Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Eileen

i liked this i think? i enjoyed reading it and it only took me two days even though i usually can't get through slow paced books with little engaging plot lines. i liked eileen in the sense that it was interesting to see things from her point of view. obviously she is very flawed but some of her hangups were relatable to me. the ending got spoiled for me before reading but i do think you should know beforehand that the big stuff doesn't happen until the very end.

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hannahlouise_'s review

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dark mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

not my favourite moshfegh book but a dark, intense read and i was genuinely surprised at points. definitely preferred to death in her hands but nowhere near myorar at least to me

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bookishgoob's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

An older Eileen details her last few days in her home town as a 24 year old.

Sometimes disgusting and outrightly human, Eileen delved deep into the mind of a woman of the 1960’s. It makes you think “can I admit these things about myself when i’m alone?” The way that Eileen willingly admits that she has an obsession with bowel movements, the way that she looks at the teenage boys in the prison while maintaining that she isn’t a pedophile, and her unhealthy obsession with Randy is something so wrong that it is actually right. It’s these deep thoughts that some people have that they will never ever admit. the way she fantasizes about dying, and even killing her father may make you think she is actively insane; but are these not things we think about often? Thinking of how the people around us would react if we disappeared. How we would feel if our parents who abused us just one day dropped dead? I don’t necessarily think Eileen is “unhinged”, we as a culture just don’t view “femininity” to be anything more or less than dainty, submissive, cutesy, quiet, and agreeable. Eileen is none of those things and because of that, the mind automatically jumps to her being unhinged. I feel like this story really encapsulated the human experience and the human brain when we’re left alone. completely. It explores the idea “are these feelings platonic or romantic” when it comes to your first same sex crush. I’m not sure if she really knew or ever figured it out, but it’s something i myself and many other people have gone through. Feeling as though we’d do anything for this person to like us a little bit more, trust us, need us, WANT us. It’s an ostracizing feeling. The way that Eileen was so easily manipulated by Rachel set off alarm bells in my brain. Eileen is so perfectly an adultified person. Someone who was a victim of emotional incest in her youth. forced to be her parents caretakers when she was still learning how to care for herself. The fact that she is so “vulgar” and “disgusting” is so scarily the way an adult who was a victim of adultification would act.

The plot twist was so mind boggling. I thought for sure I had figured out what the plot twist was going to be, but i didn’t and that was exciting. Eileen was such a complicated and real person. An unreliable narrator at its best. I don’t think i’ll ever revisit this book, though. It left me feeling the way requiem for a dream (2000) did. It was off putting, nausea inducing, and downright uncomfortable. The fat shaming/fat phobia really sucked to read, but it was also very telling of Eileen’s no filter personality. The way that she looked at others is no doubt how her parents saw others and forced her to have that same rhetoric as they forced her to care for them. It’s seen especially in the way that Eileen talks about herself, and how near the end she talks about her mom buying her clothes a size too small so she would try and fit normal into those clothes. This book details so greatly the effect that adultification abuse has on children as they turn into adults. The inability to form long lasting, healthy, and real relationships. The inability to decipher right from wrong. The way that they see the world. It’s scary how well it was depicted. Eileen was a really great read. Slow at first, it doesn’t truly pick up until the last chapter “Christmas Eve” but, the foreshadowing is so incredibly important that even though it was slow paced, it had a reason to be slow paced. The pacing wasn’t an issue like it is in other slow paced books. I really enjoyed this read, but I feel like i have to go cleanse my brain to feel normal again.

Triggers: Child Abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, pedophilic thoughts, confinement, fat phobia, death, death of a parent, vomit, feces, incest, murder, suicidal thoughts, homicidal thoughts, miscarriage, toxic friendship, toxic family, abuse, alcoholism, drug use, graphic descriptions of bodily functions (bowel movements, sweat, masturbation, menstruation, not washing hands after the bathroom, etc)

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toffishay's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Eileen is such a unique main character. She is horrible and interesting and lonely and sad and I couldn't stop following her. I do wish that the third act happened a little sooner and that we could have followed Eileen more after the action. And the end really did shock me! I really enjoyed this book, it is my favorite so far of Moshfegh's work.

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dealingwithdragons's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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hanreadin's review

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Loveable characters? No

4.0

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scarlettreadsbooks's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

My first book of 2022 was Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh! ✨🤍

In 1962, Eileen is a young, twenty something girl, who cares for her unwell, abusive, alcoholic father and works as a secretary in a young boy’s prison. Her mundane life seems to change once she meets Rebecca. Told from Eileen’s perspective 50 years in the future, we find out the events leading up to her disappearance from the town where she grew up.

This is Ottessa’s debut novel and my first book of hers that I’ve read. I’ve got to say I was slightly disappointed with Eileen. I enjoyed the writing style, and the questionable morals of the characters. However, I felt it became rather repetitious, and for a book that is only 260 pages, it became a bit of a slog to finish.

Most of the action happens in the last 70 pages, which I flew through. If you’re a lover of a slow burn, this one’s for you.

I would also like to mention that you definitely need to check the trigger warnings on this, which range from alcoholism, death, incest, child abuse, and sexual assault.

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