| Book Review | Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine.
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"These days, loneliness is the new cancer - a shameful, embarrassing thing, brought upon yourself in some obscure way. A fearful, incurable thing thing, so horrifying that you dare not mention it; other people don't want to hear the word spoken aloud for fear that they might too be afflicted, or that it might tempt fate into visiting a similar horror upon them." - Gail Honeyman.
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It's hard not to like this book but you wouldn't want to either. Eleanor Oliphant often feels like our extended selves juggling adulthood one day at a time. Having had a terrible childhood and living in different foster homes, Eleanor turns into a shell. She's a recluse and prefers staying that way until one day she accidentally happens to help an old man who has a stroke. From that very moment Eleanor's new life begins.
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Eleanor's life is fairly simple. She works as an account in an unimpressive graphic designing company. She doesn't love her job but she doesn't hate it either. Having joined the company fairly young, Eleanor seems satisfied with the work that she has been doing for the past nine years. She doesn't indulge in office politics or conversations, owns hardly one set of plain clothes and footwear, eats the same food for dinner and plans every day in advance. Her life takes a different turn when she meets an IT professional in her company. Raymond and Eleanor help an old man in an unfortunate incident and end up becoming friends soon after.
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Eleanor's adult life is relatable in more than one instance. She leads a lonely life with no one to go back home to. She doesn't attend events or parties, but drinks vodka alone at home on weekends. She has conversations with her house plant, solves crossword and takes exactly an hour off for lunch. Everything seems normal to her but she realises what she has been missing only after meeting the old man, his family and Raymond. Suddenly she starts enjoying the little things in life: a casual lunch, a warm handshake and having a friend. Soon, Eleanor sets eyes on a musician and decides she has found the one for her.
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Eleanor's honesty is beautiful yet brutal. The way people often use the term 'fine' when they're not or about how she feels socialising requires a lot of shopping, are indeed quite amusing. Her loneliness makes her dream about her future husband as she builds stories in her mind about their future. Eleanor's past was nasty but she seems to have made peace with it to only come to actual terms with it many years later. There are a lot of things that one can learn from this novel. The author has addressed mental health in such a wonderful manner that people have no choice but to ponder over it's importance. She tells us all subtly that it's okay to ask for help because Eleanor does it too. Through Eleanor, she teaches us how one can be truly happy if they just open their minds to it.
The story is simple but the thought behind it is simply spectacular. It's not often we find books that makes us feel warm and mushy but this one does it masterfully. A must read.
Rating - 5/5