Reviews tagging 'Emotional abuse'

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

527 reviews

sonshinelibrarian's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Toxic relationship and Sexual assault

rencollins's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense 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

5.0

Ahh - the best kind of love story, a love story to oneself. I love the character development of Eleanor. At times Eleanor is hilarious, at other times cringeworthily, and at other times downright depressed. But at every point she is such a fun character to root for. 

I love how the story unfolds slowly. Getting bits and pieces made it feel almost like a mystery, like an onion whose layers you revealed piece by piece. It was such a joy to get to the end. 

I particularly love that

it's not a love story between Eleanor and Raymond, but also it is. The door is clearly left open at the end, and also, the main focus of the book is on their friendship and not their romantic love story.

The power of friendship and human connection is so clearly highlighted in such a profound way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, and Fire/Fire injury

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad slow-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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Stalking, Toxic relationship, and Suicidal thoughts

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Sexual assault, Cursing, Sexual violence, and Domestic abuse

meganclark's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Child abuse, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Child death, and Bullying

jocelynzoe's review against another edition

funny sad

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Fire/Fire injury, Suicide attempt, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Mental illness, Murder, Emotional abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Fatphobia

angada's review against another edition

emotional funny relaxing 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse and Suicide attempt

Minor: Emotional abuse

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

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

reading_racoon69's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-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

3.75

This is one of those books where characters are so realistic that you feel like you really know them and get very attached and feel what they feel.

It’s a very emotional cute book 
Not a romance !! If you’re looking for romantic love this is not what you’re looking for it’s much more self discovery and friendships ! 

Not the type of book I usually read, some times a little too slow for me but either way very enjoyable :) totally fell in love with Elenor 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Vomit

Moderate: Suicide attempt and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, and Physical abuse