Hello, Fellow Readers!
I just finished another amazing story!
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
by Gale Honeyman
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. Eleanor lives alone and doesn’t have any friends, but that’s okay. She’s doing real well, thank you very much.
Except maybe she isn’t.
I read the following review and it hits the nail on the head with how I would review the book and about the story and Eleanor. While reading I kept thinking about the book A Man Called Ove. As you learn more about Ove, you fell more and more in love with him. You will do the same with Eleanor. Ove was funny, tragic, sad and heartwarming. You will find that with Eleanor. You will cheer for Eleanor through the story, just like you did with Ove.
This book actually turned out to be one of those perfectly-balanced sad/funny books. Maybe like some combination of The Rosie Project, Me Before You, Finding Audrey and A Man Called Ove. It takes a serious, traumatic issue and weaves it into a warm, funny and, yes, sometimes sad tale.
I read a lot of books and many characters come and go. Some are well-developed and interesting, others less so. But on a rare occasion I find one of those truly memorable characters that will stay with me a long time. Eleanor is one of them. She is socially clueless in a way that puts my teen self to shame. She is literal to a degree that everyone finds odd. It’s painful to witness and yet so, so endearing.
I think I like this book so much because it is actually really sad, but never manipulative. On a surface level, it’s a very funny novel about a socially-inept twenty-nine year-old woman. Her attempts to become “normal” and integrate into society by having manicures and waxes are sources of hilarity. But it is very sad. It’s sad when we see her coworkers talking about her, but Eleanor is oblivious to their scorn. It’s sad how alone in life she is. It’s sad when she “falls in love” with an idea of a person.
It’s not a romantic book and I’m glad. There are hints that the central relationship will eventually develop into romance, but this is really a book about Eleanor. I am thankful that the author didn’t cure Eleanor and lead her out of the darkness by having her fall in love.
I really enjoyed it. It’s great to find a book so packed full of emotion without seeming overly-sentimental.
This is one of my favorite reads and was sad to see it end.
I would give this one a 5 out of 5 stars!