Reviews tagging 'Adult/minor relationship'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

82 reviews

ankiaisreading's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Fatphobia, Medical content, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Grief, Confinement, Drug use, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Body shaming, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Stalking, Torture, Incest, Kidnapping, Miscarriage, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Alcoholism, and Vomit

iamawesome2's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Eating disorder, Incest, Domestic abuse, Mental illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Body shaming

leyfreoo's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Sexual violence

jnestwd's review

dark mysterious reflective sad medium-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

5.0

Well, Ottessa, you are "quite a gal!"

No one manages to simultaneously repulse and intrigue me quite like Ottessa Moshfegh. When I read her work, I know I'm about to be thoroughly disturbed and I am here. for. IT.

Eileen did not disappoint. The story of Eileen Dunlop's miserable life spent living with her emotional (and at times, physically) abusive, alcoholic father and working at the local Boys Prison was exactly as uncomfortable as I've come to expect from Moshfegh's work.

Moshfegh somehow manages to get right under your skin and touch nerves you never thought existed. Reading Eileen move through life selfishly and disgustingly (intentionally ripping clothes in a store, wiping her dirty mouth on scarves for sale, touching herself and then shaking hands with someone before washing them... that sort of thing) somehow had me absolutely hooked and I could not put the book down before finding out whether or not Eileen managed to find happiness or not.

Ottessa's work is not for the faint of heart.

Often the reviews are scathing of the body horror and grotesque descriptions.

But that is part of the magic in my opinion.

I read Ottessa Moshfegh when I want to be disturbed. And she never ever fails to disappoint!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Eating disorder, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Gun violence, Body horror, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, and Sexual assault

darkivist's review

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Alcoholism, and Addiction

Moderate: Rape and Death of parent

hannaheinhorn's review

dark mysterious 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

2.75

i have mixed feelings about this book. i imagine i’ll like the movie more. eileen is a horrible character, and i’m not sure ottessa moshfegh wrote her in a way that was ethical. for example, eileen has tendencies that some would say are fully pedophilic. she is also fatphobic, which stood out to me a lot, as mrs. polk’s fatness seems to be used as a symbol for cowardice in eileen’s head. her own thinness is thought to redeem her. some parts of eileen are extremely relatable, but others aren’t. i don’t think all virginal 24 year olds drool over young boys. 

there is also the fact that nothing happened in the book until the last 20% of it. i could have just read THAT part and been satisfied. literally the several page fucking soliloquy after THAT part was so useless.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Vomit, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Gaslighting

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Eating disorder, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Forced institutionalization, Incest, and Kidnapping

Minor: Racism, Ableism, Blood, Sexual harassment, Classism, Gun violence, Police brutality, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

kayleighoneillonwheels's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Rape, and Adult/minor relationship

amsswim's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense 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

4.25

I'm not sure really what to say about this. I enjoyed it. This is the second book by the author Ottessa Moshfegh I have read, the other being 'My Year of Rest and Relaxation', and just as that one this book is just unhinged. I think this one may be more based in reality but still gave me the feeling of unsettlement. If you like weird things this may be for you. 

I am now very interested in watching the movie they made recently based on this starring Anne Hathaway.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Sexual assault, Excrement, Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Terminal illness, Violence, Domestic abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Sexual violence, Physical abuse, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Rape, Addiction, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Bullying, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Incest, Dementia, Vomit, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Cursing, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Animal death, Eating disorder, Gun violence, and Homophobia

Minor: Child abuse, Miscarriage, and Car accident

amharless417's review

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Rape, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Violence, Physical abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Murder, Incest, Child abuse, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Gun violence

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-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

4.0

i liked this a lot more than i thought i would! as usual, i loved moshfegh’s writing style and style of storytelling. i think she laid out the setting very well. once again, she utilized an unlikable character as her protagonist, but this one was much easier to “put up with,” so to say, compared to the protagonist in mcglue. there was this minute feeling of boredom i felt throughout the entire novel, and i caught my mind drifting every once in a while. though that seems to be a trend with moshfegh’s novels due to how she likes to dwell on certain things, similar to the “violet prose” style often seen in classics. the ending was kind of disappointing as well? though i’m not sure what i expected or what could’ve been done differently for me to feel satisfied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Vomit, Eating disorder, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Murder, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis