Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is a 2017 novel by Gail Honeyman.
The book is told from the point of view of Eleanor Oliphant, a Glasgow resident who lives a very routine life with an office job at a graphic design company. Eleanor is quite judgemental of people, and her interactions with people can be awkward at best and insulting at worst—but she insists that she is "completely fine" and that it is others' fault for having "poor social skills."
While attending a local concert, Eleanor becomes infatuated with one of the band members, and is entirely convinced that the two of them are meant to be together. The plot follows Eleanor's plan to bring her and "the singer" together, while striking up a friendship with a colleague, Raymond, and dealing with her tremulous relationship with her Mummy. The novel tackles subjects like abuse, depression, and trauma.
A film adaptation is in development by Reese Witherspoon's company, Hello Sunshine.
Contains the following tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Eleanor drinks two bottles of vodka every weekend and gets drunk several times throughout the story. By the end of the book, she's working to get sober.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Eleanor is often ostracized by her colleagues for her quirks and standoffishness. She dismisses them all as shirkers and idiots.
- Benevolent Boss: Bob hired Eleanor on the spot even though she showed up to the job interview with a black eye and a broken arm, and continues to be kind to her throughout the story, though Eleanor privately attributes this to pity.
- Big Damn Heroes: Raymond all but breaking down Eleanor's door after she's gone AWOL can be perceived as such, especially since she was in the middle of a suicide attempt. He takes it upon himself to make sure she's warm and comfortable, cleans her house while she's passed out, and cooks food in advance for when she wakes up.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Eleanor's new therapist Dr Maria Temple, whose friendly disposition and quirky accessories lead Eleanor to disparagingly label her "fun". She's completely blindsided when Dr Temple proves pretty damn efficient at her job.
- Child by Rape: Eleanor infers from her mother's vague answers to her past inquiries that this is the reason why she has never met her biological father. Further confirmation is the fact that Eleanor's mother was only 19 years old when she had her, given that she was 29 years old when she died in the fire, which happened when Eleanor was 10.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Eleanor has no shortage of quirks, from reading books on the most random topics (like fruit) to being convinced that she and an absolute stranger are destined to be together. The one that causes her the most grief is her tendency to say the first thing that comes to her mind. As we learn more and more of her backstory, however, it becomes clear that a large part of Eleanor's personality was formed by her upbringing, especially from her mother, who taught Eleanor to be extremely critical of everyone and everything.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The audience is given bits and pieces of Eleanor's past throughout the story. As a child, she and her sister Marianne were raised by their Mummy, who emotionally and physically abused them. Eleanor often had to take care of her sister herself despite only being a child. One day, "Mummy" set their house on fire with the intention of killing her two daughters—though she only succeeding in killing Marriane and herself. Eleanor spent the rest of her life being passed from foster home to foster home, unable to stay in one place due to her troubled behavior. Her college boyfriend, Declan, also sexually and physically abused her.
- Dead All Along: We find out in the last few pages of the novel that "Mummy," who continued to abuse and manipulate Eleanor throughout the novel via their phone calls, in fact died in the same fire that she set to kill Eleanor and her sister. All of the phone calls have been in Eleanor's imagination.
- Driven to Suicide: After finally meeting the singer in person and realizing she's put in so much effort to pursue a schoolgirl crush, Eleanor spirals, realizing her loneliness and desperation for companionship. This, accompanied with her mother's ongoing abuse, leads to Eleanor trying to drink herself to death.
- Despair Event Horizon: About two-thirds through the novel, after all her planning, Eleanor finally sets in motion her plan to meet the singer in person. Once she's there, however, she finally realizes that she's a thirty-year-old woman going through so much trouble to meet the "love of her life" when what she actually has amounts to a schoolgirl crush on a celebrity. This realization sends Eleanor spiraling as she realizes just how lonely she is, and drives her to try and drink herself to death.
- Foreshadowing: When discussing Eleanor's relationship with her mother, Eleanor says that she is in "a place for bad people"—Raymond takes this to mean prison, which Eleanor does not correct. At the end of the novel, we discover that Mummy has been Dead All Along.
- Good Samaritan: Raymond is this to a tee, since he doesn't hesitate to swoop in and help an old man when he falls down in the middle of the street, brushing off Eleanor's assumption that the old man is inebriated. He calls an ambulance while Eleanor makes sure that the old man stays awake, and even rides with him to the hospital to make sure he's alright. He saves Eleanor from her attempted suicide and takes care of her.
- Granny Classic: Mrs Gibbons, a friendly woman and doting mother who has several cats, a vegetable garden, and a cozy, tidy house that smells of soup and furniture polish. Eleanor finds herself liking Mrs Gibbons enormously.
- Important Haircut: Eleanor, who hasn't had a haircut in seventeen years by the story's beginning, lets Laura cut and dye her hair. This brings Eleanor more confidence, and she even cries in gratitude for Laura making her look "shiny."
- Innocently Insensitive: Eleanor insults people to their faces several times through the story, and often makes remarks at very inappropriate times, such as asking if Sammy was possibly murdered right after learning he died, which Raymond calls her out on. Eleanor is so convinced that she's always right that she dismisses others' offense as them not having proper social skills. At the end of the story, however, Eleanor realizes that it was her mother who raised her to be so critical of everyone, and makes a point to be kinder to others going forward.
- Interrupted Suicide: Eleanor tries to drink herself to death after her ordeal at the concert, and without Raymond's timely interruption she likely would have succeeded.
- It Was a Gift: Eleanor is given Sammy's red jumper, which she had complimented him on the day they met, as a memento after he dies.
- Jerkass: It isn't until she finally gets to see him in person that Eleanor realizes that Johnnie Lomond (the singer) is actually a crude asshole when he moons the crowd at the concert. Given how common Mean Character, Nice Actor is among musicians, this if it were alone might not really be evidence, but in this situation, there's more; Johnnie has a Small Name, Big Ego, comparing himself to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, and his bandmates are so glad to see him go that they write a song about how much they don't miss him.
- Love at First Sight: The first time she sees the singer, Eleanor is absolutely convinced that the two of them are destined to be together. She later realizes just as she's about to meet him how irrational this line of thinking is, knowing she's blown what amounts to a fan crush far out of proportion.
- Maybe Ever After: Raymond and Eleanor have many moments throughout the story implying that they have feelings for one another, though it seems Eleanor is not aware of her own feelings. By the end, Raymond's relationship with Laura does not turn out, but there's no solid confirmation that he and Eleanor will end up together.
- Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Every time they talk, Eleanor's mother alternates between passive aggression and active agression with frighteningly casual ease, methodically chipping down at Eleanor's confidence before she has time to react.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Eleanor doesn't shorten words, and doesn't seem overly familiar with slang either, which means that she more or less talks like a Scrabble board.
- Scars Are Forever: The side of Eleanor's face is heavily scarred from a housefire in her childhood.
- Ship Tease: There are several hints throughout the story that Raymond has feelings for Eleanor and vice-versa. He often sputters when Eleanor mentions having her eye on someone (actually the singer,) she doesn't seem to realize her own jealousy with his relationship with Laura, and overall they form a very close bond over the course of the story.
- Shout-Out: There are several noticeable ones to Jane Eyre, namely Eleanor's foster family the Reeds, Dr Maria Temple's name, and the fire. Eleanor and her sister Marianne's names are also one to Sense and Sensibility. Amusingly enough, both of these novels are brought up at least once, and only in passing.
- Stalker with a Crush: Eleanor uses the singer's (Johnnie Lomond) social media to find out everything she can about him, and manages to track him down to his home. When talking about it to her therapist later, however, she denies this to be "stalking."
- Survivor Guilt: Though the audience is told early in the story that Eleanor was in a housefire as a child, it's later revealed that said housefire killed her younger sister, Marianne, a memory that she had unknowingly repressed. She feels horribly guilty about this, while her therapist reminds Eleanor that Survivor's Guilt is a common and normal reaction to such trauma.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Raymond gives one to Eleanor once she's sobered up and rested from her suicide attempt.Raymond: What the fuck, Eleanor?
- Womanchild: Eleanor's mother psychologically bullies her daughter for her own amusement and has a rather devil-may-care attitude about it. Makes sense, given that the version of her mother that Eleanor talks to is forever 29 and irresponsible.
- Would Hurt a Child: Eleanor's mother, who, prior to the beginning of the story, set her own home on fire with the intention of killing her two young daughters.
