Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

 

Summary (from the publisher): Eleanor Oliphant is a bit of an odd ball. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. That, combined with her unusual appearance (scarred cheek, sometime wearer of an eczema glove), means that Eleanor has become a bit of a loner – or ‘self-contained entity’ as she calls it. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life and phone chats with ‘Mummy’ (in prison for crimes unknown).

But everything changes when Eleanor falls for the local Hipster-band frontman, Johnnie Rivers. As Eleanor prepares herself for her inevitable union with the object of her desire (appropriate attire, new laptop for Instagram stalking), she inadvertently befriends the new guy from her office, Raymond.

As Eleanor navigates the waters of obsessive love and her long-distance relationship with ‘Mummy’, she realizes she can only overcome the horrors of her past if she accepts a little help from Raymond…

Filled with unabashed wit, Eleanor Oliphant follows its quirky and troubled female narrator as she realizes that the only way to survive her current state of mind is to open her heart to friendship.

Review: This quirky, first person narrative introduces the reader to the endearing Eleanor Oliphant. Socially awkward, independent, and seemingly devoid of any real human connections, Eleanor's life is largely unfulfilling and comprised of going to her office job during the week and trying to burn through the weekends until its time to go back to work on Monday. Only Eleanor's infatuation with a local hipster singer and a new and unexpected friendship with a guy named Raymond from her office helps her life slowly start to change and grow. 

As the novel unfolds, the reader slowly begins to understand why Eleanor is so socially awkward and inadvertently offends people when she says exactly what comes to her mind. Her childhood was filled with horrific abuse and even now that she is nearly thirty, Eleanor has not fully dealt with the trauma of her past or her relationship with her abusive mother. Part of the beauty of Honeyman's writing is that the reader only learns the full story slowly and over time; she masters the art of showing who her character is rather than telling us outright. For example, as Eleanor narrates her life, it's clear to the reader from other characters' reactions that Eleanor describes that her words or actions have offended them but most of the time Eleanor is wholly oblivious of what she might have done to elicit such a response. 

This novel functions as a pseudo coming of age story, a story of survival that took nearly three decades for Eleanor to to fully achieve. In the beginning, Eleanor is merely existing. There is no joy or happiness or connection in her life. By the end of the novel, everything has changed. While not always likeable, it's impossible not to root for Eleanor and hope for her life to slowly improve. 

Stars: 4.5