Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (2017)

The Short of It:

It took me years to finally pick this book up and now I am hitting myself over the head with my copy because I could have enjoyed it years earlier.

The Rest of It:

What you need to know right off, is that this book has been marketed as “funny” and “warm” and with that colorful cover, it radiates a lightness which is probably why I overlooked it for so long. It remains a popular Reese Witherspoon pick, but nowhere, anywhere have I seen any reference to the heaviness of the story.

This story has some teeth, that’s what I am saying.

Eleanor is quirky and odd and as the author put it, sometimes a bit daft. She possesses a good job and manages to be somewhat social with her co-workers when needed, but in a very, off-putting formal way. She’s efficient when she needs to be, but a complete and total disaster other times.

Early on, it’s clear that something has happened to Eleanor. It’s referred to as “the incident” and it’s left her curiously alone, living in social housing with regular visits from a social worker. This is fine. Eleanor is fine, or so it seems until she meets a new co-worker by the name of Raymond. Up until this point, she has convinced herself that her life is good but Raymond’s sweet, unassuming ways and the kindness he displays forces her to consider the life she’s been living thus far and she has found it to be lacking.

Sigh. This book! It kind of tore me up a little. It’s actually very sad but peppered with “Eleanorisms” which lightens the load as details from the past are slowly revealed. I loved it. I loved how simple the storytelling was and I liked many, many of the characters both large and small. I am sitting here as I write this review, still pondering Eleanor’s story and that is definitely the sign of a great read. It has some sweet moments and really is a story about survival.

I highly recommend it. It would make for an excellent club read. I heard that Witherspoon bought the rights to it early on, to produce a movie down the line. I see no updates on a movie being in the works but I think if there is one, it will be very successful.

This was a book on my Summer Reading List so I am glad to finally check this one off my list and add it to my list of faves.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. ( )

Heartwarming yet disturbing too. Took me a while to get into it and had to keep going back to it but was worth it in the end. ( )

I wanted a page-turning warm-fuzzy comfort read, and this met the need, but I don't think it's a book that deserves vast fame and am not expecting it to stick with me in any detail.

Eleanor Oliphant has been working in the same office job for many years, and spending her weekends blind drunk, mostly to block out her childhood trauma. Over the course of the book she learns about friendship, reinvents herself with a haircut, a make-over and decluttering her flat, gets therapy, and ends up much happier than she started.

I think I generally don't like othering books about non neurotypical people, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime annoyed me in similar ways. Although I thought the author did a great job of bringing a bit of nuance to it - Eleanor's crush on the rock star did not end in any sort of cringy scene, and her relationship with Raymond was warm and moving, without diving in to 'everything neatly wrapped up in a bow of Love'. ( )

Initially I found the main character too stereotyped - tick all the boxes to present a woman who has all the classic Aspergers characteristics. As the story progressed, however, I was drawn in by the parallel storyline and still wanted to find out what happened.
A light, easy holiday read. ( )

Of course, Eleanor Oliphant is not completely fine, at least not at the beginning of the book. Eleanor is weird and quirky, socially inept and isolated, spending her weeks in a job at which she is competent but not liked, and her weekends with vodka and pizza. When Eleanor and an IT guy from her office, Raymond, help to save a stranger who collapses on the sidewalk, things start to change. Eleanor begins to confront her past and the events which left her deeply damaged. Charming and life affirming. ( )