Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (2017) 325 pages

Getting to know Eleanor Oliphant is a bit tough; I wasn't sure whether I would like her or not. She is 30 years old and works in the financial office at a small design company. Her strong opinions, unappealing clothing, and a large scar on her face are off-putting to some, and she feels friendless and unliked. As the story develops, her first-person narration is precious: her dry, factual manner of dealing with life is quite pithy. When she decides to set her sights on a local musician whom she's never met, everything changes. When she's also compelled to interact with Raymond, the IT guy at her company, her horizons expand. But what is the secret in her past that she has been hiding?

This book has been on my radar for a long time. I was not disappointed.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: a Novel

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: a Novel / Gail Honeyman, 327 pp.

Thanks so much to Kara for reviewing this; her praise was well deserved.  Novels told from the point of view of characters who may or may not be 'on the spectrum' are trendy; Honeyman has taken the concept and worked it into something surprisingly fresh.  Eleanor's voice is funny but believable, and Honeyman never takes the quirks to extremes.  And yes, as Kara points out, any astute fiction reader can guess that completely fine means its opposite. (And who would read a novel about someone who was completely fine, anyway?)

Eleanor's progress from 'not fine' to 'on the mend' involves Raymond, the new IT guy at her office, and Sammy, an elderly man they meet while waiting for the bus.  While aspects of the plot are not totally original, Eleanor's voice certainly is, and the psychology feels true.  Recommended.

Every Night I Dream of Hell

Every Night I Dream of Hell by Malcolm Mackay, 291 pages.

I read the Glasgow trilogy last year, and they were very good. Apparently, Mackay has continued writing and is still doing a good job of it. There's been a book between this one and The Sudden Arrival of Violence, but the criminal organization that Peter Jamieson and John Young had run before they went to prison is still in disarray. Jamieson himself calls Nate Colgan, a brutal man who used to be an independent, and asks him to take over security for what remains of the organization. Colgan doesn't like the idea, but feels that his choices are limited. As with the other Mackay novels, Every Night is a grim book, with violent unhappy characters, that is, nevertheless, a fast-paced, well-written, and captivating novel. Mackay is a very good writer, and his latest book is the equal to any he's written. Fans of hard-boiled crime novels will enjoy. Reminiscent in tone of the Richard Stark novels featuring Parker.