Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine might sound like it’s all sunshine and smiles, but don’t be fooled – this book takes you on a rollercoaster of laughs, awkward moments, and some seriously real feelings. Eleanor’s world is quirky, blunt, and a bit lonely, but she’s also endlessly relatable and funny in the best kind of way. If you’re up for a story that’s equal parts heartbreak, hope and humour, this one’s got you covered.
📖 Quick Overview
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine – Gail Honeyman
Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live
Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.
Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.
One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.
Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?
📌 TL;DR
A surprisingly funny, quietly devastating character study about loneliness, trauma, and the slow, painful process of learning that “fine” isn’t enough.
💥 Hook
“Fine. Totally fine. Absolutely, heartbreakingly fine.“
💬 The Big Idea
What if healing doesn’t come in a grand gesture or sweeping romance, but in Tesco meal deals, awkward conversations, and someone remembering how you take your tea?
🧠 What’s it About?
Eleanor is, by her own account, completely fine. She sticks to routine, avoids people, and navigates the world with precision and politeness – except when she doesn’t. But behind her dry wit and peculiar habits is a life shaped by deep trauma, and a loneliness so dense it almost goes unnoticed. This is the story of what happens when tiny cracks form in that isolation – and light begins to shine through.
🔍 Why It’s More Than Just the Blurb
You think you’ve read books like this before: quirky woman, social struggles, something sad in her past. But Eleanor Oliphant isn’t quirky for quirkiness’s sake – it’s unflinchingly real beneath the eccentric charm. There’s a subtle genius in how it turns everyday moments into emotional revelations.
- Eleanor’s voice is unique, biting, and often laugh-out-loud funny
- The book explores trauma without romanticising it
- There’s no forced romance – just the quiet importance of being seen
🔍 Deep Dive
On the surface, this is a slow, character-driven novel – and if you’re not typically into that kind of thing, you might assume you’ll get bored. But Eleanor hooks you instantly. Her bluntness, her observations, her complete disregard for small talk – they’re not just funny, they’re oddly refreshing. Her commentary on social conventions (“balderdash,” as she might say) hits hard and true.
Moments that could easily tip into melodrama are instead undercut with sharp wit – like a devastating scene at a crematorium that draws an unforgettable analogy between life and the Tesco checkout. The book is filled with these offbeat, perfectly pitched emotional punches. And Raymond – dear Raymond – is one of the gentlest portrayals of platonic support out there.
As Eleanor’s world widens, the writing mirrors that – slow, steady, and deeply intentional. It’s not about sudden change, but the small shifts that show she’s beginning to want more than fine.
📚 What’s Inside? (Spoiler-Free Breakdown)
This book takes its time – and that’s the point. What starts as a dryly amusing look at an oddball office worker becomes something much richer. You meet a woman who has constructed her life to keep the world out. You watch as awkward encounters become lifelines, as everyday kindness chips away at decades of pain.
There’s no magical fix, no sweeping redemption arc. Just glimpses of what connection – real, messy, ordinary connection – can do. The supporting cast, from colleagues to shopkeepers to Raymond’s relentlessly lovely mum, make it feel like Eleanor is always surrounded by soft nudges toward better days.
It’s dark, funny, sharp, and quietly hopeful. You won’t soon forget Miss Oliphant.
Full Review By Emma
★ ★ ★ ★★
This isn’t my usual kind of read – I’m more of a fast-paced, plot-twist-every-chapter kind of person. So when I picked up Eleanor Oliphant, I expected to feel… politely bored. But Eleanor surprised me. She made me laugh out loud in the first few pages, then quietly gutted me by the end. I tend to lose patience with slow burns – but Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine had me hooked from the very first page. Eleanor (or Miss Oliphant, as she might prefer) is unlike any protagonist I’ve met. She’s rigid, solitary, and hilariously blunt – a woman who says exactly what’s on her mind without any concern for social conventions. And somehow, that makes her incredibly refreshing.
Her voice is one of the sharpest, strangest, and most brilliant I’ve come across in ages. She’s blunt to the point of offensive, deeply regimented in her life, and armed with a vocabulary that’s at once old-fashioned and completely savage. But it’s not quirk for quirk’s sake – it’s armour. And as the book unfolds, you start to see the cracks in it.
What really hooked me wasn’t just her oddness or the mystery of her past – it was how human she felt. We’ve all had moments where we pretended we were “fine” because the alternative felt too messy, too hard, too vulnerable. Eleanor lives in that space. She’s isolated to the point that a brief chat with a coworker or a trip to the shops becomes a huge event. That level of loneliness – and how carefully she tiptoes around it – is heartbreaking.
Late in the book, there’s a scene at a party where Eleanor is approached by a man offering to buy her a drink. What follows might just be one of the most brutally honest – and hilariously relatable – refusals I’ve ever read:
“No thank you. I don’t want to accept a drink from you, because then I would be obliged to purchase one for you in return, and I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in spending two drinks worth of time with you.”
I mean – who among us hasn’t wanted to say that? Eleanor’s brutal honesty is often laugh-out-loud funny, but it also lays bare how little energy she has for small talk, fakery, or unnecessary pleasantries. She’s not trying to offend – she just doesn’t see the point in pretending.
As the story unfolds, it becomes clear that Eleanor’s life isn’t quiet by choice, but by necessity. Her pain is buried deep under routines, Tesco meal deals, and a weekly vodka binge. Yet somehow, despite the darkness, the book maintains this lovely, oddball warmth. It’s the small, unexpected connections – with Raymond, a kind and gentle colleague; with an old man she helps one day; with a cat, even – that start to chip away at her carefully constructed walls.
There’s a moment at a funeral (no spoilers, I promise) where Eleanor likens the crematorium process to a Tesco checkout, and it’s unexpectedly brilliant – darkly comic, poignant, and entirely in her voice. It’s those strange, surprising analogies that make Eleanor’s narration feel so original.
The supporting cast is excellent too – Raymond especially. His slow-burn friendship with Eleanor is one of the most tender, genuine relationships I’ve read in ages. There’s no forced romance, no makeover-fixation, just steady, quiet support. The book gives their bond the time and space to grow, and it’s all the more powerful for it.
But the real magic lies in watching Eleanor begin to realise that “fine” isn’t good enough – and maybe never was. Her journey isn’t about being fixed. It’s about being seen. About choosing to live, instead of just survive.
I read this on a whim over a sunny weekend, thinking I’d DNF it halfway through. Instead, I sat in my garden, Kindle in hand, completely absorbed – laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. By the end, I felt like Eleanor had taken up permanent residence in my head.
If you’re usually hesitant about slow character studies – same. But trust me: Eleanor is worth it. She’ll make you laugh, make you ache, and maybe, just maybe, make you want to call someone you haven’t spoken to in a while. Gail Honeyman’s writing is deceptively simple but deeply layered, and Eleanor’s voice – with all its awkward charm and raw honesty – will stick with me for a long time.
🎭 Mood & Matchmaker
Darkly funny, deeply moving, and quietly subversive – this is character-driven fiction with satirical teeth and a soft heart.
🌈 Vibes Check
What kind of vibe are you in for? Let’s break it down:
✍️ Writing Style: Understated, observant, and slyly witty
🕰 Pacing: Slow-burn, but purposeful
😂 Humour: Bone-dry, awkward, sometimes gut-busting
💔 Emotional Weight: Heavy at times – especially around trauma
📖 Read If You Like: Stories that blend bleakness with hope, and wit with weight
🔄 Mood Matches
If you liked…
- A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
- The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
…then Miss Oliphant may be your next delightfully odd companion.
For more blank, check out our blank
🧃 Emotional Map
😨 Social awkwardness — 10/10
💔 Quiet heartbreak — 8/10
🤣 Deadpan humour — 9/10
🫂 Gentle connection — 9/10
🧠 Lingers afterward — 10/10
🎯 For the Right Reader
If you’re craving a character-driven, quietly subversive story that balances laugh-out-loud moments with emotional gut punches – and you’ve got the patience for a slow burn that pays off – Eleanor Oliphant might just be your next unexpected favourite.
📦 Who Will Love This?
Perfect for readers who…
- Enjoy sharp satire with heart
- Love characters who speak their mind (and then some)
- Want a non-romantic story about healing and human connection
- Appreciate books that surprise you with their emotional depth
- Like their fiction awkward, smart, and beautifully broken
🧭 Where I Found It
Browsing Kindle Unlimited on a whim during a hot summer weekend – proof that bookish impulse buys can absolutely pay off.
People Also Asked About Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
If you’ve got questions about Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine, you’re not alone. Here are some of the most common ones – and the answers you’re looking for:
What mental illness does Eleanor Oliphant have?
The book doesn’t explicitly diagnose Eleanor, but clinical depression is clear. Many readers also interpret other possible mental health struggles beneath the surface.
What is the story Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine about?
It’s about Eleanor, a quirky, socially awkward woman whose life is carefully controlled and isolated – until small moments of kindness start to change everything.
What happened to Gail Honeyman?
Gail Honeyman is currently working on her second novel, so we’re all eagerly waiting for what’s next!
Was Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine made into a movie?
Not yet – but honestly, it would make a fantastic film.
Is Eleanor Oliphant an alcoholic?
She has a weekly vodka ritual, which is part of her coping mechanism, but it’s portrayed within the wider context of her emotional struggles.
Is Eleanor Oliphant based on a true story?
Nope! Eleanor is a fictional character, and Gail Honeyman has confirmed she isn’t based on anyone she knows
👋 Final Thoughts
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine isn’t just a book – it’s a warm, sometimes wacky hug for anyone who’s ever felt a little out of step with the world. It’s about healing, connection, and finding your own kind of “fine” – even when life gets messy. If you’re looking for a read that’s as funny as it is heartfelt and heartbreaking, you’re going to want to hang out with Eleanor for a while. And believe me, she will stick with you long after you’ve read the last page.