Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
My first read for 2025 is Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. When I started the book, I thought it might be a bit gloomy for a New Yearâs read since it seemed to be a poignant tale of loneliness. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Instead, this book tells a story of resilience and healing. Yes, Eleanor Oliphant is completely fineâor better yet, Eleanor Oliphant is a total survivor.
To be honest, it took me some time to warm up to Eleanor as a character. She initially comes across as blunt, socially awkward, and detached from the world around her. But as I delved deeper into her story, I began to understand the layers of her personality and the reasons behind her behavior. Her quirky thoughts made me laugh, her delusions gave me secondhand embarrassment, and her pain left my heart aching.
She had never had anyone in her life, but when she formed a friendship with Raymond, a kind and unassuming coworker, it allowed her to experience human connection in a way she never thought possible. Through Raymond, she learned that she, too, deserved happiness, companionship, and a sense of normalcy. I couldnât help but feel immense gratitude for Raymondâs role in Eleanorâs life. Though fictional, the depth of Eleanorâs emotions felt so real that I found myself rooting for her happiness with all my heart.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine beautifully highlights the transformative power of human relationships and the importance of compassion. There are many âEleanorsâ in the worldâpeople silently struggling, unnoticed by others. While itâs true that we all have our own troubles, I hope that, like Raymond, we seize opportunities to extend a helping hand when we can.
No oneâs ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.
Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what sheâs thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.
But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymondâs big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.
Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .
The only way to survive is to open your heart.