This Book is Pure Joy Interlaced with the Kind of Heartache that will Echo in your Psyche...

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

.

It is fair to say that I am not one for holding back my opinions. My friends and family, on the unlikely occasion that any of you would meet them, would tell you that I am brutally honest. Most of my reviews on here have been rave ones, preaching about the books I read and love. I have often waxed lyrical about the books I review; I have sung the merits of certain tomes from on high and proclaimed they are fantastic, or amazing or downright perfect. Please believe me when I say that this book, this wonderful book, has hit my top three of all time. My opinion means little I know, but to be placed amongst Austen and Rowling in my esteem, it must truly be pretty awesome.

.

I honestly don’t know how Honeyman wrote this. Its beauty lies solely in her weaving of the character of Eleanor. Finding a more complex, emotional, soul-stirring personality seems unfathomable to me. I am changed because of this.

.

This book is pure joy, interlaced with the kind of heartache that will echo in your psyche. Eleanor is an un-knowing heroine, the kind of character you have been waiting for all of your life. She is quirky, orderly, bum-clenchingly awkward. Her work colleagues view her as an oddity, her home life speculated about and made fun of. Her life is one of strict routine, and completely and heartbreakingly, empty.

.

Eleanor works a boring 9-5 job at a graphic designer. She interacts with no one, her eccentricates seemingly acting as a barrier between her and the rest of the workforce. At weekends she goes home and drinks two bottles of Glen’s vodka and only speaks to her mother every Wednesday evening for fifteen minutes exactly. The impact of her inherent loneliness moved me to tears.

.

We, as the reader, start to the learn the reasons behind Eleanor’s isolation. We are given tit-bits by Honeyman throughout the novel as to whether her social awkwardness is due to some kind of disorder or mental illness, or in fact, the product of a life lead in solitude.

.

I loved Eleanor’s narrative. She is laugh-out-loud funny. She is honest to the point of rudeness. She is unaware and childlike and naïve and just utterly gorgeous.

.

“There was nothing to tempt me from the choice of desserts, so I opted instead for a coffee, which was bitter and lukewarm. Naturally, I had been about to pour it all over myself but, just in time, had read the warning printed on the paper cup, alerting me to the fact that hot liquids can cause injury. A lucky escape, Eleanor! I said to myself, laughing quietly. I began to suspect that Mr. McDonald was a very foolish man indeed, although, judging from the undiminished queue, a wealthy one.”

.

As the book progresses, Eleanor falls in love with a woefully inadequate singer in a local band who does not know she exists. She becomes obsessed with him; going to his house, tweeting him and eventually thinking up ways they can meet and fall in love. The writing of this part of the book is reminiscent of the childhood crushes I had in my youth; naïve, ridiculous and borderline stalker-ish.

.

Eleanor is made all the more real by the other characters in the book and how she changes throughout because of her interactions with them. Honeyman intelligently writes the supporting ‘cast’ in order to shed light on the secrecies surrounding Eleanor’s early life.

.

The narrative is full of warmth interlaced with bone-aching sadness. There is a twist at the end that I didn’t see coming and although obvious with hindsight, it just made me love the story more.

.

It is not often a book can move you to tears one second and have you laughing out loud in the next moment. It is incredible. If Honeyman never writes another word ever again, I wouldn’t be unhappy. Surely this kind of perfection can only happen once.

.

Honeyman wrote this book after her milestone, fortieth birthday. It just goes to show that brilliance can come at any point in our lives. That childhood dreams can be realised. If only all dreams could be as beautiful and astounding as this one.

.

This is a very special book; it has stolen my heart.

.

In the end it turns out, Eleanor Oilphant is completely fine – in fact, she is perfect.

- Katie D xx