Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

My rating

5 / 5

Self-Purchased copy

Author

Gail Honeymoon

Publisher

Harper Collins

Genre

Fiction

Number of Pages

383

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Summary

Eleanor is a simple, straightforward, no-nonsense, honest girl living a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meals for lunch and dinner, drinks the same vodka at home every Friday night, and watches the same TV shows every day.

But she’s happy and self-sufficient, and she thinks nothing is missing in her life. Until she realizes everything is missing.

My Review

I’ve been recommended this book by numerous bookstagram friends, saying it’s their favorite recent read. I don’t know how to add anything more to my review that will cast a new light on this book. I’ll just say that all my friends are justified when they say they love the book. Because one thing is for sure that once you start reading this book, you won’t be able to put it down.

The book covers grave themes of child abuse, suicide, and loneliness. But it also highlights positive themes like kindness, the power of friendship, and the invaluable effect of honesty in relationships. And all of this has been handled with so much fun and humor that you’ll instantly connect with the humane story.

If the book had ended Bollywood style on a silly romantic relationship between the leads, I would have detested it, sincerely. But the story was always kept realistically simple, and that’s the beauty of it. There is also an element of surprise and mystery to the tale afforded by Eleanor’s history and past that keeps the pace of the story refreshingly fast and quite gripping.

I’m not going to lie, I did shed a few tears towards the end when I gradually learned why Eleanor was the way she was, but it wasn’t an overly emotional book.

I was surprised to learn that this was Gail Honeyman’s debut novel and look forward to reading more books from her.

Final Verdict

All in all, I’ll say I was delighted in getting introduced to Miss Eleanor Oliphant and Raymond Gibbon, and I will cherish the relationship for years to come.

Who Should Read This Book

A feel good book, all readers will thoroughly enjoy. Those looking for books on mental health, this one is perfect. 


Top Quotes from Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine


“If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn't spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.”

“In principle and reality, libraries are life-enhancing palaces of wonder.”

“Sometimes you simply needed someone kind to sit with you while you dealt with things.”

“Although it’s good to try new things and to keep an open mind, it’s also extremely important to stay true to who you really are.”

“In the end, what matters is this: I survived.”

“Time only blunts the pain of loss. It doesn’t erase it.”

“When you're struggling hard to manage your own emotions, it becomes unbearable to have to witness other people's, to have to try and manage theirs too.”


Gail Honeyman

Her debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, won her the Costa First Novel Award 2017, the British Book Awards Book of the YEar and the Specsavers National Book Awards  Popular Fiction Book of the Year, as well as being shortlisted for numerous other awards.


Since publication, translation rights have sold to over thirty territories worldwide, Reese Witherspoon has optioned it for film and it was chosen for the Observer's Debuts of the Year for 2017. Gail was also awarded the Scottish Book Trust's Next Chapter Award in 2014, and has been longlisted for BBC Radio 4's opening lines and Shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Unpublished Fiction Prize and the Bridport Prize. Gail lives in Glasgow. 


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