Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

42 reviews

hannahlouise_'s review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Abortion

bookishgoob's review

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

vivireads99's review

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Excrement, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Sexual assault

justinnn98's review

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

cierawest's review

dark mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment

deirdreo's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

scarlettreadsbooks's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

lindseyhall44's review

dark slow-paced

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

4.25

“Eileen” is a character driven novel which follows our protagonist  as  she narrates her final and climatic days living in the gloomy small town of “xville.” I had read Ottessa Moshfeg’s most popular work “my year of rest and relaxation” prior to this, and knew  immediately that “Eileen” had to be my next read. Surprisingly enough I think I liked this book better… Moshfeg does a great job intertwining the narration of a 24 year old with narration of her older self, less naive and able to come to terms with the struggles she so desperately wanted to escape from. Eileen’s actions really exemplify  that the coming of age process doesn’t stop at 18, and through adversity and experience do we find growth. won’t say any more about the plot, since it’s best to go in blind, but I will say that Moshfeg reminds me very much of Salley Rooney. While Rooney focuses on the relationships of her characters as opposed to Moshfeg exploring the darkness of her charterers, both really convey the complexity of each individual. It was interesting to see how the characters were written as unlikeable and sometimes unreliable, but facets of themselves created redeemable features in the readers eyes. This book is not a light read, and not for everyone, so I advise searching up trigger warnings before you pick it up . But if you like darker literary fiction with foreshadowing and phenomenal character development, “Eileen”might be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

amelreads's review

dark funny mysterious 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexism and Blood

zuleika's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment