About a month ago, an old college friend rang me up, expressing concern for both of us. After the requisite conversational benchmarks were cleared, less pressing matters, such as book recommendations, emerged. She had to repeat that she was reading Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine several times before I got the title right. I told her I would read it if we could discuss it on my (largely theoretical) podcast, as episode 4, and she agreed.
So now then, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is the debut novel by Gail Honeyman. At first blush, she reminds me of Sally Rooney, and it leads me to consider whether these two authors will spar in a kind of friendly rivalry over the next several decades, but time will tell.
Does this book take place in Glasgow? I think so. Is Tesco an actual grocery store there? It appears to be the case. Am I an idiot for writing book reviews like this? Most likely.
Eleanor is 30, single, depressed, and has buried childhood trauma under a steady supply of vodka and condescension. She works at a graphic design firm in the accounts receivable department.
***
Okay full disclosure: I haven't worked on this review since March 2, in part because it is supposed to be the subject of a podcast episode. Yet I did fully (long-form) reviews of all previous books featured in those 3 recorded episodes (Our Band Could Be Your Life, Grass Roots, and Garden State). So this will be the 4th, and hopefully the best yet, though I haven't tried to do one in about a year or two. Unfortunately I am not able to include quotes from the text, as it was returned long ago. Apparently this is "soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon." Query: is Reese the new Oprah? I do think this will be a fun and interesting movie to see. Maybe it will be a bit like Bridget Jones's Diary? I never read or saw that so I'm probably completely off-base and they're probably just both British Isles set stories written by women and featuring a leading female protagonist. Is it chick-lit? Is it now problematic to refer to a genre as "chick-lit?" Certainly, both involve romantic misadventures. But I have to doubt that Bridget Jones shares the same traumatic "mommy issues" that Eleanor grapples with throughout the novel. Because that really is this novel's major-key theme. So I think this book will be very helpful for people that may have experienced volatile childhoods or negative parental influence. It is also quite funny.
Grade: B+
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