Reviews tagging 'Physical abuse'

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

254 reviews

britt_coin's review against another edition

dark emotional tense medium-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

Was off to a weird start, despite knowing where the story was going. It was hard to root for Elinor, but her story is important and Gail dealt with abuse in an incredibly delicate way.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

daybreakreads's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Cursing, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Vomit, and Stalking

cait_coll's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious sad medium-paced

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

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide attempt

Moderate: Physical abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, and Child abuse

cecereads__'s review against another edition

5.0

The book surprised me in how it just flowed so effortlessly. It was a really enjoyable read for the writing style, the humour, while being very brutal at times.

I loved that the friendship between Eleanor and Raymond remained just that. At least I appreciate that it’s up for interpretation in the end, instead of it being an obvious and direct choice by the author (which would have felt inauthentic in my opinion as a means to just put a nice bow on the story) 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, and Gaslighting

kalishka's review against another edition

lighthearted reflective slow-paced

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

3.0

A tale of two halves… or two thirds/one third!
The first 2/3 were very slow for me. I have ASD and I felt the character of Eleanor was coded as ASD but her traits were supposed to be ‘quirky’ and ‘funny’ - personally they were not to me as it was far too relatable while being stereotypical.
The last third takes a sharp turn into depression, suicide, therapy and trauma, which went further than I was expecting, and it seems more like Eleanor’s personality is a result of her childhood trauma rather than as a result of a neurodivergency. I don’t know which the author was intending so can’t comment further on that. I found it much more interesting than the first section, but I still wouldn’t say I enjoyed it…
I would highly recommend the audiobook though - the narration is brilliant!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Stalking, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Physical abuse and Classism

imalittlechili's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful reflective sad tense 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Rape and Sexual assault

brianneh's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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 honestly did not think I would like this book that much, but I ended up loving it. It definitely does not get enough hype.

When I first started this book, I was a bit worried about not liking the main character as I found Eleanor to be quite rude. When she didn’t tip any of the service people she came into contact with, I was very annoyed with her.

However, as I kept reading and learned more about Eleanor, she grew on me. Her literal way of interpreting things, while still rude in some cases, was refreshing in others.

Then of course, as we find out more about Eleanor’s past, her oddities begin to make more sense. Her traumatic upbringing and college years are haunting, and made me tear up in a few spots. I kept wondering why did no one get her into therapy when she was young?

I ended up finding Eleanor to be very funny, even if she did not mean to be at times. When she discusses getting ready as a woman or muses about being fed to zoo animals when she dies, I found myself smiling or laughing out loud.

On the other hand, there were many extremely sad parts some of her lines broke my heart. The writing here is so heartbreakingly good and some of the quotes absolutely destroyed me:

“This was an all too familiar social scenario for me; standing alone, staring into the middle of distance. It was absolutely fine. It was absolutely normal. After the fire, at each new school, I'd tried so hard, but something about me just didn't fit. There was, it seemed, no Eleanor-shaped social hole for me to slot into.”

The character development is top-notch. This book broke my heart and put it back together in all the right ways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

tomnoor's review against another edition

5.0

So funny, so sweet, all while tackling extremely difficult topics. Not a light read but the characters kept me afloat. Will be looking to read more from this author. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Body shaming, and Panic attacks/disorders

itsbumley's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

milenasbooknook's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious relaxing fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, and Alcohol

Moderate: Death, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, and Abandonment