Eleanor Oliphant is unusual compared to most people. She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. She has an unusual appearance and a tendency to live life completely practically, letting her set a carefully planned timetable life of avoiding social interactions and weekends filled with frozen pizza, vodka and lots of sleep.
However, all that changes when she meets Raymond, the somewhat bumbling new IT guy at her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become friends. Although Eleanor is ill-at-ease initially, Raymond's persistence and big heart eventually help Eleanor find the way to repair her own damaged life.
Eleanor is a quirky heroine. At first, she's a bit difficult to understand, although I appreciated her straightforward way of looking at things and could appreciate some of her direct approach to everyday life. However, it's apparent that she is lonely, and because you get her perspective throughout the entire book, you are experiencing things as she does, widening your perspectives as she does. It's a great way to tell a story and really make her a sympathetic and fascinating character. The way that the layers of her life become peeled back so slowly really make this a compelling read. She has a lot of secrets and ways that she has developed over the years to cope with those secrets, loss and hurts that she has experienced, and as those carefully constructed layers start to come apart, she's so vulnerable that it made me want to reach out (through?) and give her a hug. Reading this story is like watching some kind of unusual flower grow, bud and unfold and it's an extremely rewarding read. I also feel this is a great book to pair with Eggshells by Catriona Lally.
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