Books: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Loneliness is topical. This year the government accepted a series of recommendations from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness and strategies have been devised to combat loneliness. Olivia Laing’s 2017 non-fiction work The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone was widely read and positively reviewed. A quote from the latter is used as an epigraph for Honeyman’s Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, a novel about a woman who has sealed herself in her own private world.

The eponymous narrator of the novel is a fine creation. She works in an anonymous office job, has no friends, consumes unhealthy amounts of strong liquor at home, and is content to pass through life without making any impression. She is blunt, judgemental, formal in her dealings with other people, and has idiosyncratic ideas about what constitutes proper behaviour. There are hints of an abusive relationship and a troubled childhood; she has burn scars on her face. Her one connection is provided by phone conversations with Mummy, a caustic, belittling woman who has a massive negative effect on Eleanor’s life.

There is sadness but humour too. Comedy comes from Eleanor’s attempts to negotiate the routine — office politics, bikini waxing, supermarkets, a manicure — and with an infatuation with a small-time musician. However, I think the comedy is only partly successful. The crux of the novel comes with a chance event that forces Eleanor to make meaningful contact with two other characters, Raymond (the IT guy from her work) and Sammy (an older man who collapses in the street), after which her social network expands. Without wanting to spoil the novel, this propels her towards revelation, disaster, change.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is an undemanding novel that edges towards meaningfulness in places. I asked myself two questions while reading the book. Can a character, possibly with autism spectrum disorder, convincingly move from trauma, emotional deprivation, and isolation to a fulfilling life and interaction with other people in 400 pages? And how would that affect her distinctive character, humour, and outlook?

• © British Journal of General Practice 2018