Review: "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" by Gail Honeyman

WARNING: this review contains mild spoilers.

RATING: 5/5

“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.”

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine. She has an office job with horrible colleagues, she lives alone in her apartment, drinks way too much vodka every single night and she has no friends. But really, she's fine. Many people have it way worse than she. At least, that's what she keeps telling herself. I started reading this book with no expectations. I had absolutely no idea what this book was about. When I read the first chapter I immediately knew this was going to be one of my all time favorite young adult books. When I finished reading it, it still was. That is for numerous reasons. The book looks like a cute young adult contemporary novel. In a way, that is true. But it's so much more than that. It addresses the subject mental illness in such a heartbreaking way. You get to know Eleanor Elephant throughout the story. The more you read of the book, the more you realize that she is not fine. At all. One thing that I personally really enjoyed about this book is that you start to see Eleanor getting better. She made two friends, she went to the barber shop and she bought herself some nice clothes. Even though she doesn't realize it herself, it's nice to see her slowly getting more social and healthier. The fact that Honeyman managed to talk about mental illness in such a subtle way makes the book incredibly important. Even though you might not see depression immediately, people could still be very sick. It's nice to see that Eleanor's friends 'saved' her in some way. This book is in perfect position to get a sequel so I hope with all my heart that Honeyman decides to extend Eleanor's story.