Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine

Raymond is the new IT technician at Eleanor’s workplace, and Eleanor critiques his unkempt appearance and casual demeanor. Raymond pursues friendship with Eleanor, however, and shows her a new way of relating to the world. Eleanor watches Raymond interact with people like his mother and Sammy, and she observes his generosity, humor, and openness with confusion and curiosity. Raymond’s generosity is showcased all the more when he comes to find Eleanor at her apartment in the middle of her suicide attempt. He cleans her apartment, buys her food and a balloon, and encourages her to seek help for her mental health. Eleanor is astounded at Raymond’s lack of judgment and genuine care for her, and she later thanks him, saying, “‘You saved my life’” (303). With his constancy and compassion, Raymond shows Eleanor the character of a true friend. 

Eleanor dreads the weekly phone calls from her imprisoned mother, whom she calls Mummy. During these phone calls, Mummy is erratic, paranoid, and insulting to Eleanor. For example, she calls Eleanor “‘a pointless waste of human tissue’” (178). She also encourages Eleanor’s “project” researching Johnnie Lomond so that she can have a son-in-law. Eleanor shares that her mother lived all over the world, engaged in daring exploits, and fed her gourmet food as a child. However, Mummy also protected herself from inquisitive authority figures and threatened her daughter so much that Eleanor is scared to speak about her in confidence with her therapist. 

Over time, Eleanor realizes how abusive and neglectful her mother was and that the way she raised her daughter inflicted serious damage. Once Eleanor remembers that Mummy deliberately set their house on fire with Eleanor and her sister, Marianne, inside, Eleanor realizes her Mummy is a monster. Eleanor then reveals her mother has been dead since the fire and that the weekly phone calls were Eleanor’s invention, a prolonged manifestation of her childhood trauma. 

Johnnie Lomond is the handsome frontman of a local band called Pilgrim Pioneers. At his concert, Eleanor takes an immediate liking to the musician and begins a long series of preparations in order to meet him and start a romance. The story’s brief glimpses of the singer often come through his tweets, which are crass and self-absorbed, although Eleanor does not see them this way. When Eleanor finally stands in the front row at Lomond’s farewell show with Pilgrim Pioneers, she realizes how little she knows about him and that her crush is childish. He exposes his bare buttocks to the crowd, and she also realizes he is “an arse” (225). Later, the Pilgrim Pioneers have a hit song in America and Lomond is furious about his contentious split from the band. 

Eleanor is sent to Dr. Temple’s office for talk therapy after her suicide attempt. She initially judges Dr. Temple for her keychain-laden handbag and gold shoes: “I’d come across the type before. Ms. Temple was ‘fun’” (241). Dr. Temple is quick to outsmart Eleanor during therapy, however, as she maneuvers past Eleanor’s defensiveness and stonewalling. Through compassionate listening and making space for Eleanor’s emotions, Dr. Temple helps Eleanor heal from the wounds of her past and make a new start.