Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Eleanor Oliphant is bizarre and responds to people with such a black and white obliviousness that she's rude and misunderstood. She's also deeply lonely and doesn't realize it. She lives each day with order and repetition that includes minimal contact with other people, vodka, frozen pizza, and her mundane office job. Then the order of her life gets thrown off track when she meets new IT guy, Raymond, and his warmth and gentleness show Eleanor how much friendship and love are missing from her life. She begins to slowly reveal her childhood trauma and the lingering effects of a desolate upbringing. Eleanor starts off as a pitiful, sad character, but painfully develops into a likeable oddball who braves the deluge of emotions locked away to create a better, completely fine life. Eleanor was so hard to read at first, and I thought I would dislike this book right away. Honeyman has clearly mastered character development, and it's a sweet read up until the last word.