Rhi's Reviews > Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

** spoiler alert ** 2.5 stars- but I seem to be in the minority on this novel, the majority seem to love it. I will say: I listened to this on audio and the narrator was absolutely fantastic. I don’t believe I would have imagined the accents had I read it myself, so it really brought the characters alive for me. Especially Raymond.

My issues are mostly with Eleanor’s character. She experienced multiple traumas throughout her life, including a physically and emotionally abusive mother until the age of 10. However, her narrative voice just felt... disjointed. Was she childlike? Was she fractured? Was she schizophrenic? Was she all three? If she was schizophrenic- how does she just decide not to be after, I assume, 20 years of conversations with her ‘mummy’.

The final reveal of her traumatic story was emotional and I did cry- so I’m not suggesting this was a novel without heart. It just didn’t quite hit the mark with me.