If someone asks you how you are, you are meant to say FINE. You are not meant to say that you cried yourself to sleep last night because you hadn’t spoken to another person for two consecutive days. FINE is what you say.
Rating: 3.5/5
Trigger Warnings: abuse (physical, psychological, emotional), depression, mental illness, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts, fire
Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read the book, this review will contain spoilers so it’s up to you if you continue…
What an unexpectedly delightful book. I really think the blurb undersells this book - by miles. The hype around Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the only reason I really took a second glance at the book. The concept is intriguing, but the idea I had of the book was completely off. That’s fine - I was pleasantly surprised in fact - but I just feel like the blurb didn’t do it justice, didn’t explain what it was about.
The plot was really unexpected, though not entirely unpredictable. It had a lot of mystery/thriller undercurrents, without it being marketed (to my knowledge) as such. I really enjoyed this though, finding out Eleanor’s backstory was really interesting, but I liked that it wasn’t at the forefront of the novel. Her psychological journey seemed to be placed ahead of her back story. Obviously her back story was a part of the psychological journey, but there was so much to come before she explored her PTSD (not a term given in the book, but one I believe to be apt). It was in meeting Raymond, helping Sammy, and attending social events that you could see her progressing before she even approached her past trauma. I was really proud of that progress in terms of socialising, without needing to know about what had brought her to the point at which we meet her.
I didn’t love the plotline with the musician, if I’m honest, but I saw its necessity. I think my dislike of it was simply because it showed an immoral and delusional side to Eleanor, making me dislike her when thus far I had empathised with her and enjoyed following her interactions with people. (EDIT: just want to add that I don’t dislike her because she was delusional but because of the way she acted).
There were undeniably flaws in the story, but they appear to me as I look back, rather than getting my way when reading the book. Eleanor’s alcoholism was strange, disappearing very rapidly after her major binge, and being apparent only on weekends when she was left alone. If she went out for a drink somewhere, it was just a drink. I don’t understand the intricacies of alcoholism, but this does seem a little strange looking back. Also, her therapy sessions. Don’t have a problem with her progress - was super proud of her, and felt like they were realistic techniques. It was just a little rapid as a whole. And I’ll add that the trauma experienced was kind of predictable - until the twist in the final couple of pages in which we find out Eleanor’s mother had died in the fire, along with Marianne, I felt it was all rather heavily hinted at throughout. The fire was admitted to, being started on purpose was an obvious one when you heard her mother’s voice, and the sister became more and more obvious as Eleanor started saying ‘us’ and ‘we’ when talking of her childhood.
The reason my review is only 3.5 stars, instead of the 4 or 5 I was going to give it whilst reading, is because when I’d finished, I realised it was rather predictable. Very fun to read, and I really liked Eleanor as a character, but I don’t think I could read it again - hence the slightly lower rating. Definitely recommend the book, but interested as to whether anyone felt the same upon finishing it?
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