Ms. Hen reviews Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Gail Honeyman

Viking

2017

Ms. Hen first became aware of this novel a few years ago while she was working in a doctor's office. A patient left this book in the waiting room, and Ms. Hen picked it up, read the back, and thought it sounded like something she would like to read. She wanted to take it home, but the patient called asking if the book was there. She said she would come back for it. Ms. Hen didn't know how long this person had to travel back for this book, but Ms. Hen thinks it's a book worth a trip back to the doctor's office.

She wanted to read the book, but she never got around to it until now. She found it at a Little Free Library near her house. When she learned about this novel, she thought it fell into the category of "sad woman books," and that's true, but that's not all it is.

This novel is about Eleanor Oliphant, a thirty-year-old woman who is alone in the world. She has a full-time job, but does not have any family or friends. Throughout the course of the novel, she makes friends, and tries to have a better life. She is a little bit touched, in a way that she is not exposed to a lot of society, and the way that people interact with each other. She becomes obsessed with a local musician, and drinks vodka by herself, and makes friends with one of her co-workers when they rescue a man who passed out on the sidewalk.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a typical woman's novel without the Cinderella ending, which she does not enjoy. It reminds her of novels by Elinor Lipman and Suzanne Strempek Shea that she has read and liked years ago. Ms. Hen has gotten away from reading women's fiction, because she thinks some of it is trite and tedious. But this novel is different.

This novel is a great example of first person narrative by an unreliable narrator. Eleanor is quirky to the extreme; since she is so isolated, she doesn't know how to handle herself in most situations. She thinks she is the butt of jokes at work, and she doesn't care about the ordinary aspects of life that most people do, such as Christmas parties or clothes. Ms. Hen was expecting that Eleanor imagines a part of her life, and she does. Ms. Hen feels sorry for Eleanor, but she knows that she will be okay.

This novel takes place in Glasgow, Scotland, and it took a few pages for Ms. Hen to figure that out. The characters call Eleanor "hen" sometimes, and Ms. Hen wasn't sure why. She did some research, and discovered that in Glasgow "hen" is slang for honey or sweetheart that people say in other places. Ms. Hen had never heard this before, but she likes it! She doesn't like when people call her honey, especially strangers, but she would like to go to Glasgow so people would call her hen.

Ms. Hen thinks this is a wonderful book to end her year. Eleanor Oliphant surprised her, because she didn't think she would like this book as much as she did. She laughed, and almost cried, but it was like reading about someone's tragic life that she would be acquainted with. She is glad she spend time getting to know Eleanor, because Ms. Hen likes quirky characters, since she considers herself one as well.