'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman book review

Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman is a deeply emotional book which I would definitely recommend. It follows our protagonist Eleanor- an outsider regarded by her co-workers as weird and strange- as she unknowingly suffers from severe loneliness. Eleanor leads a basic life... she goes to work, comes home and treats herself to the exact same two bottles of vodka to drink at the weekend every single week. Her existence is incredibly monotonous- she even wears the exact same outfit to work every day- and is profoundly alone. She has no friends, no family (aside from the uncomfortable calls from the sinister and creepy 'Mummy' which are the only slight difference punctuating Eleanor's drably repetitive life). At first it appears that Eleanor is content with her mundane life or that she at least doesn't mind the lonely, tedious nature of her day-in, day-out routine but then a series of events happen which end up flipping her life upside down. It's an emotional read... heart-warming in places, heart-wrenching in others. 

What's so great about the book, as well, is that all the characters feel real. I think that in many books characters can feel one-dimensional, as if the author has simply thrown them into the story to prove a point or fill a trope or just for the sake of it... and whilst it's true that not every single character has to serve a purpose, per se, sometimes it just leaves the reader questioning 'why'? plus it breaks the story up when this happens because the characters feel unrealistic and, worst of all, unrelatable. But this doesn't happen in 'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine'. All the characters feel very authentic, especially Eleanor herself whose particular personality and quirks are displayed in a very convincing manner which intrigues the reader and leaves them wondering why she is the way that she is. Furthermore I found the style of the writing in the book enjoyable. It manages to strike a fine line between humour and the discussion of serious topics (such as mental health) in a way that isn't too heavy but not too light-hearted or trivial either. The writing style is also quite seamless. One of the major plot lines in the book focuses on the mystery of Eleanor's past, and little indications as to what actually happened are fed to the reader throughout the book, but it's done in a clever, subtle way that doesn't feel like an onslaught of clues and it doesn't distract from other plot lines and aspects of the story. The mystery of her past isn't revealed to the end of the novel. As I was reading the story I did suspect some form of twist- partially because twists are kind of all the rage in books at the moment and partially because there was a genuine build-up in the story that led you to believe something shocking was going to happen- and I was right. There was a twist at the end of the book -as is the norm- but it was a genuinely surprising twist  that I didn't see coming. 

Overall this is a really gripping book. I struggled to put it down because I just wanted to find out what happened next. If you enjoy books that focus mainly on characters and emotions as opposed to intricate plot lines and events, then I would definitely recommend this book to you. As I said before the writing style is very smooth and seamless and I look forward to reading more potential books from Gail Honeyman in the future (currently 'Eleanor Oliphant is completely Fine' is Honeyman's only book). I think that this story is excellent and thought-provoking and one that I will return to time and time again. But don't just take my word about how great this book is... I'm clearly not the only one who has thoroughly enjoyed this novel if the multitude of praise from the book community alongside the multiple awards the book has won is anything to go by. 

By Frances Hudson