Eleanor Oliphant is completely finE by gail honeyman

This month's book was 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' by Gail Honeyman (2017) and with one quite strong voice of dissent it was a firm thumbs up, one member saying "now that's what I call a story".

Most of us had read this award-winning book before but enjoyed re-reading it. In fact two of us had read it with the Library Book Group back in 2018 and although we remembered the characters and vaguely remembered the story, we were nonetheless still surprised by elements of the plot - even the 'big plot twist'... which either says something about our memories or Honeyman's ability to draw us into the story and immerse us so well that we engaged with it again on an emotional level.

It's a sad, but heartwarming tale with some seriously laugh-out-loud moments. However, our solo dissenter just didn't like the tone that was used by the narrator at the beginning of the book: "it felt unkind" and at Eleanor's expense.

Those of us who continued reading it loved how the characters of Eleanor and Raymond evolved and were so well drawn - not so much through lengthy descriptions but by how they acted. Nobody at the start of the story thought they'd really like Eleanor by the end - but we did.

Eleanor epitomised the loneliness many of us sometimes feel; her deep childhood trauma has locked her away inside herself, feeling alone even when she is surrounded by people, and seeing her blossom from small everyday kindnesses was a joy.

Raymond's kindness teaches us not to judge a book by its scruffy, stained cover, and the main message of the story seems to be to let people into your life however hard it feels, and if you let other people like you, you might just start to like yourself. (Although therapy helps). It's okay not to be okay.