Reviews tagging 'Drug abuse'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

18 reviews

alisha247's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

devilconcrete's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Eileen is a truly abhorrent human being. Throughout the book she is almost nothing but perverted, hating, homophobic, and misguided. That behind said, I loved this book. The writing style is smooth and vivid, and both pulls you into the moment of the story yet feels like someone sitting down and recalling it for you. There are so many individual dark but beautiful lines in this. The writing really kept me going, if it was written with even a sliver less quality I would have taken this deplorable book and burned it. It has the gritty details and thoughts worth hiding that make it seem terribly terribly real. All the most prominent characters are just as terrible. But they all feel like people. 
Horrendous cast of characters with wretched thoughts and wretched actions.

Reading this book and observing these characters was like pulling entertainment from footage of a trainwreck. But I couldn't bring myself out of it. Riveting. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kermitluver69's review

dark reflective 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

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Child abuse, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder

dealingwithdragons's review

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Vomit, Addiction, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Murder, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Religious bigotry, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Violence, Torture, Animal death, Alcohol, Blood, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Excrement, Fatphobia, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, and Sexual content

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Pregnancy, Terminal illness, and Abortion

paigebkenny's review

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, and Self harm

Moderate: Rape

panderson's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent

hadleym12's review

dark 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

Moshfegh creates a really interesting character in Eileen, most compelling is the wavering reliability of Eileen’s present self as she discusses a story of the past. Eileen as a narrator presents self-awareness and objectivity as she tells a story of her past that she has since grown from, but through the continued narration, as the intensity increases, the reader is able to question how much Eileen has really changed from her disturbed, sheltered, 24 year old self. I personally find stories which delve into complications of reliability in their narrators to be so compelling, and I was pleased with this one. However, the story does take a bit to pick up, and I did find the end to be a bit predictable once it did. Ultimately, though the plot wasn’t as intriguing to me as advertised, I did find this to be an enjoyable twisted little story

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Incest, Eating disorder, and Drug abuse

jourdanicus's review

challenging dark funny slow-paced

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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Incest

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Blood, Confinement, Drug abuse, Excrement, Fatphobia, Gore, Grief, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Terminal illness