Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Very readable and engaging, surprisingly dark. I enjoyed the portrayal of the counselling/therapy and found it realistic. Autism is never mentioned in this book, yet the main charactor Eleanor certainly has recognisable autistic traits, particularly literal thinking, alexithymia, and preference for routine. Yet I found this portrayal to verge on stereotypical tropes at times, and what behaviours were trauma and what was neurodivergence were very blurred sometimes. This might not be an issue in itself except for the fact that when Eleanor was shown to recover from trauma, some of her autistic behaviours were written away and she began to camouflage more and try to “fit in”. This was depicted as a good thing, a sign she was healing getting better, like the autistic traits were a sign of ill-health. So yeah, didn't feel comfortable on that one. But I did like the depiction of the slow and gradual building of connection, gradual trust, interest and opening up after trauma. That was very real and beautiful.