I loved this book. After plenty of mediocre reads and then the heaviness of Gone to Soldiers, Eleanor Oliphant was a welcome change.
Written with a unique voice that reminded me of Ove (or more recently, Britt-Marie) in all the best ways, and with plenty of hilarity, this has been one of my favorite books all year.
Eleanor Oliphant is...different. She struggles in social settings (such as the office, or making a purchase in a shop) and has her life plotted out precisely, from her Wednesday evening chats with her (institutionalized) Mummy to knowing exactly how much vodka to sip through the weekend so that she is never completely drunk nor completely sober. Of course, the reader learns rather early that Eleanor's life has considered of hardships and harder knocks, doled out at regular intervals, so such oddities help her cope.
Two events turn her life upside down, though. First, she has met the love of her life, a musician she saw at a gig, and whose name she learned on the internet, whom she must woo and marry. She also meets Raymond, the new IT guy in whose presence she is when Sammy, an elderly man falls on his way home and she and Raymond rescue. In rescuing and then befriending Sammy, Eleanor begins to see beyond her narrow routines and current life experience into what life is like for others...and could be for her.
Five stars.
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