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

emotional funny reflective 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

This book is a masterclass on unreliable narrators. Eleanor is loveable from the start, despite and because of, her quirks and oddities. The plot is majorly character driven with a few events pushing characters together in a normal, real-life way.

Gail Honeyman encapsulates how it feels to start therapy when you have so much trauma to process you can't even remember it all. I haven't been through the same level of family trauma as Eleanor, but it felt so similar at the beginning of my therapy journey and I've felt much of the same way about myself as Eleanor has at one point or another.

The overall story is intricate without being overly complicated. The tone and prose is elegant and simple. It's refined in a way that tells you a bit about Eleanor with every sentence and every word. The nuance and details are absolutely stunning. I laughed at many points and cried at others. It was an extremely enjoyable and thought-provoking read.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Stalking

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, and Physical abuse

There is no "on-screen" physical or sexual violence; it is only described in memories, such as recounting what happened to a friend or therapist, without any extreme details. There is in-text emotional abuse from a parent and bullying from coworkers.

Eleanor's younger sister was murdered by her mother in a house fire, that injured Eleanor quite badly. She has scars on her face and body. Eleanor also recounts physical violence done to her by her college boyfriend and mentions by name only that he raped her. At the beginning, Eleanor and her friend Raymond help an old man who passes out on the street, eventually befriending him and his family. He does suddenly, off-screen of a heart attack later in the book and they attend his funeral. Towards the end of the book, Eleanor attempts suicide through alcohol overdose. She also has a stockpile of pills and considers cutting her wrists. The suicide attempt scene is explicit, but she is saved by a good friend. The animal violence is mention of a cat being put in a dumpster that is set on fire. The cat is rescued by Eleanor's friend and she ends up adopting and caring for it. The reader finds out at the very end that Eleanor's mother also died in the fire and that she has been forcing herself to pretend to talk to her mother every week, despite the emotional abuse she inflicts on herself with her mother's imagined words.