Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine – Book Review

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

By: Gail Honeyman
Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron
Length: 11 hrs and 52 mins
Unabridged Audiobook
Release date: 18-05-17
Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Limited

The Blurb

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

My Verdict

I listened to this on Audible. You can easily get the book but I did feel that an audio version was the better option in this case. Eleanor Oliphant is a bit of a strange thinking character and reading her thoughts might make it a little more difficult to get a feel for her personality. She does have a strange grasp of the English language, particularly at the beginning of the book. Of course this is a personal choice, but I did find the narrator, Cathleen McCarron a very good interpreter of the characters in this story.

Eleanor Oliphant is that person that we’ve probably seen at sometime in our lives. The one at the office that doesn’t interact very often and when they do they come across as inappropriate. The one often made fun of behind their backs. The one that wears the same clothes on rotation like a uniform and takes little notice of their appearance.

Then she meets Raymond and together they meet Sammy and suddenly a whole world of social interaction opens up for her.

We know from the start that there is something from her past haunting her, we know she was brought up in care from the age of ten. Little snippets of information are let out throughout the story but it’s all too painful for Eleanor.

It takes a very drastic moment in her life for her to realise that she is not alone and that people do actually care about her.

Conclusion

I didn’t want the story to end, I wanted to carry on hearing about Eleanor and what happened next. It wasn’t left on a cliff hanger, I just felt so engrossed, so close to the characters that I wanted to keep on listening.

The story made me tingle with emotion at times, it also made me laugh out loud. There was also a silent tear every now and then. This book certainly has all the feels.

I even enjoyed the chat between the narrator, Cathleen McCarron and the author Gail Honeyman at the end.

Audible

Audible is my best friend at the moment, I’m always popping in my earphones and listening to some story or other book. I’ve just purchased 6 volumes of Sherlock Holmes with my free credit this month. That should keep me occupied for a fair while.

You can try Audible yourself with a 30 day free trail and then it’s £7.99 per month afterwards including a free credit which you can use on a book of your choice. There are also lots of members offers to be had like this month’s 2 for 1 offer. Do let me know if you decide to give it a try

Of course if you don’t fancy Audible, I’d still recommend this book as a read which you can get from Amazon.

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links