Reviews tagging 'Child death'

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

536 reviews

bella613's review against another edition

challenging emotional funny reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Made me laugh and cry. Relatable and heartbreaking. Highly recommend ♡

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Rape, Toxic relationship, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Child death, Stalking, Alcohol, Grief, and Child abuse

anne_reader's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Grief, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Murder, Vomit, Child abuse, Child death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

aye_pena_'s review against another edition

challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The characters, including the main character, are so easy to gradually fall in love with. Information is dropped so naturally throughout the story. Many authors make the mistake of trying to make their character a likable person. Eleanor is so wonderfully flawed. The author flawlessly has the skill to "show not tell" while writing despite this being such a introspective narrative and character driven story. A friend recommended this to me and I couldn't be more glad.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness

Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, Child death, and Child abuse

silver_lining_in_a_book's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 

These days, loneliness is the new cancer—a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don’t want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them.

This book has been a long-time coming. I was a little scared going into this because of all the high praise surrounding this book, but I shouldn't have been. I thought it was very well written, with an engaging plot and a lot of important messages to get across to the reader. I certainly had a couple of issues with how some things (the therapy, the SA, and the alcoholism to give just some examples) were handled and I found Eleanor's fatphobia (although in no way endorsed in the book) was somewhat difficult to read.

However, Eleanor was a very unique character and her charm really grew on me throughout the book. Despite the dark themes, Gail Honeyman's humour came across very well in my opinion and I loved the way she made me feel Eleanor's loneliness. If the trigger warnings do not look to overwhelming, I can definitely recommend this book to many of my close friends, it is one that is certainly worth the read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Mental illness, Child abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Drug abuse, Addiction, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, Death, Emotional abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming

twitchywitchy314's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I read it in less than a day. So good, so heartwarming. Also heart-wrenching. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

courtnetto's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious relaxing sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I feel like the start of this book was a bit slow but once I had gotten into it more, I began to enjoy it more! This book is all about Eleanor navigating through her life in her 30s while struggling to deal with her emotions from childhood trauma 20 years ago!! 
This book really gives you a feel of all the different emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, love and much more! In terms of emotions, it has it all. Eleanor develops a close relationship with her new work colleague, Raymond and they begin to meet up for lunch but then going to parties together! They save the life of a man who collapsed and end up becoming good friends with him and his family, so much so that they are then invited to his funeral when he sadly passes away. 
Eleanor finally begins to see a counsellor and talk about her feelings, it’s only when you get towards the end of the book that it is revealed that she has a younger sister! However, it isn’t all happy news as her younger sister and her mother “Mummy” actually died in a house fire which was started by her Mother deliberately after giving both girls sedatives, only Eleanor made it out alive. 
The ending was a bit abrupt and I would have loved to have found out more about Eleanor and Raymond’s relationship but otherwise, we see a happy ending for Eleanor!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Death and Child death

sandysmith's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I'm gradually adding books I've read in 2021 to give a true reflection of the books I've read since keeping records.  This was the first book I read in 2021, and is what kick started my reading journey having put reading on the back burner whilst bringing up the children, previously being an avid reader.  A great read. Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She is set in her ways. It's a bittersweet story, of Eleanor not fitting in, or understanding social skills, loneliness and the power of kindness. Love love loved her. A great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Alcoholism, and Child abuse

Moderate: Rape

astrofeldy's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Child death, and Mental illness

Moderate: Fatphobia

bootrat's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is a bit slow to get going, but once we meet Sammy I started to really enjoy it. It made me cry several times, and hit slightly close to home, but overall I enjoyed it and it was definitely worth reading.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death, Child abuse, Rape, Stalking, Child death, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

Minor: Grief

jennnw's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

A great story in many ways, but I felt it could do without two things. First,

the plot twist added very little to the story. Perhaps if it had been written differently, it may have worked better, but I honestly think the book may have been better without it. Written as it is, it feels like a cheap trick.

Secondly, I was shocked and disappointed by the brief bit about

fat shaming. The author states, through the protagonist's voice, reasons and ailments that may lead to someone being fat, implying that being fat is less than ideal or a fault to be corrected if medically possible. It is inaccurate and insensitive to portray fat as inherently being unhealthy.

The more I think on this last one, the more I'm disturbed by it and may adjust my rating.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Death, Fatphobia, Child death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Adult/minor relationship

Minor: Fatphobia and Body shaming

I found the author's brief bit about fat people to be insensitive. The author lists forgiveable reasons/ailments why someone may be fat or overweight. In this the author, through the protagonist's point of view, makes a case for how fat doesn't inherently imply inferiority, but she fails to mention that fat does not inherently mean unhealthy.