13 Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine Book Club Questions
Looking for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine book club questions for your next reading group meeting? Here are 15 thought-provoking discussion questions to get the conversation started!
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is a popular contemporary novel by Gail Honeyman. A smash-hit bestseller, it follows the quirky and unusual main character, Eleanor.
Eleanor is set in her ways: she’s a stickler for routine, blunt, and brutally honest. But when she meets the singer of a local band, she believes she is destined to marry him and begins a quest to make it happen.
It’s a powerful and sweet story about friendship, loneliness, trauma, and kindness. Painful and lovely in equal measure, it’s interesting to watch Eleanor trying to find her place in the world.
If this is your latest book club pick, here are a few book club questions for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine to fire up the discussion!
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine Book Club Questions
The character of Eleanor has a distinctive voice. She’s opinionated, headstrong, and has little time for niceties. She’s also very blunt, especially when describing uncomfortable topics (for example, when she describes how her colleagues see her). She’s an interesting mixture of stubborn and vulnerable.
What did you think of Eleanor’s character at the start of the story? Did you sympathise with her to begin with?
Eleanor has some interesting things to say about beautiful people: ‘I feel sorry for beautiful people. Beauty, from the moment you possess it, is already slipping away, ephemeral. That must be difficult. Always having to prove that there’s more to you …’ she ultimately decides not to judge people based on their looks, especially as she has to deal with people staring at her scars.
Do you think Eleanor really believes that beautiful people have a tough time in life? What do you think about her views on beauty?
Eleanor makes regular phone calls to her mother, which are not easy to deal with, and she feels a responsibility to maintain a relationship with her mother despite how she is treated.
Her mother makes it clear: ‘You wouldn’t understand, of course, but the bond between a mother and a child, it’s … how best to describe it … unbreakable.’
What did you think of Eleanor’s relationship with her mother at the beginning?
When Eleanor helps to rescue an elderly man, Sammy Thorn, she has no idea her actions are about to break her out of her comfort zone. Sammy helps to create a bond between Eleanor and her new colleague, Raymond.
They slowly start to get to know each other, with Raymond being more patient with Eleanor than her other colleagues.
What did you think of Eleanor’s relationship with Raymond? What do you think happens to them after the story ends?
Eleanor becomes fixated with the lead singer of a band, Johnnie Lomond. She decides that she is husband material and begins planning her life with him (before he even knows she exists).
What drives Eleanor’s need to find a partner, and why do you think she fixated on Johnnie in particular?
There are several moments in the book where Eleanor comes across as abrasive and difficult (for example, her exchange with the bartender at the pub!).
Social situations are complicated for Eleanor, and she often can’t pick up on social cues in the same way her colleagues and acquaintances can.
How did you find it as a reader to witness these awkward moments? Do you admire her for saying how she feels?
Eleanor insists that she is completely fine, but it quickly becomes obvious that she’s not. The reader picks up on this far earlier than Eleanor herself, making her a kind of unreliable narrator.
Did you think this was done well? Did you trust Eleanor as a narrator, or did you think that there were some big truths to find out later in the book?
Now we’re getting into true spoiler territory, so avoid the next question if you haven’t read it yet.
At the end of the book, we find out that a huge part of the story has been playing out in Eleanor’s mind. We, the readers, were led to believe that those events were happening in real life, so it’s a big twist.
Did you see this twist coming? If you did, when did the pieces of the story start to click into place for you?
Eleanor starts to heal as the book goes on, dropping some of her more rigid routines and incorporating new activities into her life.
What do you think the biggest factor was in Eleanor making positive changes? Was it meeting Raymond, giving up her weekend vodka, the cat, or something else?
At the end of the book, Eleanor hits a terrible low point. She locks herself away in her flat and goes on a drinking binge, but Raymond comes to check on her. Her recovery is gradual, but she is supported by others along the way.
How do you think it would have ended if Raymond hadn’t made friends with Eleanor? What do you think this book has to say about loneliness?
Small acts of kindness keep Eleanor afloat: sometimes they even baffle her, with seemingly obvious words from Raymond (‘you deserve nice things’) almost startling her.
With almost everyone else treating her as an outcast, having anyone do nice things for Eleanor is what helps to keep her alive in the end.
What was the lasting impression that this book gave you about kindness and the way we judge others?
Eleanor goes through a huge amount of trauma as a child, but she sums it up like this: ‘”In the end, what matters is this: I survived.” I gave him a very small smile. “I survived, Raymond!” I said, knowing I was both lucky and unlucky, and grateful for it.’
What did you think of Eleanor’s attitude to her past trauma at the end of the book? How do you think she grew as a character?
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine has sold over 2.5 million copies at the time of writing. It was an incredibly popular book when it launched in 2017.
Why do you think it is such a popular book? Did you enjoy it? Were there elements of the story that you didn’t like?
Hopefully, these book club questions for Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine will help to get the conversation started!
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