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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
Completely fine. Famous last words of every lonely person who's secretly not. 🌱
Who it's for
Eleanor narrates her solitary, rigid routine with such dry certainty that readers laugh before they realise how lonely she is, which gently lets lonely readers see themselves without shame.
Feelings it meets
What it is
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is Gail Honeyman's 2017 debut novel about Eleanor, a 29-year-old finance clerk in Glasgow who lives a solitary, tightly routined life and insists she is fine. She becomes fixated on a local musician, Johnnie Lomond, and convinces herself he is her destined partner.
Where to find it
In print; widely available from libraries (Libby/Hoopla where licensed) and as an ebook. The unabridged audiobook read by Cathleen McCarron won the 2018 Audie Award for Fiction.
Before you start
Heads up: A suicidal crisis and childhood abuse.
Age: Ages 16+
You smiled and talked to me of nothing and I felt that for this I had been waiting long.Rabindranath Tagore, Stray Birds, no. 42
