Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine

 Author: Gail Honeyman

Loved reading this book! 

Eleanor will strike most as an odd woman. Everything in her life is calculated, scheduled and organized. She has never taken a day off from her work. She does not talk to anybody unless she needs to - which doesn't happen often. That means after she goes home from work on Fridays she spends close to 72 hours without having spoken to anybody. She has never eaten a pizza except from the supermarket. There is good reason behind all of this.

All that is about to change as she bumps across Raymond, the IT guy at work and at the same time has a crush on a local singer. The latter, while not very productive in itself, motivates her to go out of her comfort zone and also talk to Raymond on things not related to work. As she ventures into areas which she hasn't explored before - like getting a new hairstyle or using a personal shopping assistant to select an outfit that suits her the most - she discovers new things. She finds out that she too can get compliments. That it feels good to get compliments. That she too can be a source of information and people are coming to her to ask where she got her hair done. 

On the other hand without realizing she's fostering a friendship with Raymond. It all starts when they both save Sammy, an elderly gentleman. As their relationship develops, there are so many emotions that she experiences for the first time and it makes her realize what she was missing in her life.

Everything was going well when suddenly her world falls apart. But there is much to learn there as well.

At every step Eleanor's willingness to change and learn is so inspiring! The book is full of good humor. After the first few pages itself, you can figure out that the book is written by a British author. The language is so beautiful and expressive. A good break from the conversational English that abounds in books these days.