Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman- Book Review

I am going to tread carefully around this review as part of the fun of the book is the piece by piece reveal of why Eleanor Oliphant is not completely fine. To give you an idea of what this book is like, here was my midway reaction review on Litsy-
Oh, she is quirky like Amelie.
She sure is opinionated.
That is funny.
Wait, did I just read that?
I did just read that, where did that come from?
Oh, that just took a turn.
This is nothing like Amelie

Eleanor is hardworking as an office worker at her job. She has co-workers that make fun of her, she talks to her mother every Wednesday, and has the same exact routine every single week. She doesn't go out much except to the same few restaurants and she enjoys quiet evenings at home. To quote the book- everything is completely fine.

Eleanor is also extremely critical of others. She thinks her co-workers are oafs and doesn't quite understand their quirks. She believes everything has their proper place. She is also madly in love with a rock artist whom she has not met yet, but is going to marry. Everything is completely fine.

After meeting with an IT specialist, Eleanor and Raymond run across a man who has fallen with an apparent heart attack. As Raymond springs into action, Eleanor's life begins to turn. Raymond wants to keep visiting the man and wants Eleanor to come with him. Raymond begins a friendship with Eleanor from that moment on. The more the story unravels we will see that Eleanor's life is not completely fine at all.

This book was along my string of good books that I have been on. I have read quite a few in a row that have just been spot on for an entertaining read and Eleanor's story was just that- an entertaining read. This does not mean that it was exactly a fun read. Eleanor's life is very difficult. It would not be a spoiler to say her mother, for example, is extremely verbally abusive toward Eleanor on their Wednesday night calls. This is just one example of the difficult life of Eleanor. She also has scars along her face, which too will be revealed as to why. This is a good and entertaining read, but it isn't an easy read by far. Eleanor's story will slowly unravel through little bits here and there that come off as pretty shocking at times.

I enjoyed this book so much that it may be one of my top 10 of the year. I discovered the book from a list from Bookriot. They had printed a great books so far type list and several comments underneath stated Bookriot had missed Eleanor Oliphant and I would agree. This one is easy to miss as the title just screams that it is a book geared toward an older crowd who like Ove or Lilian Boxfish. This is a deep book though and not to be taken lightly.

It is about new friendship that can become deep friendship through the thick and thin. It is about healing old scars and walking with new purpose. It is also about overcoming abuse and healing. I gave this one 4.5 stars.