Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine |
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How can her mother be dead if she is calling Eleanor every week? The answer is that Eleanor has been imagining those calls from her mother. That's the big reveal of the story, and the result of all those sessions with Maria. Why Eleanor had a sister with almost the same name as her psychiatrist is confusing and unexplained.
Eleanor gets better by refusing to talk to her mother anymore, in those imaginary phone calls. She's better! All conflict resolved! Just like that.
Raymond, her platonic boyfriend, is there to support her with a hug. If the book had gone on for another 700 or 800 pages you get the feeling he might have worked up the courage to squeeze one of her boobs. Or maybe not.
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(This really is a summary of the entire book. Nothing else happened.)
Literary Criticism:
This book had such a promising beginning. When I read how Eleanor weighed her breasts, and had the kinky v_gina shaving session, I thought this might be a cute, funny book. But it went all downhill from there as for 300 pages we are treated to the smallest, most mundane experiences in Eleanor's life as she shops for food, crosses the street, feeds the cat, etc.
The basic story, that Eleanor is f'ed up and the reader has to wade through 300 pages of shopping at Tesco to figure out why, simply isn't worth it. The exposition of Eleanor's predicament is simply too pedestrian, too boring.
There is zero conflict in this book. There is zero excitement in this book. If not for the v_gina-shaving pages, this book might well have been written for third graders, given the emotional and intellectual development of the main character. Even the title "Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" makes this feel like a book for school kids (if not for the v_gina shaving scene).
Raymond's character was especially irritating. He was basically acting like a supportive girlfriend, not a boyfriend.
There's nothing redeeming about this extremely boring book. Even by the standards of most works of literature, which are bad, this book is especially terrible. I'm sure it will get a million top rated reviews on Amazon.
