Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
Published by: Pamela Dorman Books

Eleanor Oliphant is a bit of an odd duck – to say the least!

Eleanor Oliphant struggles with what most people would think of as typical social skills, and has no problem saying exactly what she thinks. Ouch!

She has little to no interactions with other people, and as far as Eleanor is concerned – that’s just fine.  In fact, she believes most people to be dullards, and I believe that if Eleanor could go about her entire day without speaking to anyone, she would.  Her coworkers talk about her behind her back, and sometimes not so subtly right in front of her, but Eleanor can give as well as she gets and she does it with such an extensive vocabulary that most people can’t quite figure her out – almost to her delight.

Her life is carefully planned from day to day knowing exactly what she will wear and what she will eat without variation, until the weekend, when she splurges on frozen pizza and vodka.  Also part of her weekly routine are the very awkward phone calls with “Mummy”.

But one day Eleanor’s world gets turned upside down when she witnesses an elderly gentleman take a tumble on the sidewalk.  Almost against her better judgment, Eleanor is recruited by a co-worker to help the poor man.  Raymond is one of the few people from her office that she interacts with.  He’s an IT guy, and anyone who has ever worked in an office knows – you need to interact with the IT guy!

Raymond is not someone that Eleanor could ever envision herself being friends with – he’s a bit of a slob; but he convinces her to go to the hospital to check on Sammy, the gentleman that fell on the sidewalk.  And before she knows it, Eleanor has friends.

What happens next is what makes this book so heartwarming. Eleanor starts to realize that she is leading a lonely life, and starts to make plans and changes to meet the man that she has fallen in love with – and it’s not Raymond.

In the meantime, Raymond begins to suspect that there is more to Eleanor than meets the eye.  Why does she act the way that she does, why does she say things that most people wouldn’t, and why does she begin to fall apart when she finally finds companionship?  What happened in her past that she pushed down so far – but now is threatening to bubble up to the surface?  Whatever it is, the kind hearted Raymond is there to help her.

This book is so beautifully written, and hits all of the emotions – there is such sadness in Eleanor, and yet so much hope in Raymond that you can’t help but fall in love with both of these characters.  But don’t let that fool you into thinking that this is only a sad book – Gail Honeyman does a fantastic job of portraying these characters and their emotions with a quirky wit that will make you smile at Eleanor’s awkwardness and Raymond’s kindness.

There are books that you read and really like, and then there are books like this one – that you know will stay with you for a very long time, and make its way to your all-time favorites list.

But don’t just take it from me. This book has also caught the eye of Reese Witherspoon, who has optioned the book for a movie.

Here is an excerpt from BookBub (and the link if you want to read more)

Reese Witherspoon’s media company Hello Sunshine has consistently provided readers with wonderful book recommendations. So who better to produce a film based on one of these books? With film production, book reviews, and activism under its belt, Hello Sunshine is more than qualified to move Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine from the page to the big screen.
 https://www.bookbub.com/blog/2018/07/30/eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine-movie

Have you read this book? What did you think? Or, do you think you might give it a try?

I’d love to hear from you, so leave your comments below.