59 pages • 1 hour read
Gail HoneymanEleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2017A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 13-16Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 13 Summary
On the bus to work, Eleanor reflects on her poor night of sleep, during which she read Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. On a bus seat she finds an advertisement in the paper for a show featuring Johnnie Lomond’s band. She decides to buy a fashionable outfit after work for the concert. Johnnie tweets, “‘Get your fat backsides down to Cuttings tonight, mofos’” (117). Earlier that week, Eleanor bought a card with a hare on the front and inscribed it with Emily Dickinson’s poem, “Wild Nights! Wild Nights!.”
After work, Eleanor visits a department store. A sales associate named Claire selects a fashionable black top and black jeans for her. Claire questions Eleanor’s current shoes and recommends a pair of booties to pair with her new outfit. She sends Eleanor to the Bobbi Brown makeup counter for a free makeover. The good-natured makeup artist applies concealer to Eleanor’s scars and smoky eyeshadow to her eyes. Eleanor jokes that she looks like a raccoon but is pleased with the result.
Chapter 14 Summary
Eleanor eats a quick, distasteful dinner at McDonald’s for the first time. She reflects on the poor food quality at the restaurant, including her sandwich of fried fish and cheese, and the counterintuitively large crowd.
At the concert venue, Eleanor nearly cries when she learns Johnnie’s show is sold out. The man at the ticket counter tells her that the band is no good and that the singer was unkind to him, a comment that goes over Eleanor’s head. She buys a drink at the bar and studies the bartender’s tattoos. He asks if she has any, and Eleanor considers getting one for the first time. She leaves, checking Twitter to find the singer complaining that “‘my stuff is a wee bit too challenging’” for the crowd (127).
Chapter 15 Summary
The next morning, Eleanor visits her local convenience store to buy food and two bottles of vodka. The owner Mr. Dewan declines to sell her the vodka since it’s illegal to buy alcohol in Glasgow before ten in the morning. Eleanor leaves, confused, and considers how the alcohol helps her sleep rather than feeds an addiction. She also says that without vodka, she hears her Mummy’s voice in her ear as well as a smaller one that says, “Eleanor, please help me, Eleanor…over and over and over again” (130). She decides to buy the vodka and other materials at her favorite grocery store, Tesco Extra.
Chapter 16 Summary
At Tesco, Eleanor runs into Johnnie Lomond. Feeling unprepared to approach him at this early hour, and without her new outfit and greeting card, Eleanor follows the singer. She positions herself in the checkout line behind him, thrilled to see inside his shopping cart. She notices he doesn’t have a Tesco Club Card and tweets a recommendation to him after he leaves the store: “@eloliph: ‘A Tesco Club Card is a thing of beauty and a joy forever. You should DEFINITELY sign up for one. A Concerned Friend xx’” (133). Johnnie tweets back, assuming Eleanor’s Tweet was guerilla marketing and comparing the intrusion to “‘living in a police state, yo #hungover #leavemealone #fightthepower’” (133).
Chapters 13-16 Analysis
Eleanor falls deeper into her “project” as she continues transforming for the sake of winning Johnnie Lomond. After her makeover, she compares herself to other people and to animals and doesn’t seem to see herself as attractive. These aesthetic changes prompt her to consider other changes, such as a tattoo; Eleanor is growing accustomed to trying new things.
Honeyman keeps Johnnie Lomond’s true nature front and center for the reader. The man at the ticket booth calls the singer a “‘bit of an arsehole’” (124), though Eleanor misunderstands the comment. Johnnie’s tweets confirm the man’s comments, as he criticizes his fans and responds to Eleanor’s tweet with surliness and sarcasm. As Eleanor’s hope builds more and more, Honeyman provides more and more information to suggest that meeting Johnnie Lomond will dash Eleanor’s hopes to the uttermost.
Chapter 15 sees Eleanor denying another weak spot in her life: her alcohol dependency. She reasons, “If I were chemically and psychologically addicted to alcohol, I’d ensure I had a ready supply to hand at all times, buying in bulk and stockpiling” (129). Eleanor reveals that drinking helps her cope with troubled thoughts. Something mysterious is disturbing Eleanor when she lets her guard down, a force she identifies as a small voice that begs her for help.
