#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND THE PERFECT HOLIDAY GIFT A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick“Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, … stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!” —Reese Witherspoon
No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
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.
But everything changes when Eleanor 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 have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .
The only way to survive is to open your heart.
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a book about a lonely, social awkward woman who is quirky, judgmental, does her own thing and doesn’t care about social expectations. She grew up with neglect, violence & emotional abuse. While it’s a dark story centered around loneliness and the effects of childhood trauma (which is not detailed), there is hope and growth in this book. Eleanor is so literal, she’s funny. She has no filter, is opinionated, and says things out loud that most people wouldn’t dream of saying. I personally think everyone needs a least one quirky person in their life. One of the turning points for Eleanor is coworker, Raymond, who doesn’t judge her, he takes her as she is, and lets her be herself, quirks and all. He’s her first ever friend and they’re good for each other. It was a bit hard to get into the story and I almost gave up on it. It was my book club pick for May so I gave another go. I really go into it just before the halfway point. Eleanor lives alone, works with people she has nothing in common with and has a routine (work all week, buy a supermarket pizza and bottles of vodka on Friday, spend the weekend alone and drunk waiting for Monday).
“There are scars on my heart, just as thick, as disfiguring as those on my face. I know they’re there. I hope some undamaged tissue remains, a patch through which love can come in and flow out. I hope.”
– Eleanor Oliphant
The above line broke my heart. Eleanor is hysterical but also a tragic character. She’s a strong individual though. She recognizes that something about her just didn’t fit in anywhere. She never had anyone that understood her, who loved her, took care of her, valued her. She is a character that took me a bit to warm up to but then I was captivated by her story. An eccentric character that will linger long after you’ve read the last page.
Reviewed by Comfy Chair Books/Lisa Reigel (May 12, 2020)
Bought from a local used bookstore during COVID-19 – supporting small businesses
May 2020 local book club pick
Eleanor Oliphant is a loner who functions on an everyday routine where weekdays are spent at work and weekends are spent at home eating pizza, drinking vodka, and talking to her mummy. Her antisocial life changes when she and a new IT guy from her office save Sammy, a drunk unconscious old man on the sidewalk. Visiting Sammy in the hospital brings them closer. When Sammy wakes up, the three of them become friends and Eleanor’s normally “alone” weekends become weekends spent with new friends. Meanwhile, Eleanor is suffering from depression due to a traumatic experience. Her inner struggles finally come to its halt when Raymond convinces her to see a professional. With someone finally caring genuinely for Eleanor, she slowly sees a bigger picture of the world and starts opening her heart to people.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman is an intelligently written psychological drama with lots of funny instances that had me laughing like a crazy woman. Her peculiar personality is very lovable. She has no filter when she speaks and her awkward interactions with people are amusing. I got hooked with this book not because of the story, the setting, or the other characters. It was Eleanor Oliphant’s character alone that was enough to keep me reading it.
I’m giving this 5 out of 5 stars. This book was supposed to be a sad story about depression, but Eleanor was just so entertaining. I recommend this book to ALL readers who love drama with humor.
Was bored and didn’t enjoy this book.
Very interesting, loved the ending!
What a wonderful book! Eleanor is such an odd character, but I grew to love her. She had had a difficult life and struggled with social skills without realizing it. Her life takes a turn when she and an office mate help an older gentleman who falls unconscious. The book is written from Eleanor’s point of view and it was disconcerting at times to be in her brain. She has a tremendous vocabulary and I found myself having to look up many of the words she used, but I rather enjoyed the challenge and her uniqueness grew on me.
It wasn’t my taste but I read it. She is a little bizarre but it was ok.
At first, I wasn’t so impressed. But the farther I ventured into this book the more touching and funny it became. Eleanor is a strange character in many ways, so out-of-touch with her own feelings, and the mystery of what made her that way kept me reading.
Didn’t want this book to end. Loved it.
When I finished the book, I turned back to the first page and started reading it all over again. I was so immersed and invested in Elinor’s world and her character that I couldn’t let go.
Very entertaining with enough reality to make you have ah ha moments!
I loved this book! Great characters!
I read hundreds of books a year, and can clearly remember five or six of them a year later. This is one I will remember for a long time. Very ‘unengaging’ main character in the beginning. But the more you know and understand her, the more you root for a happy ending. And the surprise twist at the end is really good; made me want to go back and reread with the ending in mind.
So unique and unpredictable – a great summer read. I really enjoyed!
This laugh out loud tearjerker has a female protagonist that is annoying yet endearing, delusional but caring, Her character arc from an aloof, Asperger-like, social outcast to a woman who recognizes that the pain and trauma of her past need no longer dictate her present or future will engage readers, especially in scenes like when she has her first bikini wax or her first styling at a hair salon. The audiobook was so engaging that I went out and bought a print copy for my bookshelf.
I would say it was tragic, but it reveals itself in such small pieces that you develop such an admiration for Eleanor that it comes across more courageous than tragic! Unparallelled character development!
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. Or so she thinks she is. But in reality, what she really is, is alone. Alone with the pain of a dysfunctional past, with no friends and only her frozen pizza and vodka on the weekends to get through the dreadful loneliness.
Eleanor has some quirks. She’s awkward, is unfiltered with her words, and is basically a social recluse. But it’s not her fault. She’s had a difficult upbringing. This makes her somewhat unlikable. That’s until she meets Raymond, the weird IT guy from her office. Together they save a guy named Sammy, an older gentleman who has fallen and eventually they all become friends. Slowly, Eleanor goes outside of her comfort zone and her life changes dramatically.
I didn’t quite connect with the British humor in the beginning, but I did find Eleanor quite likable and found the story very endearing. I loved how the friendship aspect that was developed between Eleanor and Raymond helped her to become more confident and eventually find happiness. This was an enjoyable read.
Quirky, but a great read.
Very entertaining. Elinor deserves happiness although she won’t admit it. And her self esteem is so low. Her life becomes a Cinderella story when she meets a young girl and an immigrant. Highly recommend this book.
I’m waiting for the movie.
I loved this book — especially the extensive vocabulary and the twists and turns in the story itself. There were moments when the writing was a tad tedious. Overall though, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it!