Michelle Herbert reviews Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman…
Eleanor Oliphant is Gail Honeyman’s debut novel and it is a powerful and astounding novel. I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started reading the story but soon found that I couldn’t put it down. There were so many layers to the story which affects not only Eleanor as the main character but also to the characters that make up her world.
When I began reading the novel, there were a lot of questions I asked myself, such as why Eleanor didn’t see her life as empty, or why her colleagues treated her like such an outsider? This is due to Eleanor’s interactions with her co-workers and other people that she interacted with. Eleanor is very eloquent, yet in her own way seems very sheltered, which felt hard to comprehend during the early chapters, when I was trying to establish Eleanor’s relationship and place in the world.
It also quickly becomes apparent that something traumatic happened to her as a child and although, as the title suggests, Eleanor is completely fine, you soon realise that Eleanor is the very opposite of fine. I really enjoyed how this was subtly revealed throughout the story. This plot device also keeps you wondering about not only Eleanor’s past but her present and how she ended up where she is now.
It is with the introduction of Raymond, that we really get to see how different Eleanor is, not that there is anything wrong with how she behaves, but when you see how little Eleanor knows about friendships and family relationships, it is this loss of connection that really isolates Eleanor and cements the feeling of how bad her past could be. Eleanor’s character veers between being a victim to being someone so strong, that she can brush off people’s comments without thinking about it. This leads to some of the most humorous moments in the novel, as well as some of the most tragic and despairing occasions.
Eleanor is an uncomfortable character in many ways, she has not been socialised the way most people have, so until the end of the book it is hard to fathom why she acts the way she does. Gail Honeyman has written the story in such a way that even though I didn’t agree with some of Eleanor’s actions I could eventually understand them. This story is heart-breaking as well as moving, especially when you realise that Eleanor’s reasoning and understanding are what has allowed her to survive all these years.
This is a very compelling story that I hope many people decide to pick it up and read. The book focuses on the understanding that if you do not know any better, then you can tell yourself everything is fine. With Eleanor being an unreliable narrator who wants to know the truth even less than you as the reader do. This brings up valuable questions about what is normal and how we learn behaviours from those closest to us. I think that the authorial tone of the book is also gracious, giving us space to digest the events of the book and taking us on an emotional journey that really makes you think. There is a lot more that I would like to say about Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, but this is a story, where the less you know when you begin the better it will be when you read it yourself.
Michelle Herbert
Originally published July 6, 2017. Updated April 15, 2018.
