#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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This book was really surprising. It was deeper than I thought it would be when I first began reading. The characters were just wonderful. I would really like to read more from this author. Really enjoyed the writing style.
The trouble with books that have so many rave reviews is it’s easy to be disappointed. I found it extremely slow paced through the first 160 pages, if I hadn’t been reading it for a book club I probably would have put it aside after the first 50, 75 or even 100 pages. Once Eleanor starts meeting with Maria the pace finally picks up and I finally wanted to keep reading. Much of the “big reveals” were not a surprise but a confirmation of what you suspect. None the less it is a worthy read.
I didn’t read every page although I related to the main characters lifestyle of isolation. Finding out why she was so hurt as a child left me hurt , too. Someone else might better enjoy the adaptability of the characters.
The story evolved; slowly unraveling the characters and reeling in the reader to Eleanor’s world whose reality is tainted by a disturbing childhood and horrific trauma.
This book was simply brilliant. So different from everything else. Kind of awkward, in a good way, unexpected and so full of deep emotion. Eleanor, the main character, was funny and peculiar and I ended up loving her because she starts off as simple and odd, but underneath that facade was an amazing and inspiring woman. A must read.
This is the story of Eleanor – a woman in her early 30’s who lives a quiet, private life. Her coworkers find her strange and quirky. She doesn’t have friends, or a boyfriend. Not even a pet. She hides behind a large scar on her face and scars on her hands from a childhood accident that she refuses to talk about.
One day while at work, her computer stops working and a man named Raymond from IT comes to fix it. He immediately likes Eleanor, even though Eleanor can’t see it. One day while they are walking out from work, they find a man lying on the sidewalk in need of medical assistance. Thus begins the change in Eleanor’s life. She has other people to care about and people who care about her. Even though she talks weekly with her mother on the phone (who we learn was a terrible person and an abuser) and listens to her mother talk down to her, Eleanor starts to change. She cuts her hair. She goes to concerts. She and Raymond start going to lunch every day. She has found a true friend and she starts to open up about her childhood.
As the story progresses, we find out more and more about what Eleanor went through as a child and why she feels like she doesn’t deserve what she has. But Raymond, and many others start to show her how much she is worth.
This was a great book. Eleanor is a quirky character that has been repeated in other books that I have liked (a few of Fredrik Backman’s characters come to mind). She doesn’t vary from routine. She is not a typical 30 year old – doesn’t own a computer or smart phone. Doesn’t have stylish clothes or is up on the latest trends. She finds people around her silly and frivolous. It is hard for her to be forgiving of herself and others.
But she does learn to change, and in the end she has all the things she ever wished for. All the main characters in the book are likable and well developed. The story evolves at a good pace. I highly recommend the book.
ELEANOR WAS CERTAINLY A CHARACTER.
Funny and awkward. Great mystery too.
I started reading with a not so great attitude. I don’t like to read about abuse. I was in abusive relationships, not as bad as Eleanor but I was suddenly back there. Yes, the author captured a small segment of the different kinds of abuse pain. With her mother, her foster parents, her boyfriend and especially when Eleanor slipped out of her fantasy relationship and saw the reality of her present life. But just the right amount of good was added. Raymond was such an unexpected delight from the beginning to the end. Great read, abuse is not entertaining but can be viewed as this author’s projection: life is full of twists and turns. We learn from what doesn’t kill us.
The author takes you into Eleanor’s quirky world and you wind up pulling for her on every page.
Truly unique. Character of Eleanor was amazingly well developed and despite her quirkiness and oddities, you can’t help but root for her and, in a sense, relate. A tragic story, but one that you find yourself laughing as well.
This was a great book club read.
boring, I did not finish the book.
Eleanor is a moving and inspirational character. Some other reviewers said it was funny, even hilarious. I did not find her behavior the least bit humorous. Having suffered such emotional abuse, her loneliness and isolation is completely understandable. She shows extraordinary courage as she opens herself up to the world.
Once you got started reading about Eleanor, it was hard to stop!
Thoroughly enjoyed it.
If you loved A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman then you will appreciate this novel. Eleanor Olyphant reminds me of a younger female version of the crotchety, misunderstood, yet good-hearted Ove. This novel highlights a woman who doesn’t fit into modern, city cultural norms. Eleanor has managed to survive a terrible and tragic childhood but realizes just surviving may not be enough anymore.
It is very refreshing to read a book with unique characters who keep us on our toes wondering where the author will take us.
EO is one of those books which made me sad and wistful when I finished because I didn’t want to say good by to the characters or the story. Great vocab and an haunting unexpected turn
Great story about a girl with a tragic history trying to “fit in” and face her demons. Additionally, the acceptance by another person (male) who helps her accomplish same. Delightful!