Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Rating

5/5 stars

Genre
Fiction - Contemporary

Summary

Eleanor Oliphant is a lonesome, socially inept twenty-nine-year-old who lives alone, works a less than exciting nine-to-five office job, and talks to Mummy every Wednesday evening. Her only social interactions, seldom and usually unwelcome, are with co-workers. That is until one day, she is forced into human interaction when she and the IT guy at her work save a man lying unconscious in the street. And so begins a series of events that switch up Eleanor's very simple life. She soon begins to wonder what is it like to have a friend? Could another person truly want to spend time with me? But underlying it all is an extensively complicated relationship with her mum.

Review

I loved the story of Eleanor's life and getting into her mind to understand why she is the way she is.  Yes, she is blatantly awkward and clueless, but she also has such a longing, like all of us, to just be loved. I really took to Eleanor, quirks and all; I empathized with her, and my heart broke for her again and again. I felt like I knew her and, by the end, wanted nothing but the best for her. The mix of hilarity with hardship was well done and balanced the story out nicely. I laughed out loud on many occasions and, quite frankly, considered incorporating some of Eleanor's lingo into my own life for fun's sake. I highly suggest this book; it is definitely one that will stick with me!

Author Gail Honeyman Q&A