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 unnecessary human contact, 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, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she'll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.
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. Goodreads
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This was a spontaneous read, a friend wrote a review about this and I picked it up. I kept reading because Eleonor's social awkwardness was relatable to me. She would look at other people in a room to see what behaviour was appropriate. The long weekends where she wouldn't talk to another human being and her voice would sound weird when she spoke again.
I recently attended a workshop where I learned that the experiences between the ages of 0 and 8 have a heavy impact on your personality, the way you speak to yourself and how you see things.
The constant criticisms Eleanor experienced with her mom was still affecting the way she thought as an adult. Eleanor grew up with an abusive parent and those early years of abuse, emotional neglect and criticisms formed her inner monologue and self-defences. I loved reading about her interactions with others and how through her friendships/relationships with others she realised certain things. She wasn't fine at all. I was worried about her during a lot of the book. It all ends well though. This was a weird and wholesome book. It was particularly beautiful to see a character come to terms with their health and acknowledge that everything is not okay. Not only the acceptance of this and that they need help but that they actually start healing, working on improving themselves and getting healthy.
The constant criticisms Eleanor experienced with her mom was still affecting the way she thought as an adult. Eleanor grew up with an abusive parent and those early years of abuse, emotional neglect and criticisms formed her inner monologue and self-defences. I loved reading about her interactions with others and how through her friendships/relationships with others she realised certain things. She wasn't fine at all. I was worried about her during a lot of the book. It all ends well though. This was a weird and wholesome book. It was particularly beautiful to see a character come to terms with their health and acknowledge that everything is not okay. Not only the acceptance of this and that they need help but that they actually start healing, working on improving themselves and getting healthy.
favourite quote from the book:
“I do exist, don’t I? It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination. There are days when I feel so lightly connected to the earth that the threads that tether me to the planet are gossamer thin, spun sugar. A strong gust of wind could dislodge me completely, and I’d lift off and blow away, like one of those seeds in a dandelion clock.”
10/10
