Book Review: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Reading is 100% my go to method of relaxation, and it should be said that I do it often. Though not as often as I would like, mainly due to my small child being a wonderful distraction. However, this book I completely devoured, finishing it in 2 days, taking more than my allotted time to relax before bed or in the bath. I even lay on the sofa fully engrossed whilst the England football World Cup match was on and my husband was jumping up and down with excitement with each pass and goal.

Although I have recently read some great books (and not so great for that matter), this had me utterly enthralled! Everything about this story had me gripped and it wasn’t as though the cliff hangers were particularly sheer, it was that I had grown to befriend Eleanor and I was invested in making sure she was going to be ok. I had to keep reading, I couldn’t continue my week until I knew she was going to be “fine”.

I loved how pieces of information fell into place naturally as opposed to an author setting up a scene in order to fill you in with a back story. Her past skilfully woven into her present by her outlook on life and the decisions she makes. One poignant scene for me was her casual reference about an abusive ex boyfriend to her colleague. It was alluded to before, but my heart sank in the same way I expected that of her colleagues to have done.

I enjoyed how it is written like a train of thought, though who she is talking to I guess we will never know. I assumed it was simply an inner monologue but I could be wrong. But it is perfect, the reader meets Eleanor in the same was everybody does, at face value, before really getting to understand her. It is wonderful how a simple set of random circumstances led to her changing her own fate forever. Eleanor thought it was her crush on a musician, but in reality, it all started with her computer breaking.

I would love to refer to more elements in the plot, but I just don’t want to ruin the thrill of being able to read this book for anyone else. The act that this is a debut novel is astounding. I mentioned this to my husband who said that, like musicians, debut works are usually the best….I am not sure I entirely agree as I have read some dodgy first time novels.

If I could award more than 5 stars I would.

P.S, apparently this has the go ahead to be made into a film. Fingers crossed they don’t butcher it!