Book · 2017
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine
by Gail Honeyman
A socially isolated office worker who talks to no one and drinks alone every weekend gets pulled into an unlikely friendship that saves her life.
What does Reddit think of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine?
557 mentions, and 555 of them sit in r/suggestmeabook; this is a book with almost no footprint outside general fiction spaces, one mention apiece in r/Fantasy and r/printSF. The count has drifted down since 2019's 104 to a low of 62 in 2023 before ticking back up to 72 in 2025. The recurring correction in the threads is about genre: one comment (↑379) flags that despite an ending "that certainly leaves the door open for romance," the book itself is "about friendship," not a love story wearing a friendship's clothes. That reframing shows up again in a comparison to She's Come Undone (↑112), another book about a woman mocked for how she looks and lives. Not everyone is hooked immediately. One reader (↑91) admits to "waiting for the story to pick up," and only sticking with it because the characters earned enough investment that the slow pace stopped mattering.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · isolation and the habits that mask loneliness
- · friendship mistaken for a romance plot
- · a slow start that pays off through character
Common praise
- + One reader corrects the record on genre, insisting the book is fundamentally about friendship even though the ending gestures at romance (↑379).
- + A comparison to She's Come Undone (↑112) puts it in company with other books centered on women mocked for their appearance and habits.
- + A reader who admits the plot is slow says the characters earned enough investment that the pacing stopped mattering (↑91).
Common criticism
- − At least one reader had to push through a slow start, waiting for the plot to "pick up" before it clicked (↑91).
- − It has essentially no presence outside r/suggestmeabook, just one mention each in r/Fantasy and r/printSF against 555 there, so it hasn't found genre crossover readers.
- − Overall mentions have declined from 104 in 2019 to the 60s through the early 2020s, only partially recovering to 72 by 2025.
Who it's for
This is for readers who want a character study more than a plot engine. If you liked She's Come Undone (↑112), the overlap in subject matter, a woman written off for how she looks and lives, is exact. Go in expecting the friendship arc to matter more than any romance the ending gestures toward, and give it time if the opening feels slow; readers who stuck around say the payoff is in the characters, not a twist.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I just finished {{Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine}}, and while the end certainly leaves the door open for romance between two of the MCs (and I like to think they'll get together), I really appreciated that the story itself is about friendship. In fact, a huge theme of the story is that a fairyt…
“{{Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine}}
“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
“"Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine" is about a lonely girl who isn't exactly beautiful. I think this may be your book. "She's come undone" is about a girl who is ridiculed for her weight and sends love letters with her long-distance boyfriend.
“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine.
“Sounds like she would enjoy Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine. Check out the synopsis.
“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine for me. I kept waiting for the story to pick up but at a certain point I just cared about the characters enough that it didn’t matter.
“Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
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What else does r/suggestmeabook read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Project Hail Mary
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A high-school teacher wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there and one job left: save Earth.
Circe
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All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries)
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A security robot hacks its own governor module, gains free will, and spends its days streaming soap operas instead of killing anyone.
East of Eden
John Steinbeck
Two families retrace Cain and Abel across three generations in California's Salinas Valley, and one brother begs God to make him good.
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.
The Martian
Andy Weir
A botanist gets left for dead on Mars and has to grow food on a planet that wants him gone, one duct-taped fix at a time.
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine — frequently asked
Is Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine a romance novel?+
Not primarily, according to Reddit. One highly upvoted comment (↑379) notes the ending "leaves the door open for romance" but insists the book itself is "about friendship," calling that the real theme. Readers push back specifically on marketing or assumptions that frame it as a love story.
Does Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine start slow?+
For at least one reader, yes. A comment (↑91) admits "waiting for the story to pick up" for a stretch, but says the characters earned enough investment that the slow pace stopped mattering by the end. It's the closest thing to a structural criticism in the sample.
What books are similar to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine?+
She's Come Undone gets named as a direct comparison (↑112), both centered on women who are mocked for their appearance and isolation. Beyond that, the book's 555 r/suggestmeabook mentions rarely pair it with other specific titles, suggesting Reddit treats it as fairly distinct.
Is Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine still popular on Reddit?+
Mentions have cooled since a 2019 peak of 104, bottoming at 62 in 2023 before recovering to 72 in 2025, out of 557 total. It hasn't disappeared, but the trend is flatter and lower than its early visibility, concentrated almost entirely in r/suggestmeabook's 555 mentions.