4.2 Stars
I wanted this to be a 5-star read so badly but sadly I just can’t give it that knowing how the ending left me more confused and frustrated. Maybe I should read it a 2nd time to be able to put together the strings better for myself but I don’t think that should be a requirement for understanding the ending of any story. 
As soon as we are introduced to our main protagonist I knew I was going to absolutely love her, Eleanor is oblivious to say the very least but when push comes to shove she has good intentions and is just doing the best she can. While a lot of what she does and think at the beginning of the book is rather ignorant, like judging people based on their look and if she considers them attractive or not, we get to learn more about her past and why she thinks and acts in the way she does while also coming to some huge realizations for herself and becoming a much more kind and thoughtful individual. In the last few chapters, I felt so proud of her and like I was reading about a real person! Because many times it felt like a memoir! 
Eleanor felt so real thru the book because she is real, she reflects the sad, lonely, and hurt versions of ourselves we push down. The parts of us we don't want to think about because we don't like how it makes us feel about ourselves.

On other points, her coworker Reymond is hands down the best character in the book, trustworthy, kind, and nonjudgemental. He's everything Eleanor isn't at the start and somehow they work together so well! Their interactions were my absolute favorite part and the relationship they form is something truly wonderful. Many times I wondered if the author was going to give us a romance arc with them but I'm glad that they didn't but instead left it up to us readers of what their relationship was in the end. 

This book got the feeling of loneliness spot on. I got knocked so many times throughout it with how strongly I could relate to Eleanor. When she talks about how after being left alone for long enough that becomes your 'normal', how it feels safer to be alone than let anyone in for fear of letting them down or worse being left behind and alone again. That hit me like a truck full of sand.
Such an incredibly powerful story.  

Now, we can't talk about this book without mentioning the main cause of everything Eleanor goes through. Her mother. 
Manipulation, shame, guilt, gaslighting and so so much more from this horrible woman. You understand pretty quickly that Eleanor's mom isn't good for her, she speaks to her only once a week, always on Wednesdays, and when they do talk it is mostly just to degrade Eleanor and remind her that she is a lonely, bad and good for nothing person.
Their conversations were truly horrible but also interesting since we got a sense of why Eleanor is so hard on others and herself. She was the puppet on strings, someone her mother wanted the control of. 
After every new conversation, It felt like I was given another price to the pussel of Eleanor Oliphant, it was addictive! 
And their conversations seemed to build up to some huge climax that eventually came when Eleanor finally cut the cord and ended their relationship for good! 

Imagine my surprise then when it was revealed in the last chapter that none of that was true! Her mother was dead and had been for many years. 
Eleanor had made up all their conversations for herself, pretending that her mom was still alive and talking to her. 
This was something I didn't see coming but I was fearing. 
I could tell pretty early on that Eleanor was repressing a lot from her childhood since she seemed to not remember anything. I predicted that either she had lost a baby or she had had a younger sibling that her mom took away from her. 
The latter was true. 
That felt believable, all the clues were there, and went for a very satisfying ending when Eleanor admitted to it in therapy. 

That her mom was dead and had died as well in the fire makes little to no sense to me. First of all, why put that in the LAST chapter and give it nothing more than that? Eleanor barely notes it, the story literary bats it away as nothing! And Eleanor says her self that "she doesn't know why she pretend her mom was still talking to her" She seemed weirdly calm about this which I find quite frustrating. 
Second of all, in the second to last chapter Eleanor gives herself a good look in the mirror and tells herself that she has been unfairly judgemental to many people and that she has been in the wrong but also at the same time says that it was her mother's fault because she isn't like that, "the 'true' Eleanor doesn't think awful things about people around her." To me, this felt like making up an excuse for all the things Eleanor has thought or said to just be swept under the rug and blame it on her mom who we now know is dead and hasn't had any influence on her since she was 10!  

I'm sorry but the ending just left a really sour taste in my mouth, Eleanor's mom was such a huge part of the story and the ending to it just felt rushed and not satisfying on any level.

Would I still recommend this book? Yes, 100%. Just because the ending wasn't up my alley I still enjoyed 90% of the book :) 
I think it touches upon subjects that are very important and it highlights how important connection, kindness, and mental health are.