Eleanor Oliphant is Worth the Time


Eleanor Oliphant is an instantly likable character in this first novel by Gail Honeyman, who brings a sense of “something is wrong with Eleanor” to the pages.

The titular heroine is a bit of an isolationist: sure, she has a 9 to 5 job, a relationship with the convenience store clerk who sells her vodka, and weekly phone chats with her mother, but she’s a bit off, a bit guarded in all of these situations. In conversation with the IT guy at work who fixes her computer, we see her narrate how she answers his questions after considering what would be normal behavior in a social situation. Eleanor is outside the norm, she knows it, and she lets us in on how she chooses to act normal, even when sometimes her attempts are misses. 

The beauty of Honeyman’s work, aside from the loads of humor she brings to it, is that Eleanor is on a journey. We meet her at 30 years of age, when a stranger’s collapse in the street ropes Eleanor into a further relationship with the IT guy. Caring for the fallen man leads Eleanor to a relationship with him and his family, and all of these people challenge Eleanor to look at herself and grow from what she sees.

Once the reader accepts that Eleanor has somewhere to go, it’s hard to put the book down; rather, we want to know what’s next for her. We want to root for her. Honeyman packs a surprise twist in at the end, which felt fine if not unnecessary. Even without it, I would have wanted to know Eleanor’s story.

Thank you to Karen Hennessy for recommending Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It’s one of my favorites that I’ve read this year, and it’s fiction, so that’s saying something.



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