Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Quirky characters are not always able to win you over even though you may feel their pain or understand their “quirkiness.”  That is not the case with Eleanor Oliphant.  This anti-social, anti-fashion, anti-political correctness girl is so extremely out in left field you celebrate her. The debut novel of Gail Honeyman slowly and carefully reveals to us the twists and tangles of Eleanor’s life which has been anything but easy.  Raised by a cruel, vindictive mother whose abuse was relentless and dangerous, Eleanor has determined that complete withdrawal from people is the safest path to take.  Other than her daily sojourns to work, she is completely cutoff from people and that is the way she prefers it.  Naturally, this changes when she is thrown into a commitment to help a coworker in caring for an older man who they rescue after a fall in the middle of the road.  The relationships that form between Eleanor and the old man and Raymond, the geeky computer guy from work, are hilarious and heart wrenching at the same time.  Throw into this forced change in Eleanor’s life the surprise encounter with “the man of her dreams” and the plot ‘thickens” to say the least.  This is a wonderful story showing that maybe the world is not such a bad place, maybe there is a reason to reach out and connect with others and maybe the pain of our childhood does not need to control us forever.  Eleanor Oliphant was not completely fine but who among us really is.  Eleanor Oliphant is completely charming and well on the road to being just wonderful.