Saturday, 16 September 2017

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman





It's not just the unusual title that sets this book aside.  JoJo Moyes said the book was 'funny, touching and unpredictable'.

And I guess that is right – but for me it was also powerful and provoked really deep thought about my own background.

This is the first book by Gail Honeyman – I just hope she keeps writing.  The voice of Eleanor just shone through so authentically and consistently. Which is a major achievement given just what Eleanor is coping with.

Eleanor is a person coping with an unimaginably tragic childhood with a resilience that she does not recognise in herself.  At the beginning I wondered whether this was another of those books about people on the autism spectrum – not to belittle some of those books which are great – but as the truth is slowly revealed the book becomes more and more engrossing.

I highly recommend this to anyone – but if your childhood was less than a perfect one – you need to read this.

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