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nyah_lou's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Violence, Suicidal thoughts, Stalking, Vomit, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Incest, Excrement, Death of parent, and Child abuse
whataliciaisreading's review
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
My third and least favourite Mosfegh novel. I usually really like character driven texts, but I found this quite repetitive and slow. The introduction of Rebecca piqued my interest but it slowly lost its pace again until the final action which I did enjoy but not enough to redeem the entire reading experience. Mosfegh’s writing style is as brilliant as ever but, in terms of story and character, it is clear that this novel predates MYORAR.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism
Moderate: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence
paulakhance's review
dark
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.5
Slow story, good characters
Content Warnings
Moderate: Alcoholism, Rape, Incest, and Death of parent
finnthehuman217's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
That shit was not what I was expecting!!!! The main character being a repressed queer woman is just so important bc Eileen’s obsession with stalking A guy who doesn’t even know she exists is insane!!!! And then she meets this woman who she realizes she is in love with. It’s beautiful but only until the woman she’s in love with is as crazy as her that she snaps out of her crazy and is like ohhh this is what crazy looks like
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Body shaming, and Alcoholism
ana_h's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Alcoholism, Murder, Toxic friendship, and Vomit
Moderate: Death of parent
rottenpixiee's review
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is a wild ride. The beginning is an introduction about this troubled woman Eileen. She starts as a flat, monotonous woman whose life only consists of taking care of her drunk father and working at the Boys Prison. Then she meets Rebecca, a beautiful and enchanting woman, who is the newest employee.
She thinks she has found friendship. As she describes her feelings towards Rebecca, it becomes clear how “pathetic” Eileen was. Due to the trauma she’s endured, she’s codependent on Rebecca. She recalls so many feelings of longing for friendship. In a twist, Rebecca pulls Eileen into a crime of which she is now complicit. Eileen’s’ complicity in this crime takes her imagination farther than she thought. This is a perfect winter read for those who like myster, thriller, and uneasy female narrators/characters.
I’ve come to appreciate Otessa Moshfegh’s writing. It is concise and smooth. One of my criticisms of her, is her persistent need to write her characters with a disdain for overweight people. It’s something I picked up on especially in this book, My Year of Rest & Relaxtion (which was interesting to say the least, not in a good way), and Homesick For Another World. Sometimes the writing can be a bit pretentious and too many adjectives make it so the sentence drags on. Almost like typing random words so you can reach the word count type of thing. Other than all of that, it’s still a 5 star read for me.
She thinks she has found friendship. As she describes her feelings towards Rebecca, it becomes clear how “pathetic” Eileen was. Due to the trauma she’s endured, she’s codependent on Rebecca. She recalls so many feelings of longing for friendship. In a twist, Rebecca pulls Eileen into a crime of which she is now complicit. Eileen’s’ complicity in this crime takes her imagination farther than she thought. This is a perfect winter read for those who like myster, thriller, and uneasy female narrators/characters.
I’ve come to appreciate Otessa Moshfegh’s writing. It is concise and smooth. One of my criticisms of her, is her persistent need to write her characters with a disdain for overweight people. It’s something I picked up on especially in this book, My Year of Rest & Relaxtion (which was interesting to say the least, not in a good way), and Homesick For Another World. Sometimes the writing can be a bit pretentious and too many adjectives make it so the sentence drags on. Almost like typing random words so you can reach the word count type of thing. Other than all of that, it’s still a 5 star read for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Eating disorder, Rape, and Alcoholism
azk's review
dark
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
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder, Alcoholism, Child abuse, and Body shaming
miriam_mal's review
I read about 70% of Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh before DNF’ing and I just…needed to process my thoughts. (SPOILERS BELOW)
Before I get into it I guess it’s only fair to say this: I had an impression of what Ottessa Moshfegh’s books were like and stayed away for a long time bc it’s really just not my cuppa Joe. I think the only thing that compelled me to check out Eileen was that there’s a movie coming out, and I thought it was a murder mystery, or thriller maybe. Knew there was a murder involved.
Since I am interested in how people write, like in a mechanical, technical sense, I thought I’d give it a go. Wish I hadn’t. While I think she writes vividly, going back and forth from memory to current day pretty smoothly, praising someone’s form can only go so far.
Eileen as a character is a repressed mid-20s woman, super isolated and emotionally abused who feels trapped in her situation. She’s self destructive, body-obsessed, and I saw another review call her “psychosexual”, a term I’d never heard before but which seems apt. Like she’s repulsed by her own body, hardly showers, hardly eats, drinks with her dad, their house is in utter squalor, and then when she does encounter other people she hyper sexualizes them to the extreme, and weaponizes their appearances against herself to confirm her own shortcomings. there are passages that say I preferred the struggle, the problem, because it emphasized her own misery to herself, sort of validated her victimhood and struggle.
Definitely some grim descriptions not for the faint of heart or if you’re in a tough place mentally.
Character definitely in a horrible place in life and lacks the gumption to pull herself together enough to look after herself, and is so horrified by her own physical being. Jarring read to say the least, and not a nice place to linger mentally. Again it was for that reason I expected not to like it.
Definitely some grim descriptions not for the faint of heart or if you’re in a tough place mentally.
Character definitely in a horrible place in life and lacks the gumption to pull herself together enough to look after herself, and is so horrified by her own physical being. Jarring read to say the least, and not a nice place to linger mentally. Again it was for that reason I expected not to like it.
I couldn’t help but think if the character were male and the book was popular, being made into a movie with a major Hollywood actor in a leading role, the reception would be so wildly different.
There seems to be a movement or trend currently of books written about womanhood that are just carnal, or “irreverent” is a word I come across a lot when talking about these books, but I just can’t get past how unhealthy the behaviour is. I’m not really sure what the appeal is in having characters have no boundaries or discipline and just allowing themselves to be utterly derailed by their intrusive thoughts. Its just gross. I understand that our own internal monologues are not always clean or kind but I’m of the opinion that overindulging these tendancies is more self destructive than anything (both for a reader and a writer).
There seems to be a movement or trend currently of books written about womanhood that are just carnal, or “irreverent” is a word I come across a lot when talking about these books, but I just can’t get past how unhealthy the behaviour is. I’m not really sure what the appeal is in having characters have no boundaries or discipline and just allowing themselves to be utterly derailed by their intrusive thoughts. Its just gross. I understand that our own internal monologues are not always clean or kind but I’m of the opinion that overindulging these tendancies is more self destructive than anything (both for a reader and a writer).
I added content warnings and put them all as graphic, not that they're all super vivid but just discussed constantly. So anyone looking to avoid these topics really should steer clear of this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Self harm, Stalking, Suicidal thoughts, Body horror, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Death of parent, Addiction, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Rape, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
bibliomich's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Eileen is one of those reads that you're (probably) either going to absolutely love or totally hate. Moshfegh delivers a brilliantly written unlikeable female protagonist who reminds us that when you remove the thin veneer of civility, humans can be kind of disgusting creatures. I found the book to be gross, but in a fascinating, I-can't-stop-reading-this kind of way.
There's a lot of exposition in this one, and it feels like it takes nearly 75% of the book for anything to really *happen*. I personally prefer character development over plot development. But either way, the payoff is well worth it in the end. There was a specific line towards the end of the book (which I won't quote here, at risk of spoiling the story) where my brain went, "Ohhh I'm reading a thriller." I'm excited to read more of Moshfegh's writing in the future.
There's a lot of exposition in this one, and it feels like it takes nearly 75% of the book for anything to really *happen*. I personally prefer character development over plot development. But either way, the payoff is well worth it in the end. There was a specific line towards the end of the book (which I won't quote here, at risk of spoiling the story) where my brain went, "Ohhh I'm reading a thriller." I'm excited to read more of Moshfegh's writing in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism and Pedophilia
Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Eating disorder, Gun violence, Mental illness, Death of parent, Fatphobia, and Violence
jemima's review against another edition
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
ottessa spent more time describing this girls faeces than the actual plot. Interesting ending but I preferred my year of rest and relaxation
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Death of parent