Eleanor Oliphant is a misfit, at odds with modern society, extremely lacking social skills and graces, but highly intelligent. Eleanor sees the world very much in her terms. Eleanor is stuck in a dead end job. Eleanor lives alone. Eleanor has no friends... As you can tell Eleanor is obviously very far from completely fine...
Following a series of unrelated incidents Eleanor tries dipping her toes into the modern world, as she experiences new things she begins to loosen up a little and become more social. Soon with the help of a small circle of new friends Eleanor also begins to also 'discover herself' and begins to see the tragedies of her past in a new light, finding that friendship and sociability can be both fun and rewarding.
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine has had so much publicity and seems to have been on almost everyones' 'must read' list. Honestly, I'm a little puzzled why that is...
It is a well written book with great characters and Eleanor is extremely likable (if a little frustrating) but overall it's all just a bit of a strange story. I did quite enjoy it and I sped my way through it's 400+ pages but I didn't love it. The comic element never really took off for me and I found it was more of a depressing and somewhat emotional read rather than a funny one.
Overall it's not bad, it's certainly quirky, but it left me feeling a little confused and disconcerted (a little like Eleanor herself maybe?), and it left me wondering why so many people are talking about it and praising it while I failed to succumb to its charms.
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