Barbara’s Pick
October 2018
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman
Penguin Books, 2018
Warning: The following review sounds as if it’s for a depressing book—but surprise, it’s a triumph. Just hang in there!
Probably we have all known someone like Eleanor Oliphant—a creature of habit who sometimes blurts out exactly what she’s thinking, even if it’s unkind; no one has ever told her people have feelings, least of all her.
But quickly we learn about her exhausting phone calls with her institutionalized mother and her lonely weekends spent eating pizza in her apartment and drinking herself into a stupor.
A chance encounter with the new IT guy at work and an elderly gentleman open the world to Eleanor, who was used to her solitary life seeing only the same few people.
Slowly she begins to learn about what is considered normal in the real world, and moves past being just “completely fine.” Along the way the reader witnesses her incisive wit as well as the shattering childhood she endured.
I hope we will hear more from Eleanor someday—her voice is that unforgettable. At least we have a movie to look forward to, as Reese Witherspoon has purchased the rights!