Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

16 reviews

brinnavirginia's review

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

1.0

I'm apt to love a book in which nothing much happens and of course welcome a book rich in plot. This book is at least 50% exposition and then attempts to squeeze the rest of a plot into the final third or so--one that's just-ok and simply not worth trudging through what comes first to get there.
I'm down with an unlikable protagonist, but Eileen was not interesting enough to warrant her detestable character (and intense, over-the-top, makes-me-think-it-might-be-the-author fatphobia). I enjoyed the womanly yuckiness at first until it was just soooo much puke.
This book could have been, like, a hundred fewer pages. I had to read the Wikipedia plot summary to convince myself to just finish reading it (pulled through for book club <3). In the end, it wasn't worth the effort.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Misogyny, Incest, Rape, Physical abuse, Murder, Torture, Death of parent, Child abuse, Body shaming, Alcoholism, Forced institutionalization, Violence, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Alcohol

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Sexual content, Drug abuse, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Excrement, Gun violence, Lesbophobia, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Classism, Homophobia, Toxic friendship, Police brutality, Blood, and Chronic illness

kaylanoellesims's review against another edition

dark 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

1.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual assault, Stalking, Incest, Sexism, Homophobia, Eating disorder, Terminal illness, Rape, Toxic friendship, and Fatphobia

Minor: Miscarriage and Lesbophobia

minimicropup's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.5

Setting the Scene: 🇺🇸 Set in a New England town in 1964

POV: We follow our main character in their fifties, recalled their childhood and early adulthood experiences from the 1960s. 

 

Mood Reading Match-Up:

-Autobiographical character study

-Unhinged obsessive female characters with 1960s vibes that could be nostalgic

-Literary psychological horror ick and cringe

-Themes of obsession, repression, arrested development, growing up, hope, abuse, injustice, revenge, disillusionment, and anger.  

 

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🐺 Growls, Howls, and Tail Wags 🐕

 

🗣️ Tale-Telling: The first-person narrative was like a direct conversation with the reader. Eileen is sharing her life story with us, complete with reflective observations and raw honesty. The audio narrator embodied Eileen perfectly. I was able to multitask without zoning out and looked forward to getting back to the story. It felt like I was listening to an actual memoir. 

 

👥 Characters: This is my favourite kind of character study and hard to find. Eileen was not a likeable character, but she was so compelling right from the start and she feels so much like a real person. She’s an outcast living with her alcoholic and abusive father – socially anxious, self-conscious, repressed, and without much hope for the future. Even when she grossed me out or did terrible things, I couldn’t bring myself to fully dislike her. 

 

🗺️ Ambiance: The settings are atmospheric, capturing the essence of the 1960s in a natural, cinematic way. From the cars to the work environment, it was like stepping in to a different era. 

 

🔥 Fuel: The story is driven by a psychological slow-building suspense. As the reader we are often questioning our feelings towards Eileen. Should we sympathize, be disgusted, root for her, or root for her downfall? All four? It was the perfect mix of moral and emotional dilemmas. Gradually we get mystery surrounding a new person at her work and what's up with their strange behaviour - which we aren't sure is real or just Eileen's growing obsession making her infer meanings that aren't there. 

 

🎬 Scenes: The pacing was steady slow burn. It kept me hooked with its introspective nature and having no idea where the story was going, as Eileen becomes increasingly agitated. The scenes are cringe-inducing in the best way. We’re a fly on the wall, witnessing all the second-hand embarrassment, but it never felt cringe-for-the-sake-of-cringe or gratuitous. 

 

🤓 Random Thoughts: The only disappointment for me was the ending – I liked the concept of the ending making us question what we may have thought of Eileen all along, but it felt so rushed and almost random. I was glad it wasn’t a lazy or contrived ending at least. Now that I write this, I realize I may have just been disappointed that the story was over. 

 

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Content Heads-Up: Alcoholism. Loss of a parent. Emotional abuse (familial). Loneliness, anxiety, intrusive thoughts. Sexual content (ruminating, fantasizing). Rape (fantasies, topic). Obsession. Sexual slurs. Lesbophobia (historical). Dementia. Death of a pet (on page; grief). Body fluids. 

Rep: White American. Cis-gender. 

 

👀 Format: Listened to on Everand Audio

 

“Reviews are my musings 💖 powered by puppy snuggles 🐶 refined by my AI bookworm bestie ✨”

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Death

Minor: Sexual content, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, and Rape

olive_lol's review

dark 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

2.5

This novel's setting over the Christmas season creates a uniquely lonely atmosphere. Each scene is packed with description of often mundane things, which, for me, at least, got old after about a hundred pages. Some topics, like alcoholism and child abuse, are explored deeply through multiple characters who experience them.

This novel obviously makes you uncomfortable and grossed out on purpose, but I honestly don't think the story benefits much from that. Most of the sensetive or gross topics feel like they were only included for shock and contributed little to any wider commentary. However, some topics are very well-explored, just not most of those included. That said, make sure you check the content warnings for this book.

Nothing much in the plot happens until about the last third; most of the book leading up to that point is a mix of anecdotes, atmosphere, and gross-out description. For most of the first third, I was really considering picking up another book instead because so little was happening or felt significant. It did create a nice payoff when, in the last third, things started happening, but that didn't outweigh the slowness of the beginning and middle for me.

This book really wasn't for me. It had some merits, like strong descriptions and atmosphere. However, I couldn't look past the overly slow pacing and the overuse of some sensetive topics seemingly for shock.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Excrement, Murder, Child abuse, Kidnapping, Violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Toxic friendship, Eating disorder, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Gaslighting, Incest, Gun violence, Pedophilia, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Stalking, Vomit, Body shaming, Sexual content, Fatphobia, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Racial slurs, Classism, Cursing, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Homophobia, and Animal death

czoltak's review

DNF at 25%
This book is so disgusting and weird (not it a good way). On top of that there are so many problematic things I don’t even know where to begin. I read an overview of how this ends and I want absolutely no part of this any longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body shaming, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Homophobia, Alcoholism, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Sexual assault and Pedophilia

jaja_1212's review against another edition

dark sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Rape, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death of parent, Body shaming, Murder, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Blood, and Homophobia

Minor: Stalking

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. 

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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

katieohara's review

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I think that this book is one of the best examples of a character study that I have read this year. As a native New Englander if also has a certain sense of for lack of a better word, dark charm for me. However, the book is hurtling you to this big bad moment that it hints at, but it just didn’t feel as bad as I was expecting. But honestly I might just be a spoiled reader to used to the horrifying details of murder podcasts and criminal minds. Perhaps what happened is sick enough and the author is making a subtle point that if you are looking for perversion you are no better than the spoiled rich girl not realizing her idealism has consequences.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Fatphobia, Death of parent, Classism, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Lesbophobia, Terminal illness, Gun violence, Grief, Forced institutionalization, Emotional abuse, Vomit, Torture, Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Mental illness, Incest, Animal death, Stalking, Murder, Eating disorder, Confinement, Rape, and Alcoholism

ardour's review

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective 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

5.0

i legit felt reborn as the novel ended

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Addiction, Eating disorder, Police brutality, Murder, Misogyny, Death, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body shaming, Dysphoria, Fatphobia, Rape, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Injury/Injury detail, Forced institutionalization, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Incest, Sexual harassment, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Vomit, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Body horror, Grief, Confinement, Gore, Antisemitism, Lesbophobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Xenophobia, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death and Blood

Extra content warning for the existential dread that’s portrayed for the most part of the novel (I’m thinking of others with existential OCD like me)—HOWEVER important to note that everything changes for Eileen at a certain point in the book and she undergoes a paradigm shift where one (seemingly insignificant thing) makes her realise that her life can have meaning. I found it SUPER cathartic in this way so I’m glad I kept going even though up until then her existential angst was hard to read. ~~~ Why there’s so many TWs - read to get a more accurate perspective on whether it’s the kind of book for you (spoiler free): This book is written from the perspective of Eileen writing about her young adulthood—as an elderly person. A lot of her dark thoughts & xenophobia come from the time when she grew up and the lack of love/care she received as a child. In this way I found it somewhat easier to suspend my reaction to some of the awful things she said. Additionally, Eileen, at the age she is writing the story, wants to portray what kind of person she was back then—warts and all—without trying to distract from what she feels are negative & toxic traits by inspiring sympathy. In this way it’s aggressively honest and Eileen doesn’t want to shield her past self from the judgement she feels she deserves.

smalika's review

adventurous dark mysterious 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Murder, Kidnapping, Eating disorder, Vomit, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Stalking, and Pedophilia