I had put off this book for awhile, since it often is compared to A Man Called Ove, and I was in the minority in not loving that book. But, I came around after so many glowing reviews and I'm glad I did. As with Ove, it's certainly a "curmudgeon that sees the light" kind of story. Yet I found Honeyman's take much more compelling and humorous, even though it is tempered with great sadness. Perhaps it's because the specifics of Eleanor's unfathomable circumstances are not really revealed until, literally, the last three pages of the book. It's a gut punch, and I have a thing for gut punch endings. Some of her idiosyncrasies didn't necessarily make sense (surely she'd learn about some of the basic ways of the world after going to university?) and could turn a reader off of her character, but I was completely Team Eleanor.
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