What a wonderful, wonderful read. I can see why this book is so widely praised, simply wonderful! Another five star buddy read with Beth @ Bibliobeth.
Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.
One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?
Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, or is she:
“It often feels as if I’m not here, that I’m a figment of my own imagination.”
Those don’t sound like the words of someone who is completely fine. When you see how Eleanor lives in the present day, living independently and holding down a full-time job, you would indeed think she is fine, but loneliness can be crippling, and Eleanor lives the loneliest life. She makes several references throughout the earlier part of the novel that allude to a dark past; these references have you dying to know Eleanor’s secrets.
As you learn more about Eleanor, you cannot help but love her quirky, without trying to be, mannerisms. She’s direct to the point of rudeness, but rather than dislike her, her ways actually endear you to her, because you can see it’s not coming from a place of malice.
The humour in this novel, it was fantastic – real ‘laugh out loud’ humour! It was a great way of endearing the reader to Eleanor as often her humour was unintentional, for example, questioning why she needs to give her name in Starbucks when ordering coffee, and when told why, proceeding to give her full name. These simple things that we don’t even think about were entirely alien to Eleanor, and so while it was funny, it also showed how isolated she is because she’s never been to a coffee house with a friend before – and she’s thirty!
I highly urge you all to read this wonderful piece of fiction and journey with Eleanor through her bad days and good days. She’ll have you laughing out loud, but there are times when your heart will break for her, literally falls to pieces at her pain. The things we take for granted in life, such as human kindness and human contact, are things Eleanor does not, and so while we laugh at her ways, I loved the way Honeyman took the time to unpick Eleanor’s character and allow us to completely understand her. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a brilliant read from the first page to the very last, made all the better by some really unexpected ‘reveals.’ I cannot recommend this book enough; truly a heart-warming read, so well-written, a great piece of fiction.
This book is available to buy from: Amazon UK / Book Depository
I can’t believe I still haven’t read this one. I took it on holiday with me last year but didn’t get around to it and it’s been on my shelf ever since.
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Well maybe if you didn’t spend so much time on blog tours, you’d have read it already, haha! Seriously though, squeeze it in between tours!
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It’s probably just going to go with me on holiday again, to be honest 😂
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And it better be read this time! 🤣
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Terrific review Janel, I’m hoping to read this book this month, if not early next month.
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Thanks Kerrie, I can’t wait to hear what you think, I’m 99% certain you’re going to love it!
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I loved this novel!! On my blog, I did my own review too, if you want to check it out 😉
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Fab review! Glad you enjoyed it. I’m in the minority on this one as I actually dnf’d pretty early on as it made me feel so uncomfortable. Another one we’ll have to differ on. 😉
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Oh no, I hate that you didn’t love this one 😦 and I guess you’re not racing to get a copy of the sequel to The Scandal/Beartown haha!
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Hmmm how did you guess!!! 😀
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What a wonderful review! I’ve heard so many good things about this one, but never picked it up…I might be changing that now!
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Thanks, Jess, this one wasn’t at all what I expected but so worth a read, a breath of fresh air, different to what’s currently out there, I wasn’t expecting to love it so much. Believe the hype on this one!
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Lovely review, can’t wait to read this one! 🙂
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Thank you, I so hope you love it too!
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Glad you enjoyed! I’m late to this party!! But, I’m on hold for it at the Library (queue was 89) I think I’m done to the twenties now….
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Wow, that’s a long queue! but totally worth the wait – I hope you love it as much as I did!
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It was one of my top 10 fav reads last year. Eleanor was weird and quirky but I totally fell for her. Great review Janel, I’m so happy you read it and enjoyed it too!
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Thanks Inge. WP put this comment in spam, so sorry for the delayed reply. Eleanor was such an endearing character and atm this book is definitely one of my fav reads of the year so far!
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I loved this book. So glad to see another fan of Eleanor! 🙂
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Yep, I’ve now experienced the “Eleanor Effect” and I loved it 😂
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Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed it. I absolutely loved it. I had won a copy through goodreads and at the time it wasn’t even on my radar I’m not sure if I would’ve picked it up. I’m so glad I did it really is such a great book. Awesome review!
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Thank you. The title and synopsis of this book hides how amazing it actually is, a fantastic read!
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Fantastic review, Janel! I found Eleanor to be a wonderfully quirky and endearing character as well.
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Thanks Nicole 😊
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Janel, I’m so excited that you read this book! Stellar review. Eleanor has won over another reader. I unexpectedly ended up loving this book. It’s one of my all time favorites.
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Thank you! I’d heard how good this book was but I wasn’t expecting to love it as much as I did, I guess that’s the “Eleanor Effect” 😃
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Beth was reading this book last weekend when she was visiting home! I know just how much she enjoyed it, I’m so glad you did too. I’m sure she’ll pass it on to me to read!
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She must lend it to you (otherwise just take it when she isn’t looking 😉😂) it’s a must read!
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Oi you cheeky mare! 🤣🤣🤣😘
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😂🤣
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Now at the top of my TBR thanks to you!!!
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Then my work here is done, enjoy!
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I’m so pleased that you enjoyed this title as it was a favorite of mine. I’ve recommended it to many. 😍
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It was perfect, I can’t believe I took so long to read it! I’ve got some real contenders for my top 10 books of the year already (this and “The Broken Girls 😉)
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Definitely adding to my list! Great review!
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Thank you, I so hope you love it to!
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Wonderful review Janel. We just keep knocking them out the park don’t we? I’m going to get to so many of my must-read books because of you and our buddy reads! 😘 (Urrrgh pass the sick bag) 🤢😉
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😂 Haha, I think our next one will be brilliant too – I’ve heard so many good things about it!!
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I really want to read this book but it’s very popular right now and it’s usually checked out from the library. I have Asperger’s Syndrome and I’ve heard speculation that Eleanor Oliphant’s character might be on the spectrum, which has made me increasingly interested in reading it. Great review! 🙂
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I’m so glad you liked my review. I can see why there’s such a wait for this book at the library but it’s definitely worth joining the queue. I can see why people may think Eleanor’s character may be on the spectrum, but I’m not nearly well enough informed to make that judgement – I’d be interested to see what you think, once you’ve read it.
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I think from hearing people recommended, I went in with too high expectations.
http://wonderwall360.blog/2018/05/27/elenor-oliphabt-is-completely-fine-how-can-she-answer-cryptic-crosswords-but-have-never-heard-of-kitten-heels-contains-spoilers/
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Ah, it’s the worst when you set your expectations too high as you probably would have liked the book more if you hadn’t seen the “hype” surrounding it thus expecting greatness!
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I agree with your review, I have just finished reading and reviewing this myself and felt myself laughing and crying at the same time! It really is a lovely book 🙂 X
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Definitely a special one, I’m looking forward to seeing what Honeyman writes next 😊
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