Publisher: Viking
Released: May 9th, 2017
Genre: Adult contemp
Source: ARC from publisher
Meet Eleanor Oliphant. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully time-tabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
Then everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living–and it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
From Goodreads
OMG this book. The writing. Holy crap. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is one of the strongest cases of show don’t tell that I’ve read in a long, long time.
Everything about this book was spot on amazing. The way the author tackles Eleanor’s lack of social skills and her past is to the point and the emotions of the reader comes from the fact that Eleanor is a broken soul but isn’t fully aware of it. Her becoming self-aware is a key theme of the book and one that is handled without any kind of preaching or talking down to the readers.
If you’ve been to this blog before, then you know the damaged, imperfect character is one of my favourite kinds. I am also a huge fan of the everyday character. Both are strongly represented in this book and while all the characters aren’t necessarily always likeable, they are relatable and I really felt for them. (Probably because I saw myself in them.)
There is nothing fluffy about this book at all. It deals with some hard and relatable issues and I think a lot of readers will fall in love with this book. I know I did.