Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Reese's Book Club (A Novel)

By: Gail Honeyman

Narrated by: Cathleen McCarron

Number-one New York Times best-seller and the perfect holiday gift.

A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick

"Beautifully written and incredibly funny, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is about the importance of friendship and human connection. I fell in love with Eleanor, an eccentric and regimented loner whose life beautifully unfolds after a chance encounter with a stranger; I think you will fall in love, too!" (Reese Witherspoon)

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine.

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond’s big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one.

Soon to be a major motion picture produced by Reese Witherspoon, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the smart, warm, and uplifting story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

The only way to survive is to open your heart.

©2017 Gail Honeyman (P)2017 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

"Move over, Ove (in Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove) - there's a new curmudgeon to love." (Booklist)

"Eleanor Oliphant is a truly original literary creation: funny, touching, and unpredictable. Her journey out of dark shadows is absolutely gripping." (Jojo Moyes, New York Times best-selling author of Me Before You)

"Narrator Cathleen McCarron's articulated British accent and studied pacing lend weight to Eleanor's apparent alienation from the world - and her immediate charm to listeners.... While supporting characters are well defined with distinct voices and accents, McCarron especially shines in setting the story's emotional tone." (AudioFile)

Please be warned

This story is extremely dark. It is a lurking, creeping kind of dark. It is excellently written and narrated, don't get me wrong, but if I had known how hard it was, I'd have opted for a different title. I have enough hard in my own life right now, this about set me over the edge. Just a warning for other sensitive souls out there.

Exquisite writing, fantastic narrator.

The detail, descriptions and subtle moments are just perfection. I will never forget this book and the character like no other that is Eleanor Oliphant. It's hard to put words around it now because it's still ruminating inside me but this was absolutely one of my all time favorites. Love the plot twist at the very end concerning her mother. Highly highly recommend this book.

A Different Oliphant

Wow! Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is quite a story - and a different one at that. I didn’t think I would care for the book, or the narrator, as the story began. I certainly didn’t think I’d be giving a five star review. I’m glad I continued to listen. The more I listened, the more I found myself caught up in Eleanor and her struggles to fit into life. Cathleen McCarron even won me over as the perfect narrator for Eleanor’s story.

Wow!!!

Every word. From beginning to end was captivating. A must read. 5 stars. A would step away thinking about Eleanor. Narrators Performance was award winning.

If you stick with it

Although it was slow at times, I stuck with it and it was a good story. I wouldn’t try to compare it to, “a man called ove” though. Two very different stories. This one had a little more grit. And I think it’s slow on purpose. You really get a sense of the main character and feel like you are in her shoes. Overall, well done.

Don’t abandon this story too soon.

I bought this well-reviewed audiobook anticipating a rich road-trip experience with my wife. However, after the early scene about waxing, neither of us had the the least interest in continuing. We neither liked nor were interested in the main character, Eleanor.

A bit later I chose to re-engage and I am so very glad I did. I was drawn to Eleanor as she developed over the course of the story. There were times when I wanted to abandon the book out of my own discomfort but I chose to trust the author and to continue. The author was worthy of my trust.

Eleanor’s story is one of sorrow and pain but far more importantly, it is a story of emergence from nothingness into somethingness.

It is a challenge to us all to imagine our own somethingness.

This novel drew me in

From the start, I enjoyed this story about Eleanor Oliphant, a thirty year old woman who seemed to have social issues. I liked that, if she was on the spectrum, it was not so obviously portrayed. She had issues and there were questions about her past. Mostly, I found her to be a believable and sympathetic character.

Eleanor befriends Raymond, a drab tech guy at her work. Friendship is new to Eleanor, but their friendship grows in a very sweet and believable way. This novel takes a few turns, and I won't be a spoiler. As I was listening, I was thinking that this would be a solid four star novel, and then the last third of the novel completely drew me in. I had to give this five stars.

I was tentative at the start, given I am a guy and almost all the reviewers were women. Too often, those books feel too much like "chick lit" and I quit. This, though, was just a fun and sweet story about an interesting and eccentric woman and the relationships that start to turn her life around. It was a feel-good story that made me smile a lot.

I will be thinking about this book for a long time

wonderfully read. I could not put it down. Very insightful and moving. I highly recommend.

Perfect

loved everything about this story. characters will stay will with me for a long time.

Highly Recommend!

I loved this story, character, and narration. Probably the best narration I've ever heard!

If you enjoyed Frederik Backman's "Britt-Marie Was Here," you must download this book. Actually if you loved any of Frederik Backman's books, you should download it.

I highly recommend!!