Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine has a list of achievements longer than my arm. To name just a few, it won Costa's First Novel Award last year, and was also selected to be WHSmith's Book of 2017. For 12 weeks, this book was in the Sunday Times Top 10, and Reece Witherspoon has even bought the film rights as a project for her media company, Hello Sunshine, and is considering the role of Eleanor herself.
This is my first (and probably only) book review of July 2018, mainly because it's the first book I've finished in the past few weeks that I've been really excited to write a review for. Believe it or not, I was actually put off reading this for about a week because the blurb sounds a bit boring. As it turns out, I read the first page and realised Eleanor has the same job as me - so yeah.. probably is boring! (Just kidding). I absolutely loved this book, I really did. It's a book that I hope my imaginary future kids read, that's how much I enjoyed it. But let me tell you imaginary future kids, Eleanor Oliphant is not completely fine.
I've decided that this book can be best described as a Comedic Tragedy - I've garnered a lot of strange looks on the metro on my way home from work because I can't stop giggling out loud, but at times it's also left me feeling rather deflated and miserable. Does anyone else get the feeling that their mood is directly influenced by what they're reading? That's definitely the case for me, and this book really made me feel feelings - specifically Eleanor's feelings, as 9 times out of 10 I had nothing to feel upset about, so I applaud Gail Honeyman's ability to make this happen. Just as in life, the tone of the book changed from page to page to make me feel happy, or sad. There was never too much of either, it was wonderfully balanced and was always funny, thanks to Eleanor's hysterically literal thinking habits and obscure demeanour.
Eleanor is a character who struggles very much with social skills, for reasons which are gradually revealed throughout the story. She is so literal and so, dare I say, basic, that she often leaves the rare people whom she interacts with gawking at her in astonishment and confusion. She, despite all of that, is completely charming, lovable, and bloody hilarious.
One thing I loved in particular throughout EOICF were the pop culture references - trying to work out what they could be before someone explains it to Eleanor (or doesn't) is really fun. If you read this book for yourself, which really I hope you consider doing, you'll see what I mean. They're dotted all the way through the book and they make for a good laugh.
Despite the first few chapters sounding as though it's going to develop into a romantic story, things aren't the way they seem. I won't spoil for you what happens with the musician, but this book is not a cliché romance novel, and instead a book to celebrate and appreciate life, friendship, and the beauty that can be found in the little things. It's the warm cup of tea made just the way you like, a comfortable sofa, or the smell of good grub. It's knowing someone's thinking about you, having someone check in on you, and maybe even just the comfort of having a friend.
As I'm writing these reviews, I log onto my blog each day and note down how I'm feeling - a lot of the time, these are questions which get answered so I delete them, but I noted this one down just after I'd finished my lunch break yesterday with around 60 pages left to go:
I don't want this book to end, and I really don't want to leave Eleanor - p.323Sometimes when I finish a book, it takes me a while to leave it behind, and I knew this would be one of those books. It still has me gripped, my brain feels fuzzy and I miss Eleanor. 5/5, I've already recommended it to several people, and I'll likely continue to do so. Gail Honeyman, nice one.
