Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Publication Date: May 9th, 2017

“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. Then everything changes when she 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 each have been living–and it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.” 

Review:

I want to keep Eleanor Oliphant with me forever. This book was absolutely outstanding. 

Eleanor Oliphant has had a tragic life, but she has tried to make the best of it. She lives this life that she has created for herself. She works, she goes home, and drinks her glass of vodka a night. One day, she meets the IT guy, Raymond while her computer was on the fritz. They agree to go to lunch and find a gentleman named Sam, unconscious on the ground. This was the story of how these events changed Eleanor Oliphant’s life. 

This just might have been my favorite read this year. Eleanor Oliphant’s quirkiness and awkwardness was funny and depressing at the same time. Her story, which you will read about because I don’t want to give any spoilers, was absolutely disturbing, but amazing to read. The struggles that she endures were so heartbreaking, but extremely realistic. Gail Honeyman really did a phenomenal job. 

I love the fact that this book showed both sides of how a person is in public versus in private. Eleanor Oliphant seemed to be very alike in both aspects until she wasn’t. There were parts of this book that showed how sad she was in private, but seemed fine with Raymond. This was a very important lesson that Gail Honeyman taught. There are people that struggle everyday with anxieties and depression that hide it from the rest of the world. Eleanor Oliphant was no different. This book was a beautiful testament to those people. 

I want to keep Eleanor Oliphant in my pocket and carry her with me. There are things and quotes from this book that I will remember forever. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a book that I would recommend to anyone at any age. This book was so beautiful from cover to cover. I wish I could rate higher than five stars. 

Rating: ★★★★★