

It will be interesting to see what Gail Honeyman comes up with next.

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LibraryThing member linda.a.

We all know that when anyone describes themselves as feeling “fine” this is usually not the case. In this truly remarkable debut novel, it soon becomes clear to the reader that however comfortable Eleanor Oliphant says feels in the life she has created for herself, she is anything but

“completely fine”. She is thirty years old, a self-contained young woman whose routine never varies. She wears the same outfit for work every day, has the same meal deal for lunch and, whilst eating it, always does the cryptic crossword; during her solitary weekends, she has frozen pizza and drinks two bottles of vodka. She has worked for the same firm since leaving university, is good at her job and never takes time off, in fact she doesn’t even take all of her holiday entitlement – little wonder that her boss can rely on her commitment to the job. However, what she is less good at is understanding her colleagues. She feels she has nothing in common with what she regards as their rather frivolous attitudes, both to work and to life in general. Even if she felt in the least inclined to, she isn’t able to join in their more casual interactions because she usually doesn’t have a clue what they are talking about! This means that she is regarded as an eccentric, rather odd character, someone to make fun of and to gossip about. The only one who is inclined to ignore her eccentricities is Raymond, the new technician from the IT department. When he and she stop to help an old man who has collapsed in the street, Eleanor’s world slowly begins to change as she begins to learn different ways of interacting with other people, and gradually starts to come to terms with her past.
From the opening page of this unforgettable story I felt immersed in Eleanor’s view of the world. Through the expression of her thoughts, her fears, her beliefs about how she, and other people, should behave and her emerging realisation that there is an alternative to the life of isolation which she is leading, the reader inhabits her world. The gradual uncovering of the horrific events in her past which have shaped her expectations of life make it possible to understand why she thinks and behaves as she does.
Her journey towards a more hopeful future was one I felt fully engaged with as I became caught up in her struggles to negotiate a new way of interacting with the people she encounters. This more benign world is one which, in so many ways, feels alien to her and yet it is one which feels increasingly caring and comforting as she opens herself up to new experiences. There were moments when her social ineptitude was hilarious and I found myself laughing out loud at her confusions and assumptions. However, the next moment I would find myself in floods of tears, watching her as she struggled to cope. At times this roller-coaster of emotions felt heart-breaking, almost too much to bear, but Eleanor’s powerful voice and the painful emotional journey she was prepared to undertake made it impossible for me put this book down, that would have felt like abandoning her as she faced her journey of self-discovery.
The author’s exploration of the effects of loneliness, a central thread in the story, was masterly. As the layers of Eleanor’s past were exposed, it became clear how brutal, life-changing events during her childhood had had such a devastating impact on her capacity to form close relationships, to be able to either identify, or to acknowledge, her own feelings and needs, or to recognise those of other people. The reader is forced to question whether Eleanor is in fact incapable of developing socially acceptable interactions, or whether her inability to engage is due to the fact that she just doesn’t know how to. Her fractured, dysfunctional family and years of abuse have made it difficult for her to trust and have led to her living such an isolated life. After all, if we don’t have good role models and learn how to mix with people, how can we be expected to develop social skills? At one point in the story Eleanor reflects on the pleasure she experienced when she was addressed by her first name by someone in a call centre. The sadness underlying that reflection was painful to listen to and has continued to echo in my head ever since I finished the book. It makes me wonder how many Eleanors there are in our society whose voices are never listened to or heard.
A real strength in this character-driven story is the fact that, whilst it is acknowledged that some people are capable of cruelty, many more are inclined to be kind and caring, to want to reach out and make contact with others. This sentiment is not conveyed in any unrealistic, saccharine-sweet way, but shines through in the many small acts of thoughtfulness which Eleanor encounters, and gradually learns to reciprocate, as she begins her journey to find a more comfortable place for herself in the world. I loved the fact that, although Eleanor began to change, there was no instant, magical transformation. Her journey was a struggle and, even when life was looking so much better for her, there were still traces of the old patterns which had shaped her life so far – many of which were, in fact, quite endearing!
Another catalyst in Eleanor’s transformation was when she became obsessed with beginning a relationship with a pop star. This young man had caught her eye because he spoke and dressed well (although it was clear that he was otherwise patently unsuitable!) and she thought her hyper-critical “Mummy” would approve of him as a future son in law! For a short time I feared that the author was going to use romance as a way for Eleanor to find happiness but it soon became clear that she was far wiser than that in her portrayal of her characters. Even the endearing, thoughtful and caring Raymond, who persists in his efforts to befriend Eleanor, who dresses rather scruffily, eats and talks with his mouth open and certainly would not earn “Mummy’s” approval, is not portrayed as offering romance. Instead, what he does offer is reliable kindness, tolerance, acceptance and caring, thereby demonstrating the power of platonic friendship. Their relationship works because, whilst not being blind to each other’s flaws, they come to respect and care for each other.
I find it truly remarkable that this is Gail Honeyman’s debut novel; the quality of her writing and her ability to create convincing characters is quite breath-taking at times. It therefore comes as no surprise to me that the book has won the 2017 Costa First Novel Award – in my opinion it would be a worthy winner of the overall Costa Book of the Year Award! This is such a wise novel, full of warmth and humanity; a powerful combination of sadness, loneliness, devastating, unsettling darkness and yet with a convincing message of optimism. This is much more a “coming to life” rather than a “coming of age” story and I know it is one I’ll be very tempted to re-read. There were times when the essential humanity in this story-telling reminded me of Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove so this is a book which I’m sure will appeal to anyone who enjoyed that story.
In some ways this has been a really difficult review to write because of a fear that I won’t be able to do justice to the quality of either the writing or the story-telling so I hope that what I have written will at least persuade you to read this wonderful book for yourself!

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LibraryThing member Beamis12

What an absolutely fantastic character Eleanor is, a character that grew on menthe more I read. She has had a scarred childhood, though we don't learn exactly what happened until later in the story, she wears the evidence on her face. She remembers little from that time only knows she was burned in

a fire. Raised in a series of group homes, given an apartment by social services who still check on her though she is now thirty. She has few social skills, is very matter of fact, has no friends, few filters and has a schedule that she keeps to, a job she likes and insists she if fine. Until a crush with a musician and an IT guy named Raymond derails her schedule and her life.

Why did I give this five stars? It is a first book, with nary a misstep, an assured book with amazing writing and character development. Plus it is difficult to take a book with so few characters, and not only make it interesting enough to keep the reader immersed, but to let us see the way Eleanor changes and grows throughout the story. There is much humor, there is also sadness and I came to embrace this character in all her strangeness, loved when she figured things out and came to terms with her past. There are a few places where the author could have gone overboard on sweetness but she kept true to the character of Eleanor and just managed to stay on the border, without crossing over. This is a book I will remember, it was that good and meaningful, in my opinion.

Looking forward to great things from this new author, she is a true talent.
ARC from publisher.

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LibraryThing member sturlington

Obviously, Eleanor Oliphant is not completely fine, or we wouldn't be reading about her. However, she is a great character: excessively formal, strangely naive for being 30, judgmental (but in a funny way). Also lonely, damaged, literally scarred, with a past so traumatic she can't remember it. I

thought this was a very well-done treatment of depression, both realistic and not overly heavy, and following Eleanor along as she begins to lift herself out of it can feel cathartic. I also liked that this was almost but not quite a romance about people who both seemed real and like people I'd like to get to know.

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LibraryThing member AliceaP

There is a reason that this debut novel has been on hold for many, many months and why it continues to be difficult to get in a hurry. Gail Honeyman has managed to create a character so unique and delightful that I found myself instantly enamored of her. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the

story of a woman who the reader learns from the outset is completely aloof to the social mores of society and is pretty content to remain so...until she sees the man of her dreams. It seems fairly obvious to the reader that this 'relationship' is doomed to fail. (Like my romance with Brian Littrell when I was in middle school.) However, having this foreknowledge does not detract from the story because the love story is between the reader and Eleanor and Eleanor with herself. She is a fragile woman who has built up a rather thick wall between herself and the entire world...and she's had plenty of time to reinforce that wall. Her past is nothing if not murky and it doesn't get cleared up until almost the very end of the novel. (And it's a doozy, ya'll.) It's exceedingly difficult for me not to spill some essential facts while writing up this review because they're the things that make this a truly gripping piece of realistic fiction. Eleanor is a character that seems to live and breathe beyond the page. Her bucking of social 'norms' coupled with her frankly hilarious inner dialogue about what is and isn't 'polite' had me laughing out loud on several occasions and made me feel so connected to her. I truly rooted for her and became emotionally invested as if I was reading an autobiography or memoir instead of a work of fiction. (Gail, you've made it into my list of top 20 authors of all time. I'm excited to see what you come up with next!) 10/10 highly recommend

A/N: The author discusses child abuse, disfigurement, bullying (from all ages), and mental illness. If these are triggering to you in any way, shape, or form then you should steer clear. Everyone else, I think Gail handled these topics very well (having dealt with 2 of the 4 personally) and I see no reason why you should give this book a pass. Eleanor will grab you by the heartstrings and refuse to let go.

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LibraryThing member sainsborough

Spoiler alert: A perfect book to be turned into a feel-good movie where everything must turn out fine. However, the reality of this world is that the Eleanors do manage to kill themselves, or manage to do permanent damage to their health trying, or never get back to the same career level at work

and certainly never have a Raymond in their lives. So a bit of a fairytale, but not a complete waste of time.

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LibraryThing member ASKelmore

Best for: Anyone looking for a meaningful read that, despite being nearly 400 pages, flies by.

In a nutshell: Eleanor Oliphant is nearly 30 and has lived her life alone since leaving foster care. But when she and her colleague witness a man take a bad fall on the street, she starts down a path

towards confronting her loneliness and her past.

(Read the synopsis online, as I fear I’m not doing it justice.)

Worth quoting:
“Human mating rituals are unbelievable tedious to observe. At least in the animal kingdom you are occasionally treated to a flash of bright feathers or a display of spectacular violence.”
“All of the people in the room seemed to take so much for granted: that they would be invited to social events, that they would have friends and family to talk to, that they would fall in love, be loved in return, perhaps create a family of their own.”
“I could see no point in being anything other than truthful with the world. I had, literally, nothing left to lose. But, by careful observation from the sidelines, I’d worked out that social success is often build on pretending just a little.”

Why I chose it:
This book is everywhere over here. By the fifth or sixth time I saw it on prominent display at a bookshop, I decided perhaps it was time to pick it up.

Review:
Is all fiction this good? I’ve read 16 books this year, and only two are fiction, and they’ve both been fantastic. I’m pretty sure I say this every time I read fiction — I’m just usually so taken with nonfiction that I don’t make time to read fiction, and that clearly isn’t great. There’s so much to think about with good fiction.

In this case, the main topics are loneliness, friendship, kindness, and how we learn how to navigate the world. As we start the book, Eleanor seems a bit like an odd duck. She has a very specific daily and weekly routine, she isn’t looked upon highly by colleagues (not for her work, but for her personality), and she doesn’t have any friends. She seems to view the weekend as just marking time until Monday rolls back around.

Early on, we learn that she has some sort of scar on her face, and that she spent her youth in care homes until she moved into her current flat in council housing right after graduating university. She has no friends, and her only family is her Mummy, who is away somewhere but calls every Wednesday. Mummy is extraordinarily cruel.

I think some of the brilliance of Eleanor is that the things she thinks and says are (for the most part) totally logical, but don’t actually apply to how we interact as people. She is flummoxed by the idea, for example, that someone would say a party starts at 7 PM but then find it to be rude if people actually showed up at 7 PM. I mean, she’s right. It’s weird. But we’ve all picked up on the social cues about things like attending parties, or interactions with people we’ve just met. She hasn’t.

This is the kind of book that I wish I’d read as part of a book club, because I want to talk about it with people, like right now.

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LibraryThing member DKnight0918

When I first started reading this book it took me a little while to get into it. As I dived more into Eleanor’s world though the more time I wanted to spend with her. She had a rough childhood and slowly learns to get help with dealing with her past and her emotions. The start of the worse days

was difficult to read but as I pushed my way through them I was able to enjoy it more as I realized she was going to be okay. I feel like it ended too soon. I wanted to see more about her relationship with Raymond. Would love to read a sequel.

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LibraryThing member PriscillaM

Once I started reading 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' I couldn't put it down. Eleanor works in the office of a graphic design business and has done so for 10 years. She interacts very little with her work colleagues, who consider her to be weird and make little jokes about her. Her life is

very ordered, doing the same things, eating the same foods going to the same places day in & day out. Obviously Eleanor has had some trauma in her background which she keeps locked away inside with the help of weekend binges on vodka, alone in her council flat. Eleanor's life suddenly takes an unexpected turn when she, along with Raymond, the IT expert from work, are involved in helping an old man who has fallen in the street. Eleanor is abrupt, literal, straight to the point and has no socialising skills and no friends. Her only regular contact is a weekly traumatising telephone call from her Mummy. Gail Honeyman has created an amazing character in Eleanor, brave, stoic, flawed and fragile. I loved the book.

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LibraryThing member LoriFox

I loved this book! Eleanor Oliphant really is completely fine, although her definition of that term is transformed by the end of the book. As a character, she is quirky, laugh out loud funny, and uniquely charming. She reminds me of Sheldon and Amy from the Big Bang Theory.

At the beginning of the

book, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of Eleanor. Is she too weird? Too odd? To strange? Yet the more her thoughts and commentary appear on the page, the more likable and eventually lovable she becomes.

A few twists occur after the halfway point that I wasn’t t expecting. Some are almost but not quite predictable, as they are slightly hinted at, but still mysterious until they are revealed.

This book is part love story, part mystery, part tragicomedy, and all truly enjoyable. I highly recommend this book.

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LibraryThing member kimkimkim

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine - well, not really. She is out of sync with just about everything. She uses words such as hamartia, de trop, rebarbative, sybarite and a interlocutor when the rest of the world employs tragic flaw, too much, repellent, devoted to luxury and dialogue. She bears

scars on her face and worse on her psyche. Gail Honeyman tells Eleanor's story as if she is peeling an onion, one thin layer at a time, and had me, laughing, crying, gasping for breath as the tears ran down my face. Honeyman has written a brilliant characterization of a marginalized young woman and the forces and people around her who can't help but care.

Thank you Penguin First To Read for an advance copy and the opportunity to savor every description on every page of this well written book.

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LibraryThing member Clara53

Quite good! And in many parts - quite excellent, actually. I could easily relate to Eleanor, although my life story couldn't have been further from hers; and that quality - of being so relatable - is due, of course, to the skill and talent of the author. Also, to find humor (excellent humor!) in

Eleanor's situation, is quite remarkable and works so well within the plot. Along with brilliance, I also found a few cliche moments, but it didn't minimize my overall enjoyment of the novel.

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LibraryThing member sianpr

In the end this was an uplifting and, in places, funny story in which the central character, Eleanor Oliphant, comes to terms with her chequered past and starts to look forward to a happier future. Very good characterisation and observation and quite a lot of twists in Eleanor’s story that I

didn’t see coming.

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LibraryThing member AlisonY

When we first meet Eleanor she comes across as completely bizarre - an old-fashioned head on young shoulders who has little social interaction with the world. Her work colleagues find her freakish and make little attempt to keep their jibes from her ears, but Eleanor is only concerned with doing

her job efficiently, completing the daily crossword at lunchtime and getting through the weekend before she can busy herself with work again.

Initially Eleanor appears to be autistic, but as the novel develops we discover that she has zero emotional interaction or support structure in terms of friends or family. She has been alone for so long she misinterprets this survivalist behaviour as self-imposed independence, but through an unexpected event Eleanor gradually has the opportunity to turn herself for the first time towards the warmth of human kindness.

Mass market? Definitely. Page-turning? Absolutely.

This is not highbrow literature, but if your head is in the place of wanting an absorbing feel-good read with some great characters it ticks all the boxes.

4.5 stars - it warms the cockles of your heart.

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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa

I was fully prepared to resist this book, but it slowly reeled me in until I was hooked. It is a moving account of trauma and depression, and there are subtle allusions to Jane Eyre that are intriguing, as well.

LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo

It took Eleanor to remind me one of my important "reading realities." Even the most intriguing character won't hold my interest unless there's an exceptionally strong, fast-moving plot. I recall a friend once saying, "Give me amazing character development and I could read a thousand pages." I can't

make the same assertion. As the first half of the book tediously explored the protagonist's adventures to a manicurist, hairstylist, women's clothing boutique and other mundane encounters, I almost called it quits. But a couple reviews raved about an unexpected ending. I also reminded myself that the book made it on numerous best reads of the year list. I'm resolved to get to the end, hoping the final salvo will allow me to upgrade what is currently a 2 1/2-star rating. We shall see.

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LibraryThing member breic

Parts of the book are fine, but I didn't love it. The characters are cartoonish, and the story is cliched. If you read chapter one, the rest of the book follows exactly the tedious line you would expect. Honeyman doesn't take any risks, there are no surprises.

LibraryThing member PilgrimJess

"Although it's good to try new things and to keep an open mind, it's also extremely important to stay true to who you really are."

Eleanor Oliphant, is a 30-year-old woman, who having had a traumatic childhood and spent years moving from one foster home to another, is merely existing. She has no

friends, and no real social skills, works in an office in Glasgow but once Friday comes she spends the weekend drinking vodka by the bottle speaking to no one. Honeyman uses humour to take her readers through a story of heartache, self-hatred and simple kindness.

From the onset, we are aware that Eleanor is quirky, somewhat odd, but as we learn about the events that have shaped her personality we cannot help but feel a certain sympathy and warm to her. She keeps telling herself that she is "completely fine" with her solitary life but when Raymond, a colleague from her company's IT department, shows her a simple act of kindness, her self-contained life begins to unravel. Raymond, is a decent and kind-hearted man who befriends Eleanor and relentlessly works to break down the barriers that Eleanor has built around herself. He becomes indispensable in her life and ultimately saves it. The friendship between the two is both heart-warming and well crafted.

This is a long way from what I would regard as my usual reading material and I must admit that I had trouble in believing that anyone could have so devoid of social skills as Eleanor, so alien to the norms of society and modern culture but did at least get me thinking. Why are some people popular whilst others seemingly less so? We are a society that judges people based on what they wear, what they do both in and out of work and their marital status.

In the age of covid where loneliness and isolation, not just in the old and retired but also those who are in work and appear outwardly happy, is on trend, this book is a timely reminder that simple acts of kindness can make a big difference to someone else's life. Similarly it is also a reminder that not all scars are visible. Overall a well written and enjoyable read.

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LibraryThing member varwenea

The setting is modern times Glasgow. Eleanor Oliphant is 29 years old doing billing in an office. Very early on in the novel, it is revealed some form of trauma has happened to her. I waited patiently for the onion to be peeled, which turns out to be an accurate analogy. Eleanor is a bit annoying

and prickly to your senses, as she initially is entirely difficult to relate; why would she do, think, and be a certain way ran through my mind. She has never learned the social norms. (The early pages are easy to discourage the reader.) Then her life story is slowly revealed, and your eyes start to dampen with the onion effect trickling in. Towards the end, that last unveil is full on onion effect. Finally, as you are sautéing that onion, you realize she’s not so annoying, that you understand her and maybe even like her, just as I like my onion sautéed. And that’s the full onion effect of this book.

The plot and writing style are pretty straightforward. Once in a while, it’s nice to read a heartwarming book of someone overcoming trauma. The final bit is somewhat rushed, and I wanted more explanations. Then again, even I was ready for the book to be done, so the rushed reveal is ‘Completely Fine’, too.

Some Quotes:
On damages to a person – both inside and outside:
“Even the circus freak side of my face – my damaged half – was better than the alternative, which would have meant death by fire. I didn’t burn to ashes. I emerged from the flames like a little phoenix. I ran my fingers over the scar tissues, caressing the contours. I didn’t burn, Mummy, I thought. I walked through the fire and I lived.
There are scars on my heart, just as thick, as disfiguring as those on my face. I know they’re there. I hope some undamaged tissue remains, a patch through which love can come in and flow out. I hope.”

On loneliness:
“…If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say…
…These days, loneliness is the new cancer – a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it…”

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LibraryThing member strandbooks

Two bouts of insomnia and snowy bus rides means another book is done (I'd rather be able to sleep!)
3 ⭐️ I thought this was going to be a quirky fun book similar to The Rosie Project. It's more like a rom/com created by The Coen Brothers. Yes, Eleanor is quirky, but she also suffers from years

of abuse, neglect, PTSD and loneliness so I wouldn't say it is a light read. I did like the other characters and the Scottish setting. I'd love to have tea with Raymond and his mom. I didn't think the book needed the psychological-like twist at the end but maybe that's because I just read Woman in the Window which had the exact same twist.

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