Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine- Gail Honeyman
My Rating: 3/5
Reading Location: Boca Raton, Florida, USA
Reading Duration: Jan 12 2019 – Jan 26 2019 (14 Days)
“But then, not everyone is as sensible and considerate as me.”
Within this 332 page book Gail Honeyman manages to portray a completely sensible, if not too sensible, character that causes the reader to both cringe and become sympathized. Eleanor lives her life within the boundaries of routine and relies only on logic. These two factors in themselves are not cause for question, except the logic reaches a point of becoming too logical and the bland routine screams that there is something wrong here- something terribly wrong.
It’s not until an unforeseen event occurs that Eleanor is faced with what starts off as a simple stray from routine. An event that she merely considers as an inconvenience and is eager to return to her daily habits when a colleague, with whom she has only ever converse with once before, treats her as he would any other person. He accepts her unusual responses as a part of her and without knowing it helps her towards a path that would, finally after all these years, render her fine.
Not only is this book filled with some noteworthy quotations but it offers the world insight into the fragility of human nature.
“there is always, however remote it might seem, the possibility of change.”
Book Club Insight:
As this is the first official book that is a part of the newly established book club I thought it would only be fair to share a little extra insight on what some of the others found intriguing about the book. First and foremost Eleanor’s sarcasm is beloved by all and her blunt responses to everyday situations caused for some laughter throughout the whole evening. As the protaganist, Eleanor undergoes a lot of character development from where we meet her on the first page to when she accepts that a man with no socks is not mad for not wearing any. Her development a subtle change which becomes evident, not necessarily by the things that she says, but in the small seemingly useless things that she thinks to herself. One half of the club demanded closure at the end of the novel whereas the other half interpreted the ending as open to possibilities or rather to accommodate the natural way in which ones life would just continue. I have to say that personally, I love a good twist, which the book has, but I love a few more curveballs. As the night came to a close we finally touched the topic of the word “fine” and how often Eleanor used it without even hesitating. perhaps it was because she believed that she was fine, or better yet that she did not want anyone thinking that she was not fine or merely because she was hoping to be fine. in all of these cases, “fine” cannot even begin to describe what Eleanor started out as, but in the end she will, eventually, be fine.
More about the book
Publisher: Penguin Books
Date Published: May 9 2017 (Kindle Edition)
Genre: psychological Fiction
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