She's not completely fine. Neither am I.

I finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman back in early March. I didn't write a review right off and then, it seems, our world has fallen into a weird, scary, confusing place. I spent the last few weeks unsure and waiting. Waiting to see what happens with COVID-19, waiting to be told what to do. Because, I sure as hell didn't know. How do I keep my mom and sister safe? Should I work remote? Will that be seen as extreme?

And here we are. Week 1 of pretty-much mandatory working remote, not seeing my family and friends as much, not getting hugs from my mom. I'm scared to death of what might still happen but I'm trying to stay in a pattern. Some normalcy. I've been able to get groceries, able to get meds, visited my family from a safe distance, but mostly stayed at home. At first, I was too anxious to read or knit. Then I switched off the TV and my anxiety decreased a bit. I'm keeping up on the news through newspapers now, real and online, but trying to avoid social media a bit (except for Mark's daily dance party which is NEEDED right now).

I'm nearing the end of The Wells of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson and am going to use this downtime to keep up on my reading and writing. I've written in my journal nearly every day because we're living in a historical period right now.

Back to Eleanor and why this woman is NOT fine. Right off the bat, you know something isn't quite right. She drinks alone, in her apartment, just enough to keep her lightly drunk from Friday to the start of Monday until she goes back to work to get through the weekend. She's seemingly uptight, precise about everything, and has a lot of reasons on why she looks down on so many people.

Then she meets Raymond. An IT guy who comes to work on her computer at the office, he somehow takes a liking to her. He's described as sloppy and unhygienic by Eleanor but honestly, being in IT myself, I think that Raymond is just a regular IT dude. Raymond is key in helping Eleanor, she just doesn't realize it yet.

Eleanor falls for a local musician, and she falls hard. It was painful reading how she researched (aka stalked) him, how she changed herself for him (but never met him), how her life revolved around a man she never met, while ignoring who was really in her life. Her weekly talks with Mummy were also painful.

Things spiral out of control, Eleanor is not fine, and she finally recognizes her life for what it is. This truly was a great novel, painful on occasion to read, but you can't help but cheer Eleanor on towards a more rewarding life, with people who really do care for her.

Gail Honeyman talks about the novel

An Interview with Gail Honeyman