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kitten_nuisance 's review for:
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
dark
funny
inspiring
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this as a read; I think there are specific readings or angles that could complicate that quite a bit. . . but as a story about one particular woman, despite it being relatively mundane in a lot of aspects, I found it really engaging and fun. Eleanor's voice and point of view made her experiences interesting. I guess in a sense this is a coming of age novel, but for someone who maybe did not come of age in a comfortable or healthy way until age 30.
I did want to mention that Eleanor is fairly fat phobic, and somehow fat phobic despite describing at least one of these fatties as "not overweight." I think this is actually supposed to be ironic in a way, that she comments on "healthy choices" and appearance of others when her own choices are very unhealthy. Some of this is faced head on at a later stage in the book, though it doesn't eradicate all of this thinking for her. I think this was revealing a weakness and peculiarity of Eleanor, but I did want to caution for readers who may be broadly fine with characters who have unlikeable or unusual traits, yet may draw the line at repeated fat phobia.
I did want to mention that Eleanor is fairly fat phobic, and somehow fat phobic despite describing at least one of these fatties as "not overweight." I think this is actually supposed to be ironic in a way, that she comments on "healthy choices" and appearance of others when her own choices are very unhealthy. Some of this is faced head on at a later stage in the book, though it doesn't eradicate all of this thinking for her. I think this was revealing a weakness and peculiarity of Eleanor, but I did want to caution for readers who may be broadly fine with characters who have unlikeable or unusual traits, yet may draw the line at repeated fat phobia.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Vomit