Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, are you?
Phew! I finally finished the book. I gave it a long hug and I sat silently for a long time, and then I lovingly placed it back on my shelf. I have not been so overwhelmed by a story in a long time, the way I was with Eleanor’s. She absolutely touched my heart.
This book is about a simple girl with a traumatic past, who absolutely refuses to revisit it, not even an iota of it, and carries on with life as if everything is normal. Pizza and vodka over weekends, a solitary apartment, a lonely life with a routine that never deviates even by an inch, same office, same meal, a daily round of crosswords- She makes sure that there are absolutely no triggers, no friends and she can be completely “fine”.
And as life goes over her, around her, and under her, but not through her, she meets a friend. Careless, carefree, loving, with his own unique personality, Raymond enters her life.
How their friendship deepens and eventually leads Eleanor back to herself is so beautifully described that it would not be possible for me to put to words. But its not a love story which is for the best. By the time the book ends, Eleanor learns the difference between telling yourself “all’s well ” and numbing your feelings versus telling yourself, “ No, things aren’t well but I can work on them and make them better. And maybe, one day I can actually feel fine.” 😀
The best way to describe Eleanor is her complete social cluelessness.
The entire book has been written in a way that’s funny, witty, warm and fuzzy. Despite the underlying tragedy, you will not feel heavy. What stood out for me was the gentle way in which layer by layer, her personality is peeled for the reader. One minute her honest observations will make you laugh, the next minute her blunt mannerisms will make you blush. The very next minute, her acute naivete will make you want to hug her tight. But most of all you would admire the human spirit, at the sheer strength it takes for some people reeked by tragedy to go on, and how they do! How they think and act and manage their life as best as they can. It’s the story of a survivor and even if you’ve not experienced something awful first hand, empathy would flood your heart as you journey with her through the pages of this book…. She is simply the most well-defined character I have read in an entire decade. You will laugh and cry with Eleanor and root for her every step of the way.
I will not give away the story details further.
So then, who is Eleanor? She is you, she is me. She is us. She is anyone who has known darkness and despair, who has built walls so huge around her, that no one is able to penetrate them. And when she does let friends into her world, she realizes how much light, love, fun and healing they bring in.
Read it first, thank me later. 😊
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And as a bonus, I am putting here a few fun lines from the book 😊
“Popular people sometimes have to laugh at things they don’t find very funny, or do things they don’t particularly want to, with people whose company they don’t particularly enjoy.”
“No thank you,” I said. “I don’t want to accept a drink from you, because then I would be obliged to purchase one for you in return, and I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in spending two drinks’ worth of time with you.”
“LOL could go and take a running jump. I wasn’t made for illiteracy; it simply didn’t come naturally.”
“It turned out that if you saw the same person with some degree of regularity, then the conversation was immediately pleasant and comfortable — you could pick up where you left off, as it were, rather than having to start afresh each time.”
