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Critics' Opinion:
Readers' Opinion:
First Published:
May 2017, 336 pages
Paperback:
Jun 2018, 352 pages
Book Reviewed by:
Francesca Baker
Buy This Book
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey.
No one's ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But 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.
Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes...
The only way to survive is to open your heart.
Excerpt
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
>When people ask me what I do—taxi drivers, hairdressers—I tell them I work in an office. In almost eight years, no one's ever asked what kind of office, or what sort of job I do there. I can't decide whether that's because I fit perfectly with their idea of what an office worker looks like, or whether people hear the phrase work in an office and automatically fill in the blanks themselves—lady doing photocopying, man tapping at a keyboard. I'm not complaining. I'm delighted that I don't have to get into the fascinating intricacies of accounts receivable with them. When I first started working here, whenever anyone asked, I told them that I worked for a graphic design company, but then they assumed I was a creative type. It became a bit boring to see their faces blank over when I explained that it was back office stuff, that I didn't get to use the fine-tipped pens and the fancy software.
I&#...
Costa Book Awards
2017
Odd Eleanor slowly enters a life that she never thought was for her. She remains quirky and unique, and the reader loves her for it, but her life becomes a little more expansive and contains a bit more opportunity. Gail Honeyman wrote this novel as she entered her forties. Just like her protagonist, Honeyman learned that your past does not have to define your future. Eleanor may be a social misfit, but she is an incredibly astute one. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is perceptive, wise, funny and utterly readable...continued
Full Review
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(Reviewed by Francesca Baker).
Fiona Barton, New York Times bestselling author of The Widow
So powerful - I completely loved Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest
Moving, hilarious, and intriguing, just like its unique, anti-social, anti-heroine. You will fall in love with Eleanor Oliphant. Jonathan Evison, author of This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance
Honeyman's debut is a stunner, as buoyant and charming as it is heartwrenching and emotionally sophisticated. Poor Eleanor Oliphant - often clueless, at times maddening, but always fascinating - walks right off the page and into the reader's heart. Not only is Eleanor Oliphant completely fine, she's a revelation. Mona Awad, author of 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl
Eleanor Oliphant endears herself to the reader with her cantankerous charm and her disarmingly inscrutable voice. A compulsive, irresistible narrative that arcs toward compassion and light. Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of Paradise Lodge
Heart-wrenching and wonderful! ojo Moyes, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Me Before You
Eleanor Oliphant is a truly original literary creation: funny, touching, and unpredictable. Her journey out of dark shadows is absolutely gripping. Paula McClain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife and Circling the Sun
Deft, compassionate and deeply moving - Honeyman's debut will have you rooting for Eleanor with every turning page.In Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, the protagonist's lack of knowledge or understanding of social norms and conventions evokes sympathy, and leaves her lonely and isolated, at odds with the world. She expresses bafflement at many, and rightly so – they simply do not make sense. But social norms are not just cultural oddities and habits. They are powerful, can be both positive and negative – but are able to be changed. Governments and brands around the world are harnessing their potential for impact.
Nudge theory is a type of behavioral economics based on the idea that by creating situations and circumstances that make certain behavior and activity more attractive, individuals can be encouraged to change. In their 2008 ...
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