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• Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Pamela Dorman Books/Viking (New York, NY), 2017

1. Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine LCCN 2016057843 Type of material Book Personal name Honeyman, Gail, author. Main title Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine / Gail Honeyman. Published/Produced New York, New York : Pamela Dorman Books/Viking, [2017] Description 327 pages ; 24 cm ISBN 9780735220683 (hardcover) CALL NUMBER PR6108.O55 E43 2017 Copy 1 Request in Jefferson or Adams Building Reading Rooms

• Amazon -

  Gail Honeyman is a graduate of the universities of Glasgow and Oxford. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was short-listed for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress and is Honeyman’s debut novel. She lives in Glasgow, Scotland.

• BookPage - https://bookpage.com/interviews/21625-gail-honeyman#.WjI0_kxFyP8

  August 2017
  Gail Honeyman
  2017's bittersweet breakout debut
  BookPage interview by Cat Acree

  The reading world is in love with curmudgeons—perhaps because we all feel unbearably awkward at times—and Eleanor Oliphant, the lonely heroine of Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, is the latest hit.
  Thirty-year-old Eleanor isn’t concerned with anything outside of her weekly ritual. But sometimes “fine” isn’t good enough, and when a love interest and unexpected friendships cross her path, Eleanor slowly ventures into social interactions and takes tentative steps toward confronting the great pain in her past. Her description of learning to dance the “YMCA” is worth the price of admission alone.
  Brimming with heartbreak and humor, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was shortlisted for the U.K.’s Lucy Cavendish Prize in 2014 and was a hot title at the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair. Rights were sold in 26 countries, and soon after its U.S. publication in May, Reese Witherspoon’s production company, Hello Sunshine, announced plans to bring it to the big screen.
  We asked Honeyman, who lives in Glasgow, Scotland, some questions about her standout debut.
  Did you have any idea that the world would receive Eleanor Oliphant with such open arms?
  Definitely not! As a debut writer, I was managing my expectations for the book very rigorously throughout the process of completing and submitting the manuscript. I still can’t quite believe what’s happened with it—I’m pinching myself!
  What reactions to Eleanor have surprised you the most?
  I’m delighted by how incredibly generous readers have been. When we first meet Eleanor, she’s not, on the surface, a particularly likable character; people have talked about feeling protective toward her, which has been wonderful to hear.
  In Eleanor, you have created a wholly original heroine: She is a social outsider, but she’s doing her best to avoid self-pity. She is—she must be—fine. Where did this determined voice come from?
  I wanted to show that Eleanor is a survivor, that she’s damaged but not broken by what has happened to her. I also thought it was important, if the character was going to work, that Eleanor never displays or experiences self-pity, however distressing her circumstances. I wanted to leave space in the narrative for the reader to draw their own conclusions about her life and her experiences and how she’s responded to them, and hopefully, to empathize with Eleanor as a result.
  At one point, Eleanor says, “Loneliness is the new cancer.” In the way people used to fear saying the word “cancer,” loneliness is often considered embarrassing, even shameful. Why did you decide to write about it?
  The idea for the book was initially sparked by an article I read about loneliness. It included an interview with a young woman who lived alone in a big city, had an apartment and a job, but who said that unless she made a special effort, she would often leave work on a Friday night and not talk to anyone again until Monday morning. That really struck me, because when loneliness is discussed in the media, it’s usually in the context of older people. When I thought more about it, I realized that there were plenty of potential routes to a young person finding themselves in those circumstances, through no fault of their own, and how hard it can be, at any age, to forge meaningful connections. From this, the story and the character of Eleanor slowly began to emerge.
  “People have talked about feeling protective toward [Eleanor], which has been wonderful to hear.”
  Eleanor is aware that love could change her, to help her “rise from the ashes and be reborn.” She sets her sights on local musician Johnnie Lomond, and through the internet and social media, she’s able to believe that love with him is possible. What are your feelings about the false intimacy that can be formed through social media?
  Eleanor’s passion for Johnnie is a crush— I tried to show, in her responses to him, that it’s a very juvenile passion. Although she’s 30 years old, emotionally she seems much younger because of what’s happened to her. I’m not sure about social media more generally, but in the book, it was a very useful way of allowing the reader to see aspects of Johnnie which Eleanor, in the throes of her crush, is oblivious to.
  I would be terrified and delighted to hear Eleanor’s initial impression of me. She’s so eloquent and specific with her harsh judgment. How would Eleanor describe your book?
  That’s a tricky one! Although Eleanor’s directness causes her some problems socially, the first-person narrative allows readers to know that there’s no deliberate intention on her part to offend. It certainly makes life a bit awkward for her sometimes, though!
  Some of my favorite moments of the book are when Eleanor ventures into areas of physical self-improvement, as her descriptions of getting a bikini wax or a manicure had me laughing aloud in public. What was the most fun to write?
  I don’t have a favorite scene but did make myself laugh when I was writing the ones you’ve mentioned, so it’s very reassuring to hear that they made you laugh, too—thank you!
  Eleanor has a spectacular vocabulary and perfect grammar. Has your own speech improved after spending so much time in Eleanor’s head?
  Sadly not, I suspect! I wanted to make Eleanor’s voice a distinctive component of her character, and a big part of that was her unusual and mannered way of articulating her thoughts, both internally and in conversation. In some respects, her speech mannerisms result from her loneliness and lack of social interaction, and unfortunately, they also sometimes serve to reinforce this. As a writer, trying to capture that particular voice was both a challenge and enormous fun.

  ALSO IN BOOKPAGE: Read our review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
  Author photo credit Philippa Gedge Photography UK.
  This article was originally published in the August 2017 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

• Foyles - http://www.foyles.co.uk/Author-Gail-Honeyman

  About The Author
  While Gail Honeyman was writing her debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, it was shortlisted for the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize as a work in progress. It has subsequently sold to almost thirty territories worldwide, and it was chosen as one of the Observer's Debuts of the Year for 2017. Gail was also awarded the Scottish Book Trust's Next Chapter Award in 2014, and has been longlisted for BBC Radio 4's Opening Lines and shortlisted for the Bridport Prize. She lives in Glasgow.
  Gail's endearing heroine, 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.
  Exclusively for Foyles we chatted to Gail about the loneliness of some young adults, the things in life everyone ought to be able to take for granted and the benefits of being in a writers' group.

  Questions & Answers
  How did you get started on this book?
  I’d been thinking about writing for years, but my impending 40th birthday was what finally prompted me to make a start on a novel –that cliched thing where a big birthday makes you focus on things that you haven’t done yet but have always wanted to. Even if I ended up never showing it to anyone and just hiding it away in a drawer, I wanted to find out whether I could complete a novel, manage the shape and the weight of it, and be able to wrangle with a narrative arc over that space, having only ever written short fiction before (which is not to say that short stories are easier to write!).

  What gave you the idea for the book?
  The idea was initially sparked by an article I read about loneliness. It was an interview with a young woman who lived alone in a big city, had a flat and a job, but who said if she didn’t make a special effort, she would leave work on a Friday night and wouldn’t talk to anyone again until Monday morning. That really struck me, because when loneliness is discussed in the media, it’s usually in the context of older people - which is obviously a huge issue - but it was intriguing to think that it could also affect a younger person in this way. When I thought more about it, I realised that there were plenty of potential routes to a young person finding themselves in those circumstances, through no fault of their own, and how hard it can be, at any age, to forge meaningful connections.

  What was your day job at the time?
  I was working full time in an administrative role in a university, so I was writing before work, getting up early in the morning, or spending my lunch break in a café, making notes. It took about two and a half years to finish the first draft.

  There are very specific reasons why Eleanor is living such a lonely life at the start of the book, but your epigraphs from Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City also made me wonder if you think loneliness is on the increase for people generally, as Eleanor herself says, ‘loneliness is the new cancer’?
  I’m not sure. Thankfully, it’s definitely a topic that’s being discussed and considered more, and taken more seriously.

  Some of the scenes are hilarious, such as Eleanor’s first bikini wax. How did you get the balance just right between laughing with her and not at her? Was it partly about allowing her to deliver the best lines?
  That’s a great question! I think the first person narrative helps - seeing the world through her eyes means that you’re experiencing it with her as a participant, almost, rather than just an observer. I also thought it was important that Eleanor doesn’t display or experience self-pity, however awkward or distressing her circumstances. I really wanted to leave space in the narrative for the reader to draw their own conclusions about her life and her experiences and how she’s responded to them, and hopefully, to empathise with Eleanor. It’s hard to laugh at people you feel a connection with.

  In the end it was not social services, nor even really therapy, that started to change things for Eleanor. Do you think the various service-providers could or should have done more or can these formal interventions never replace, say, friendship or meaningful relationships?
  That’s a difficult one – I don’t really think I’m qualified to answer that question. I don’t dwell on the details of her experience in social care in the novel because I didn’t feel it was appropriate for me to try and tell that particular part of her story, not without having done a lot of detailed research beforehand.

  Eleanor heartbreakingly notes that people around her were able to take so much for granted: “that they would be invited to social events, that they would have friends and family to talk to, that they would marry and have children….” Do we take these things too much for granted or is the tragedy that Eleanor cannot?
  Social connections, meaningful relationships, are a fundamental part of the human experience, and, as you pointed out, an important stage on Eleanor’s journey is that she comes to realise this. She also realises that it’s a two-way thing; people can enjoy connecting with her, just as much as she does with them.

  What do you think of the way Eleanor goes about choosing her reading matter? She is very funny describing how to work out who the murderer or the love interest is. Does any part of you agree with her? Presumably you wanted your readers to realise who played the transformative role in your own book long before Eleanor does?
  That’s another really interesting question! Part of the fun of writing this particular character was trying to see the world from a completely different point of view. I made myself laugh quite a lot when I was writing Eleanor for that reason – because she says and does and thinks about things so differently. It was so much fun to try to see the world through this particular character’s eyes.

  Do you think you have to have part of a character in you in order to be able to write them?
  I don’t think so, not necessarily. For me, part of the challenge, one of the things that makes writing interesting, is to push yourself, to explore, to go to places where you haven’t necessarily been. It was great fun as a writer to explore that with Eleanor.

  Would we all be better off if people were actually more direct, like Eleanor?
  That’s a tricky one, isn’t it? Eleanor’s directness causes her some problems, socially – the first person narrative means we as readers know that there’s no deliberate intention on her part to offend, but it does make life a bit tricky sometimes!

  Your book has already garnered some awards, at least one of which was for work in progress. Did that pile on pressure or act as a great incentive during any times of struggle?
  I’d written the first three chapters and entered them for the Lucy Cavendish award [for unpublished writing]. Being shortlisted for that award was a real confidence booster because, particularly in the early stage of the novel and for me as a first time novelist, it’s not easy to be confident and it’s very easy to lose heart, particularly at the 3-chapter stage, so it was great to have the affirmation.

  Did you know where it was going at that point?
  No, I had the ending but I didn’t know how I was going to get there. I know some writers are meticulous plotters and mappers, and that’s probably a more efficient way to write, but I like to know the end point but not necessarily how I’m getting there. That keeps it interesting for me as a writer and allows the characters space to develop.

  Were you in a Writers’ Group?
  Yes. That’s been invaluable, to get feedback, and also you learn a lot from reading other people’s work as well as them reading yours. It’s also nice to talk and socialise with other writers, it’s a bit of a solitary business sometimes so it’s good to have people who can celebrate or commiserate with you. It’s a lovely community of encouraging and supportive people.

  Have you started another novel?
  Yes. I don’t want to say too much about it at this stage but my new novel has a male and a female narrator. Although I loved writing Eleanor, I’m really enjoying working on something so different.

• The Scotland Herald - http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15310498.Meet_the_Scot_who_set_publishing_world_ablaze_with_Glasgow_set_novel_sold_to_Hollywood_for_six_figure_sum/

  26th May
  How Eleanor Oliphant changed a writer's life, and set the publishing world ablaze: an interview with Gail Honeyman
  PHIL MILLER

  Philippa Gedge

  3 comments
  GAIL Honeyman shakes her head, as if to shrug off the shades of a dazzling but unbelievable dream.
  We are meeting in a cafe bar in the west end of Glasgow, where her debut novel, the source of that sense of slight but delighted bewilderment, is also largely set. Her book is entitled Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. It is a moving, funny, and by the end, devastating novel, and also a rare thing: a debut novel from Scotland which pitched the literary world into a kind of delirium. Ms Honeyman, 45, wrote the novel while she worked at Glasgow University - she created it, as many aspiring writers do, in snatched parcels of precious time - in the morning, in the evening, on holiday. But when it was complete, and in the hands of her agent, it ignited the publishing world. "It was a massive shock," she says.

  On the eve of the 2015 Frankfurt Book Fair, the novel was at the centre of a bidding storm for its rights. Eventually Harper Collins bought it, and the rights to a second book, for a 'high six-figure sum' after a "fierce eight-way auction", it was reported. The rights have subsequently been sold to 28 publishers around the world, including a major US deal. And last week it was announced that the Hollywood actress Reese Witherspoon's production company Hello Sunshine had bought the rights to take Eleanor to the big screen, with Witherspoon, it is believed, lined up to play the title character (whether Ms Witherspoon will play the role in a modern Glasgow setting is not yet known.) Ms Witherspoon has yet to call the author, although one suspects that may happen soon. For such a frenzied commercial fight over its rights, one might expect Ms Honeyman's book to be a very commercial, mainstream affair. But, intriguingly, it is not quite that. It is approachable and highly readable, but if its prose is nimble and clear, it is fleet and sure over some shiveringly dark fissures. The story slowly reveals its secrets, and all is not what it seems.
  But the central character and life of Eleanor - socially awkward, extremely lonely, isolated, and physically and mentally scarred - is the heart of the book. Eleanor is an isolated, spiky character. She has no friends. She always wears a jerkin. She leaves her dull office work on a Friday and returns on Monday morning, have usually not spoken to a soul - her pot plant does not count - over a weekend. She uses vodka as a sedative, and lives as if on a frosty, tightly constructed pane of ice above an unexplained chasm of pain. Her internal voice, beautifully created by Honeyman, is pedantic, naive, funny, cutting, and seemingly logical, albeit marbled with ingrained agony. One half of her body is covered with severe scars. She is a remarkable creation. When a shambling but patient and tolerant man, Raymond, enters her life, his kindness ripples through the as yet unplumbed depths of her past and future. By the end of the book those small doses of love and kindness have both revealed the source of Eleanor's pain and also set the character on a path to comparative normality.

  Set, albeit with a light touch, in Glasgow, it is also funny. One can see why publishers leapt at it: the anomie of urban life is captured here, the details of dismal Meal Deals, anaesthetising home measures, Eleanor's resistance to the endless landfill of popular culture, makes it a novel also for our harried, compressed, lonely urban times.
  Honeyman still finds the tidal wave of success, for a book barely published, is a little hard to take in and accept. "I thought it was very specifically Glaswegian story and certainly Scottish story, so when it sold in Korea and Japan...I suppose the city setting does translate to other countries," she notes. We drink tea, Glasgow noisily rumbles outside, and she adds: "Still, talking to you now, it doesn't feel real: but because it is all so hard - it is so difficult to get an agent, to get a publisher, to write and finish a book. I was always managing my expectations very rigorously."

  One day, after her novel attracted an agent, Madeleine Milburn, her mobile phone buzzed. She adds: "I couldn't believe it, and still cannot believe it. I had no expectations whatsoever, because I had to manage them. The fact that there had been an auction in the UK, and then in the US, and then in Germany: I had never in my wildest dreams expected to have that. I was just going to work, and I checked my phone and there was an email about the auction and I wasn't sure how to deal with it. Never in my wildest daydream did I expect that."
  Mainly, the financial success meant she could give up her job, and write full time. So how did she begin this journey? She grew up in 'central Scotland' and studied French language and literature at the University of Glasgow. She went on to study for a PhD at Oxford University, in 19th century French poetry - but as much as she loved the subject (and still does) she realised academia wasn't her calling. After some time working in the civil service, and economic development, she worked in the post graduate administration at Glasgow University. And she began to write the strange but compelling tale of Eleanor Oliphant. "After it was sold, I left my job three months later. So I have been writing full time for over a year now, which is another dream," she says. "My boss knew that I was writing, so was always supportive. They were lovely about it: it wasn't a big dramatic scene. I didn't hate my job." But she had come a long way in a short period of time - she only decided to write the novel five years ago. She says: "It was just before my fortieth birthday. A big birthday like that focusses your mind. It's 'either I give this a go, or I put it in the bin. Because it is annoying me, niggling away.' It is a strange and wonderful thing now to be talking to people about my book."

  Eleanor came to Honeyman after a rumination on a number of issues. Honeyman says: "She sort of appeared to me. I had been thinking about social awkwardness, and about people you meet who are not bad people, there is nothing wrong with them, but they are just a little bit awkward and it makes you feel uncomfortable and it makes you want to bring the encounter to an end. I thought: is there a reason for that? What has contributed to their demeanour?" She adds: "And I was thinking about loneliness as well, I read an article about life in the late 20s - the usual portrayal in sit-coms and films is that life is one big party- but actually life can be challenging at that age. Once I thought about how someone could find themselves in [Eleanor's] situation, it wasn't hard at all to think of why. I understood how she became the way she is."

  Novel writing isn't autobiography, she adds. Eleanor is not Gail Honeyman (although I suspect they share a sense of sharp humour). "There is nothing of me in Eleanor, thank goodness. She is in a bubble, a glass case. And often people talk at the water cooler, or with neighbours and friends, but she doesn't even have those, so she is isolated in the greatest ways and in the most trivial ways too."
  Raymond, in his tousled way, is the gentle but persistent catalyst for change in her life - but not necessarily romantically. She nods and says: "I wanted to show platonic friendship between men and women, because I think it is underutilised in fiction. Raymond is a sweetheart. They see each others flaws very clearly, and they are not dazzled by romantic attraction."
  Indeed the characters in the book are more bound by friendship and decency than by grand passions. It renders Eleanor's story more fragile, and believable. Honeyman says: "I wanted to write about the transformative power of small acts of kindness. An old man falls in the street, you stop and make sure he's OK. Or even smaller acts than that, though - buying someone a cup of coffee, telling them their hair looks nice, sometimes you don't realise the transformative effect on people. I wanted to celebrate that." She adds: "Life is hard sometimes, and those little things help get you through."

• Penguin Random House - https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/content/penguin-random-house-canada/feature/conversation-gail-honeyman

  A Conversation with Gail Honeyman
  Related Books

  May 3, 2017

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  Q: Where did the idea for Eleanor Oliphant come from?
  A: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine started with two related ideas. The first was loneliness, an issue that’s thankfully now starting to receive more attention as we begin to understand more about its often devastating consequences. I remembered reading an article in which a young woman, living in a big city, said that unless she went out of her way to make arrangements in advance, she’d often find herself not speaking to another human being from the time she left work on Friday night until her return to the office on Monday morning, and not by choice.
  I started to wonder how such a situation could come about. When loneliness is discussed, it’s often in the context of the elderly, but I began to think about how it might manifest itself in younger people, and whether the issues might be slightly different for them. Was it harder to talk about, or even to identify, because their loneliness didn’t result from, say, the death of a spouse after decades of marriage, or of becoming housebound due to age-related illness? Did social media have an impact and, if so, was it positive or negative? Was it worse or better to find yourself lonely in a big city rather than in a small town or a village? In the end, it wasn’t difficult to imagine how a young woman with no family nearby could find herself in the situation described in the article; moving to a new city, she might rent a one- bedroom flat or a bedsit, take a job in a small firm where she had nothing in common with her colleagues … narratively, the possibilities began to intrigue me.
  The other strand that helped inform the book was the idea of social awkwardness. Only a few fortunate people are blessed with the ability to make effortless, charming small talk with strangers, and the rest of us just try to muddle along as best we can. However, most people have, at some point, found themselves struggling to maintain a more than usually stilted exchange with someone whose conversation and demeanor, just seem a bit … awkward. It struck me that I’d never given much thought as to whether there might be a reason for this, something that helped to explain that person’s awkwardness. Might there perhaps be something in their background or childhood experiences, some life event that had helped to shape them in this particular way?
  I realized that I wanted to tell a story about someone like this, or, rather, someone who’d ended up like this, living a small life. A lonely person, a slightly awkward person, and someone in whom loneliness and social awkwardness had become entwined and self-perpetuating. I wanted to tell the story of how this had happened to her, and of what happened to her next, and this became the story of Eleanor Oliphant.
  Q: Many of Eleanor’s coworkers know nothing about her. Some of this can be contributed to her reluctance to interact with others, but it largely has to do with her unusual appearance and odd personality. Why do you think we are so hesitant to accept the “other”?
  A: That’s a good question, and a very difficult one. In Eleanor’s specific case, I think that her colleagues, faced with what appears to be extreme and perhaps rather misplaced self-confidence, coupled with an inability to fit in socially and a complete lack of interest in attempting to do so, find her to be quite challenging, and possibly even a slightly threatening character. Of course, the reader can see the difference between who Eleanor really is and how she might appear to others, but unfortunately most of the people she encounters don’t have access to the full picture—her thoughts and feelings and experiences— which could help them understand why she seems to behave in particular, and sometimes quite irritating, ways.
  Q: In the beginning of the story, Eleanor falls in love with a local musician, Johnnie. She believes him to be her soulmate, even though they haven’t actually met. Her relationship with him is completely one-sided, and exists solely online. Romantic idealism isn’t a new concept—but do you think that social media gives it a new platform?
  A: When I was writing about Eleanor and Johnnie, I began thinking about what he might reveal about himself online, either knowingly or, perhaps more interestingly, unknowingly—the tiny background details in photographs, for example. From following Johnnie’s various and frequent social media posts, Eleanor very quickly forms a completely false sense of intimacy with him—a person she’s never met—because she’s able to see where he goes, who he spends time with and, in a matter of days, comes to know a tremendous amount about his life. This provides a lot of narrative possibilities in a compressed time period, which is very useful for a writer.
  Q: Eleanor is so literal but so funny. Though there’s plenty of darkness in her story, she never fails to make us laugh. How did you come up with Eleanor’s inimitable voice?
  A: I’m absolutely delighted to hear that she’s making people laugh! Darker aspects of the story aside, the character of Eleanor Oliphant was so much fun to write, partly because she has no filters and very little self-awareness, and so she often ends up saying things out loud that most of us wouldn’t ever dream of saying. Eleanor is also largely unaware of social conventions, or, when she is aware of them, pays them no heed. Because of all these factors, she looks at other people and at the world—even the most mundane, routine situations and encounters - from a very particular point of view. She’s not much influenced by received ideas or social pressures to conform, and trying to create a character who spoke with that particular voice and had that particular view of the world was such an enjoyable challenge.
  Q: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is your first novel, yet it was already on the short list for the Lucy Cavendish Prize in the UK. How long did it take you to write this novel, how did you feel when you found out it would be published?
  A: It took me around two years to write it—I had a full-time job, so I was writing before or after work, or on weekends when I could. I was completely thrilled when I found out it was going to be published—even now, I’m still pinching myself.
  Q: What is it about the other characters— Raymond, Sam—that finally get Eleanor to open up her life to others?
  A: I think it’s partly a question of timing—when we first meet Eleanor, she has reached a point where something has to give, and these characters come along at exactly the right time in her life. I think it’s also that they’re very non- judgmental; they take Eleanor as they find her, with all her quirks and idiosyncrasies. They’re happy to let her be herself, and, at the same time, are gently trying to help her be the best, happiest version of herself, without ever thinking or implying that what she is at the moment is anything other than completely fine. That’s an important aspect of helping to build her trust, I think. The other thing, perhaps the most important thing, is that they are kind, and their kindness works its own particular magic.
  Q: If there’s one piece of advice you would give to Eleanor, what would it be?
  A: I suppose if I had to suggest anything to Eleanor, it would be that she should keep trying to open up. It’s great that she’s self-sufficient and confident in her abilities, but other people have so much to offer, and she’s been missing out on this. The other thing is that while it’s wonderful to receive help when we need it, it’s also a lovely feeling to be able to give it, knowing that you’ve been useful or made a difference in someone’s life, however small. If Eleanor opened up more and, in so doing, let people in, she’d also be giving them the gift of allowing them to help her—it’s a positive, virtuous circle.
  Q: What are you working on now?
  A: I don’t want to say too much about it at this early stage, but it’s a novel that moves between the 1940s and the present day, with a male and a female protagonist who are related to each other, and it’s set in both London and Scotland. I’ve loved spending time with Eleanor in her world, but I’m really enjoying writing something very different, exploring different voices right now.

• Washington Independent Review of Books - http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/index.php/features/an-interview-with-gail-honeyman

  An Interview with Gail Honeyman
  Adriana Delgado
  August 8, 2017
  The first-time novelist talks loneliness, mental illness, and the transformative power of human kindness.

  In her debut novel, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman dissects the life of a woman in her thirties whose world is filled with trauma and personal challenges. Honeyman brilliantly adds a dose of quirky humor to a potentially extremely dark narrative. In an email interview, the author speaks of her motivation behind the novel’s unusual main character and the exploration of abandonment.
  What writers inspire you?
  I love contemporary fiction, but I also read a lot of 19th-century fiction, particularly fiction written by and about women, and I had that in mind when I was writing Eleanor Oliphant — the idea of a strong, independent heroine with a distinct personality and a complicated history.
  Where did the idea to tackle such complex topics like we see in this novel come from?
  The idea initially came from an article I read about loneliness. It included an interview with a young professional woman in her late twenties who lived alone in a big city and said that she'd often leave work on a Friday night and not speak to anyone again until Monday morning. I was struck by this — when loneliness is discussed, it's usually in the context of older people. Thinking about it more, I realized that there were plenty of potential routes to a younger person finding themselves living that life through no fault of their own, and also how hard it can be, at any age, to create meaningful connections. From this, the story and the character of Eleanor began to emerge.

  From the beginning, the reader is set up to, in a way, dismiss Eleanor’s emotional state due to the title of the book, which we soon find is a misnomer. Why is Eleanor in such denial?
  Narratively, we encounter the character of Eleanor at a point in her life when things really do have to change. The catalysts are quite small events in the end, but at this stage in her life, having endured some very challenging experiences in her past, the fact that she has not fully addressed or come to terms with them makes the idea of her being able to maintain some kind of status quo seem untenable.
  When we first meet Eleanor, she struggles with social and emotional-development skills. Do you feel that this is apt commentary on the millennial generation?
  I don't think so, no. I wasn't looking to generalize or draw conclusions about Eleanor's generation — she has had a very specific set of experiences, many of which are traumatic. As a result, she has learned how to survive but not how to live, and this is also reflected in her social and emotional development.

  Raymond and Sammy are the first friendships for Eleanor, but initially she resists becoming too close. Is it because of her social anxiety or actual fear?
  I think, for Eleanor, it is about self-protection. If she doesn't let people in, they won't be able to hurt her. But, by the same token, they won't be able to help her, either. Opening up, taking that leap, is something that she has to learn to do over the course of the novel. Relationships [and] friendships are a fundamental part of the human experience, and it was important that Eleanor come to realize this.

  If you could sit down with Eleanor and tell her anything, what would you say to her?
  You matter.
  Mental illness is a controversial topic in the United States; people still battle with the stigmas of being “crazy” or “damaged goods.” What are you hoping will stay with readers after they've finished this book?
  This is an important and complex issue, but what I wanted to highlight in the book was simply the importance of kindness, to show that we often have no idea of the burdens the people around us are shouldering, and that the smallest acts — tiny, everyday kindnesses — can be completely transformative for the right person at the right time.
  How did you find balance between humor and tragedy in the plot?
  I was trying to create realistic characters and lives, and so humor and tragedy both had to be present. Even in the most trying times, people will still find things to laugh about (albeit the humor can be very dark sometimes). That said, I didn't ever want the reader to laugh at Eleanor — the first-person narrative means we can see that there's no deliberate intention to offend when she sometimes speaks or behaves in challenging ways. I also tried to ensure that Eleanor was never self-pitying, however distressing the circumstances, so that there was space for the reader to draw their own conclusions about Eleanor and, hopefully, to empathize with her.
  [Photo by Philippa Gedge Photography.]
  [Editor's note: Click here to read the Independent's recent review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.]
  Adriana Delgado is a freelance journalist whose reviews of independent and foreign films have appeared in Cineaction magazine, on Artfilmfile.com, and elsewhere. She also works as an editorial news assistant for the Palm Beach Daily News (aka, “the Shiny Sheet”) and contributes to Library Journal.

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Bridget Thoreson
113.14 (Mar. 15, 2017): p18.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.
By Gail Honeyman.
May 2017. 336p. Viking/Pamela Dorman, $26 (9780735220683).

Move over, Ove (in Fredrik Backman's A Man Called Ove, 2014)--there's a new curmudgeon to love. Thirty-year-old Eleanor Oliphant leads a highly predictable life, working at an office, eating the same meals alone in her apartment, and spending her weekends regularly administering vodka (she usually goes without speaking to another human from the time she bids farewell to the bus driver on Friday until she greets another one on Monday). She is, as she regularly tells herself, fine. But when a chance encounter with a local musician sends her reeling into the throes of a full-fledged crush, her carefully constructed world breaks open. Soon she is embarking on a self-improvement program from the outside in, complete with shopping trips, manicure, makeup, and attempts at hairstyling. The real changes, however, are slowly taking place within, as she develops a friendship with a man from work and eventually learns the wonderful rewards that come to those who open their hearts. Walking in Eleanor's practical black Velero shoes is delightfully amusing, her prudish observations leavened with a privately puckish humor. But readers will also be drawn in by her tragic backstory, which slowly reveals how she came to be so entirely Eleanor. Witty, charming, and heartwarming, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a remarkable debut about a singular woman. Readers will cheer Eleanor as she confronts her dark past and turns to a brighter future. Feel good without feeling smarmy.--Bridget Thoreson
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Thoreson, Bridget. "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2017, p. 18. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490998409/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=adee4b7d. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A490998409

Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Beth Andersen
142.3 (Feb. 15, 2017): p78.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.libraryjournal.com/
Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. Pamela Dorman: Viking. May 2017.336p. ISBN 9780735220683. $26; ebk. ISBN 9780735220706. F
Eleanor Oliphant, the friendless 29-year-old finance clerk in a small Scottish graphics design firm, feels safest in the cocoon of strict routines both at work and at home. Unfazed by office gossip about her peculiarities (she acknowledges that her coworkers have a point), Eleanor's careful firewalls start to crack. She simultaneously develops a crush on a bar musician and is reluctantly drawn into a tentative friendship with Raymond, the new IT guy, and with Sammy, an older man whose life she and Raymond save. Without a shred of self-pity and lacking nearly all social skills (but willing to learn them) owing to her shocking, savage past, Eleanor is unaware of her ability to charm and inspire those who want to help her and those who grow to care for her. VERDICT Honeyman's exquisite, heartbreaking, funny, and irresistible novel brings to life a character so original and pitch-perfect that it is nearly impossible to believe this is a debut. Surprises abound as the author boldly turns literary expectations upside down and gives to her readers Eleanor Oliphant, who, yes, is completely, beautifully fine. [See Prepub Alert, 11/14/16.]--Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI
Andersen, Beth
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Andersen, Beth. "Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." Library Journal, 15 Feb. 2017, p. 78. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A481649073/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f1e35ed2. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A481649073

Honeyman, Gail: ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE

(Feb. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Honeyman, Gail ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE Pamela Dorman/Viking (Adult Fiction) $26.00 5, 9 ISBN: 978-0-7352-2068-3
A very funny novel about the survivor of a childhood trauma.At 29, Eleanor Oliphant has built an utterly solitary life that almost works. During the week, she toils in an office--don't inquire further; in almost eight years no one has--and from Friday to Monday she makes the time go by with pizza and booze. Enlivening this spare existence is a constant inner monologue that is cranky, hilarious, deadpan, and irresistible. Eleanor Oliphant has something to say about everything. Riding the train, she comments on the automated announcements: "I wondered at whom these pearls of wisdom were aimed; some passing extraterrestrial, perhaps, or a yak herder from Ulan Bator who had trekked across the steppes, sailed the North Sea, and found himself on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service with literally no prior experience of mechanized transport to call upon." Eleanor herself might as well be from Ulan Bator--she's never had a manicure or a haircut, worn high heels, had anyone visit her apartment, or even had a friend. After a mysterious event in her childhood that left half her face badly scarred, she was raised in foster care, spent her college years in an abusive relationship, and is now, as the title states, perfectly fine. Her extreme social awkwardness has made her the butt of nasty jokes among her colleagues, which don't seem to bother her much, though one notices she is stockpiling painkillers and becoming increasingly obsessed with an unrealistic crush on a local musician. Eleanor's life begins to change when Raymond, a goofy guy from the IT department, takes her for a potential friend, not a freak of nature. As if he were luring a feral animal from its hiding place with a bit of cheese, he gradually brings Eleanor out of her shell. Then it turns out that shell was serving a purpose. Honeyman's endearing debut is part comic novel, part emotional thriller, and part love story.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Honeyman, Gail: ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479234640/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=466625c5. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A479234640

Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

April Sanders
63.10 (Oct. 2017): p117+.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
HONEYMAN, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. 336p. Viking/Pamela Dorman Bks. Mav 2017. Tr $26. ISBN 9780735220683.
Office worker Eleanor adheres to a strict routine that has insulated her from the memories of her traumatic childhood but has not shielded her from loneliness. But after she meets Raymond, she attempts to rediscover her memories and in the process learns how relationships (including those with friends, lovers, and colleagues) operate and that other people can be a source of joy rather than destruction. Readers may find Eleanor odd at first but will feel compassion and root for her as she grapples with severe depression and her painful childhood. Though the novel deals with dark themes, quirky Eleanor's firm bond with Raymond and their adventures lighten the tone. Teens will be spellbound as Eleanor unravels the mystery of her past and develops a sense of self. VERDICT For those seeking a dramatic page-turner combined with a whimsical love story.--April Sanders, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL

Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Sanders, April. "Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." School Library Journal, Oct. 2017, p. 117+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507950858/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=99913c19. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A507950858

Thoreson, Bridget. "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." Booklist, 15 Mar. 2017, p. 18. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490998409/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=adee4b7d. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017. Andersen, Beth. "Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." Library Journal, 15 Feb. 2017, p. 78. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A481649073/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f1e35ed2. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017. "Honeyman, Gail: ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479234640/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=466625c5. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017. Sanders, April. "Honeyman, Gail. Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." School Library Journal, Oct. 2017, p. 117+. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507950858/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=99913c19. Accessed 14 Dec. 2017.

• The National
  https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/book-review-gail-honeyman-s-latest-is-a-story-of-isolation-1.58355
  Word count: 505

  Book review: Gail Honeyman’s latest is a story of isolation
  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is absolutely brilliant at depicting and describing loneliness.

  Ben East
  May 23, 2017
  Updated: May 23, 2017 04:00 AM
  0
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  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Courtesy HarperCollins UK
  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
  Gail Honeyman
  HarperCollins
  Dh73, from Amazon.com
  Sometimes, a novel introduces a character so believable, so moving and so original that there is a feeling of real loss when you turn the final page.
  I reread the ending of Gail Honeyman’s wonderful debut several times, just to spend a few more minutes in the upsetting, yet uplifting orbit of Eleanor Oliphant.
  She will make you laugh, cry, recoil in embarrassment and reassess your own relationships – sometimes all within the same paragraph. We meet Oliphant, 30, in her office, describing her prosaic working week and her lunch of supermarket-meal-deal sandwiches, which she eats alone. She is a socially awkward, slightly dowdy character who is the subject of unkind gossip. Her ordered, matter-of-fact tone is so strange – it makes the reader also feel that there must be something wrong with her.
  And then there is this crushing line about Oliphant’s conversations with a pot plant in her flat, where she lives alone: “When the silence and aloneness press down and around me, crushing me, carving me like ice, I need to speak aloud sometimes, if only for proof of life.”
  Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is absolutely brilliant at depicting and describing loneliness. It slowly becomes clear that Oliphant’s odd behaviour and demeanour is a coping mechanism. Her mother tells her once a week she is useless, the one partner she had was violently abusive and she spent time in care. So there is no one for her to bounce off, no one to give her meaningful experiences.
  Until, that is, she assists a man who has collapsed in the street, with the help of a scruffy IT assistant called Raymond. It’s not as if Oliphant needs saving by a man, as such – she just needs to know somebody is looking out for her. Bubbling along underneath all this is the mystery of her isolation, which is connected with a scar running down her face. It might sound clichéd that the terrible childhood truth she has hidden comes out during a counselling session, but it feels realistic in this context.
  Well before then, you will be in Oliphant’s corner. There is a moment where she plucks up the courage for a haircut makeover.
  When she finally sees herself in the mirror, a tear runs down the side of her nose as she tells the hairdresser: “Thank you for making me shiny.”
  This novel is an object lesson that if we stop to think, we can all make someone feel that way.

  • Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is out now

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