A review by sonshinelibrarian
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

I'll admit, I very nearly put this down after a couple of chapters. I was not connecting to the story or any of the characters. In fact, I was really wondering why this is so popular. But I was listening to it on audio and didn't have another book waiting for me, so I gave it a little more time and I'm glad I did. It didn't take too much more time before I was really invested in Eleanor's journey. The pacing of the revelations about her past is done so very well. I also really appreciated
that her relationship with Raymond stayed platonic, though it's definitely headed to romance. But I was really worried that it would end up being that her relationship with him would "fix" her. His friendship had a massive impact on helping her view herself differently, and he encouraged her to get the help she needed but he didn't try to save her himself other than just as any friend would do.
There are definitely some really dark themes and I don't really think that "funny" is the best word to describe this book, as a lot of professional reviews and cover copies say. But it is a book about working through past trauma, learning how to move forward, and how letting other people into your life is scary and often leads to heartache but is absolutely necessary to be a healthy, happy human.
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