Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine cover art

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

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About this listen

Over 3 million copies sold

‘Funny, touching and unpredictable’ Jojo Moyes

‘Heartwrenching and wonderful’ Nina Stibbe

Winner of Costa First Novel Award, a No.1 Sunday Times bestseller and the National Book Awards Book of the Year

One of the Sunday Times' 100 bestselling books of the past 50 years

Winner of the Audie award for Best Fiction Audiobook 2018

Eleanor Oliphant has learned how to survive – but not how to live

Eleanor Oliphant leads a simple life. She wears the same clothes to work every day, eats the same meal deal for lunch every day and buys the same two bottles of vodka to drink every weekend.

Eleanor Oliphant is happy. Nothing is missing from her carefully timetabled life. Except, sometimes, everything.

One simple act of kindness is about to shatter the walls Eleanor has built around herself. Now she must learn how to navigate the world that everyone else seems to take for granted – while searching for the courage to face the dark corners she’s avoided all her life.

Change can be good. Change can be bad. But surely any change is better than… fine?

‘Heartwrenching and wonderful’ Nina Stibbe

‘Deft, compassionate and moving’ Paula McLain

‘I adored it. Skilled, perceptive, Eleanor's world will feel familiar to you from the very first page. An outstanding debut!’ Joanna Cannon

©2017 Gail Honeyman; Extract of The Lonely City (2016) by Olivia Laing reproduced by permission from Canongate Books Ltd. (P)2017 HarperCollins Publishers Limited Coming of Age Dark Humour Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Mental Health Awareness Funny Heartfelt Inspiring Tear-jerking Thought-Provoking Witty Feel-Good Comedy

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This is a great debut novel from a mature author and which goes to prove that it is never too late to start your writing career. Eleanor is a character we could all probably recognise. She is the office misfit who shows no interest in joining in with the general gossip and chitchat and whose appearance is functional rather than attractive. Like many similar people she has disappeared into the background and is only noticed when she retaliates after being mocked. Despite her isolation Eleanor is no shrinking violet and we quickly learn from her excessive weekend drinking habits that there is something seriously wrong in her life.
This is the story of Eleanor’s reawakening and from it we learn the importance of human interaction which is the food and drink of everybody’s soul. The development of Eleanor’s relationship with the office nice guy /slob is a joyous awakening to the possibility of a better life. This is a splendid story filled with laughter and love but also the damage that one evil person can wreak on innocent people.
At times it is a difficult listen and the excellent narrator delivers some very hard emotional punches but it all adds up into a tale of hope and a lesson to make us value our friends, colleagues and the whole darned world (including the cats).

Viva Eleanor!

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This is where the content of the book, and the reader, just come together beautifully. I was totally enthralled, and the book holds you right to the end. The book has a lovely beat to the story...like the waves of the sea, bringing in different parts of a harrowing story, giving you time to think about it, before being engulfed with another wave of information. Beautiful.

Beautiful and charming book

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There are books that grab your attention. There are books that make you laugh out loud and/or reduce you to tears. There are books that you never want to end. There are books that will live with you for the rest of your life. There are books that make you re-examine how you deal with the people you meet along life's journey. There are books that you tell everyone you know about. There are books that live up to all of the publisher's hype. There are book characters that you really wish you could meet in real life.

This book fits every one of those statements and Eleanor Oliphant is, for me, one of fiction's ultimate everyday, unsung heroes. A brilliant creation and one that leaves a lasting impression. Every character, male and female, is a gem of nuanced characterisation and the plot is entirely believable, heart- lifting and heartbreaking.

Marks out of 10? Impossible to give it less than 10, I wish I could give it more. This book may well have entered my top 10 'uplit' reads and I'm sure I will read/listen to it more than once.

Beautifully narrated and the bonus material at the end was a nice surprise.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Amazing

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I have left a review before but this book deserves one. The writing is sublime, the vocabulary a delight and the characters are so artfully portrayed I feel I know them. Eleanor's story is laugh out loud funny and yet so touching it brings tears to your eyes. The style reminds me of early Marian Keyes whereby the protagonist is so human you love them like a friend. Wonderfully ready by the narrator to boot. If you do nothing else this year read this book! I'm off to buy a shopper!!!

What a joy!

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Eleanor as a character was intriguing and very believable. I found myself thinking about the story when I wasn't able to listen and turned back to listen on whenever I could.

The story kept me interested throughout and I liked all the characters apart from 'mummy' of course.

Well read too. One of the best books I've listened too in ages.

Brilliant

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Great storyline, great narration. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Highly recommend you give it a listen/read.

Brilliant

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One of those books I’m unlikely to forget.
The commentary, frequently so well observed, and the over-whelming sense of being alone...all those things so easy for so many and yet alien to others - yep this one’s well worth time listening to.
A novel that will, I hope, make me open my eyes a little wider to really see those around me.

Lovely - will stay with me for a long time

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A great read. Clever psychological profile of characters. Kept me engaged to the very end

Great listening

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Fantastic narration of a bitter sweet story. Humour and tragedy at its perfect best. Loved Eleanor and her turn of phrase and every character depicted. Just fab.

Perfect

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Wow, this will be one tough act to follow. I listened to this after a very strong recommendation, completely different to anything I would normally choose, different time period, different subject matter. I was instantly hooked by the story, and I totally fell in love with the main character. Beautifully narrated, really made the story come alive. Only one problem for me was that it ended, I would love to know what happens to Eleanor in the future. Absolutely superb book.

Best book for a very very long time

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