ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE BY GAIL HONEYMAN

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" IF  SOMEONE ASKS YOU HOW YOU ARE, YOU ARE MEANT TO SAY FINE. YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO SAY THAT YOU CRIED YOURSELF TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT BECAUSE YOU HADN'T SPOKEN TO ANOTHER PERSON FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS. FINE IS WHAT YOU SAY. "




I heard mixed reviews about this one. But fortunately this book worked for me. I managed to finish this 400 pages read in a day.

Eleanor Oliphant is 30, working but lonely. She is a victim of trauma and loss during her childhood. Hence she suffers from survivor’s guilt and is withdrawn.

She is funny, frank, judgemental but also she is neither outgoing nor understands sarcasm.

She finds a friend in her colleague, Raymond who cares for her and helps her get medical attention and gets her out of her mental state.

PROS: it was a very light read, though a long one.

The friendship between Raymond and Eleanor was refreshing.

A non dramatic young adult novel focusing on mental health.

CONS: few subplots felt unnecessary.

Though I could relate to Eleanor at times, I felt there was a stretch to prove her too naive to be true - like how she did not have any idea about makeup, fashion or Starbucks and McDonald’s when she was able to navigate through social media without any trouble.

MY REVIEW: 4.5/5

#penbooksandscalpel

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