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A review by theeditorreads
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
5.0
Synopsis:
Divided into three sections of Good Days, Bad Days, and Better Days; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine tells the story of a nearly thirty-year-old woman, Eleanor Oliphant. She's your average lonely girl next door, with emphasis on lonely, leading a mundane life, going through the daily motions of existence. She has finally found her 'the one' in a singer, Johnnie Lomond. And she begins preparations for courting him, nope, it's not stalking. And she's as eager as she's apprehensive of talking about him to her mother. Her mother, with whom she converses every Wednesday evening, like clockwork. Having grown up in foster homes, followed by a residential care home, her life is as mysterious as it is available for scrutiny to every social worker out there.
But then, her life becomes busy. What with a new IT guy in her office, Raymond Gibbons, and an old man she and Raymond helped out when he blacked out in front of them, the musician gets a little sidelined. There are party invitations, shopping to be done, and in all this, she tries to lose herself...
Review:
Many of my fellow readers have suggested this book umpteenth times. When I saw it in the library, I knew I had to go for it. And I am glad I did.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but I am trembling after finishing this book. For real. The title itself is a contradiction. Why does it have to be fine? Why not...exuberant, wild, heartwarming, mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, suffocating, chilling...hmm. Well, those are extreme emotions and those cannot be on display if you're to represent a normal human being. No other colourful objectives, but fine.
The author has such a way of writing, the elements of abuse have been so smoothly incorporated into the text that at first, as a reader, I almost missed the gravity of the situation. Her mother gave me the creeps! And I felt so bad for Eleanor, though of course, she didn't think too much of it. Think too much of being made fun of in the office, of always talking to herself...
The glaring insights into Eleanor's conscious are something! It felt forbidden to read it like that. Oh, Eleanor, but I love you. Her direct talk, in your face honesty; love for proper English; detestation of death metal; taking leave from office to finish reading a book; is charming.
At one point, I thought whether the entire story was something that was going on in Eleanor's head. Because I was aware beforehand that this book dealt with mental health.
The Good Days are okay, fine. But the Bad Days, they hit you right where it hurts. To be realising how Eleanor is suffering, the trauma she has gone through. From what I can understand, a therapist doesn't have a 'cure', not really. A therapist is rather the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman who will listen to you, unlike anyone else. They will let you face your fears, and in the process, will probably help you in getting over them. That is what my understanding says. On reaching the Better Days, the import of everything that happens prior to that strikes you. Such a moving story. It gave me hope, strength, that there is nothing in this world that can stop me from rising up when I feel down.
P.S. The epigram in the form of extracts from The Lonely City by Olivia Lang has resulted in that book joining my TBR pile. This is also my entry for Prompt 2 of the Reading Women Challenge 2019: A Book about a Woman with a Mental Illness.
Originally posted on:
https://sassyshaina.wordpress.com/2019/06/16/eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine-by-gail-honeyman/
Divided into three sections of Good Days, Bad Days, and Better Days; Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine tells the story of a nearly thirty-year-old woman, Eleanor Oliphant. She's your average lonely girl next door, with emphasis on lonely, leading a mundane life, going through the daily motions of existence. She has finally found her 'the one' in a singer, Johnnie Lomond. And she begins preparations for courting him, nope, it's not stalking. And she's as eager as she's apprehensive of talking about him to her mother. Her mother, with whom she converses every Wednesday evening, like clockwork. Having grown up in foster homes, followed by a residential care home, her life is as mysterious as it is available for scrutiny to every social worker out there.
But then, her life becomes busy. What with a new IT guy in her office, Raymond Gibbons, and an old man she and Raymond helped out when he blacked out in front of them, the musician gets a little sidelined. There are party invitations, shopping to be done, and in all this, she tries to lose herself...
Review:
Many of my fellow readers have suggested this book umpteenth times. When I saw it in the library, I knew I had to go for it. And I am glad I did.
You can't have too much dog in a book.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, but I am trembling after finishing this book. For real. The title itself is a contradiction. Why does it have to be fine? Why not...exuberant, wild, heartwarming, mind-blowing, gut-wrenching, suffocating, chilling...hmm. Well, those are extreme emotions and those cannot be on display if you're to represent a normal human being. No other colourful objectives, but fine.
... I was always so lonely. Any mummy was better than no mummy ...
The author has such a way of writing, the elements of abuse have been so smoothly incorporated into the text that at first, as a reader, I almost missed the gravity of the situation. Her mother gave me the creeps! And I felt so bad for Eleanor, though of course, she didn't think too much of it. Think too much of being made fun of in the office, of always talking to herself...
At the office, there was that palpable sense of Friday joy, everyone colluding with the lie that somehow the weekend would be amazing and that, next week, work would be different, better.
The glaring insights into Eleanor's conscious are something! It felt forbidden to read it like that. Oh, Eleanor, but I love you. Her direct talk, in your face honesty; love for proper English; detestation of death metal; taking leave from office to finish reading a book; is charming.
Illiterate communication was quicker, that was true, but not by much. ... I'd tried it, and I very definitely did not like it. LOL could go and take a running jump.
At one point, I thought whether the entire story was something that was going on in Eleanor's head. Because I was aware beforehand that this book dealt with mental health.
Some people, weak people, fear solitude. What they fail to understand is that there's something very liberating about it; once you realise that you don't need anyone, you can take care of yourself.
The Good Days are okay, fine. But the Bad Days, they hit you right where it hurts. To be realising how Eleanor is suffering, the trauma she has gone through. From what I can understand, a therapist doesn't have a 'cure', not really. A therapist is rather the friendly neighbourhood Spiderman who will listen to you, unlike anyone else. They will let you face your fears, and in the process, will probably help you in getting over them. That is what my understanding says. On reaching the Better Days, the import of everything that happens prior to that strikes you. Such a moving story. It gave me hope, strength, that there is nothing in this world that can stop me from rising up when I feel down.
There are scars on my heart, just as thick, as disfiguring as those on my face. I know they're there. I hope some undamaged tissue remains, a patch through which love can come in and flow out. I hope.
P.S. The epigram in the form of extracts from The Lonely City by Olivia Lang has resulted in that book joining my TBR pile. This is also my entry for Prompt 2 of the Reading Women Challenge 2019: A Book about a Woman with a Mental Illness.
Originally posted on:
https://sassyshaina.wordpress.com/2019/06/16/eleanor-oliphant-is-completely-fine-by-gail-honeyman/