An Illustration of Verisimilitude

An Illustration of Verisimilitude by Warren Bull

One of the things that set extraordinary writing apart from really good writing is the quality of resembling reality.  When the particular reality portrayed is both complicated and rarely don well, it is well worth celebrating. The book I want to celebrate is the first novel by a woman who decided to try to write seriously at age 40 and wrote the novel while working full-time

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman has garnered critical acclaim.  Among other achievements, the book has been a number on New York Times Bestseller, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick and the winner of the 2017 Costa First Novel Award. 

I spent 30 years as a clinical psychologist so the description of the book did not encourage my interest. I have seen the results of enough trauma and experienced enough second-hand brutality that voluntarily reading fiction about those things holds little appeal.

However, my wife asked me questions about the characters in the book as she read it, which caught my interest. I started not expecting to stay with the story, but I got caught up in the story. Like any number of my clients, the heroine, Eleanor Oliphant, lives in her understated, but ultimately remarkably brave way. She has no idea that her restricted life is actually the result of surviving what would have crushed most people. She is not completely fine, but she is doing as well as she can without awareness that she has the capacity to thrive. 

As a therapist, knowing how quickly clients can blame themselves for any shortcoming – even imagined ones – one of my consistent challenges was to convey the message that you are managing in the very best way you know how and you can learn to do even better.

Eleanor is not a victim. She is every inch a survivor, which is totally different. To function she had to shut down much of her life due to severe trauma. She is realistically shown as an adult woman whose emotional development stopped at age ten.  Her understanding of social situations and human interaction is at a ten-year-old level.  She is well aware that others have values and expectations that they comprehend but she does not.  She has developed rituals that calm and protect her, not knowing how much she is frozen in place by them.

The author does not preach a love conquers all mythology. What chips away at Eleanor’s immobility is a non-romantic friendship with Raymond. He is willing to accept that she is troubled and odd, without judging her.

While Eleanor disrespects her own intelligence and appearance, Raymond does not. Although she believes co-workers hate her, she underestimates how much they value her work ethic and effectiveness. Her boss who she sees as distant and uncaring recognizes her contribution to his business and, like Raymond sees in her what she does not see in herself.

Without a compass, Eleanor starts her journey of emotional maturation acting at times like a pre-teen and then a teenager. I recognized her feeling not suicidal but believing it would be a small matter if she dies. I also heard echoes of my past clients when she reaches milestones that most of us take for granted such as having a “pal,’ having someone to eat lunch with, and feeling the kindness of family members toward each other. 

I like the interaction between Eleanor and her therapist Eleanor discounts her problems and resists reviewing hurtful memories. Her therapist waits patiently without demands or judgment.   Appropriately, it is Eleanor who does the hard work of therapy. 

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine is one of the very best books I have ever read about trauma from the point of view of a trauma survivor. This is truly a remarkable work.