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A review by krys_kilz
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
emotional
funny
hopeful
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 was a very sweet story even with the the heavy topics discussed throughout. It's character driven, which I enjoy. I also loved that Eleanor is an autistic coded character.
It's a wonderful meditation on loneliness and not fitting in and how friendship can be an antidote to that. I was so glad that Eleanor and Raymond's friendship did not turn romantic/sexual - it allowed the book to avoid the trope of romantic love as the "fix" for a "broken" woman. In fact, I think Honeyman wrote the antithesis of that trope by showing how Eleanor's crush on the singer was rooted in fantasy and ultimately triggered a suicidal spiral. It was her friendships that saved her life, which is a refreshing break from the obsession with romance I often find in popular literature.
tw: child abuse, emotional abuse, trauma/PTSD, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts
* Returning to say I still think about this book sometimes, so I'm bumping up my rating. The line, "It's both good and bad, how humans can learn to tolerate pretty much anything, if they have to." lives in my head rent free. *
It's a wonderful meditation on loneliness and not fitting in and how friendship can be an antidote to that. I was so glad that Eleanor and Raymond's friendship did not turn romantic/sexual - it allowed the book to avoid the trope of romantic love as the "fix" for a "broken" woman. In fact, I think Honeyman wrote the antithesis of that trope by showing how Eleanor's crush on the singer was rooted in fantasy and ultimately triggered a suicidal spiral. It was her friendships that saved her life, which is a refreshing break from the obsession with romance I often find in popular literature.
tw: child abuse, emotional abuse, trauma/PTSD, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts
* Returning to say I still think about this book sometimes, so I'm bumping up my rating. The line, "It's both good and bad, how humans can learn to tolerate pretty much anything, if they have to." lives in my head rent free. *
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Rape, Vomit, and Fatphobia