Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

57 reviews

lilacwhisker's review against another edition

dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Eileen is probably in last place out of the other books by Moshfegh that I’ve read. This is not to say that is was terrible, but not my favorite (which is Death In Her Hands omg loved that). It’s just one of those books where very little happens and the back of the book is kind of misleading. The main problem is really that the twist happens much later in the story than you’d think, and you end up just watching Eileen mope forever. While I was expecting a slow book, I did not expect it to be this slow. It feels like they spend 20 pages talking about the snow and nothing else at some parts. I will say that the crime was interesting and morbid and all that, but it happens in like the last 40 pages of the book!!! I did enjoy reading about Eileen being starstruck by Rebecca (they should have kissed tbh)

and Rebecca’s character cracking at the end when Eileen sort of becomes the cool one. Guess the lesson is you can only be cool when threatening and killing someone??

Anyways, fine read, and I liked her shoplifting + the little fleabag moment at the end with the deer. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Alcoholism, Kidnapping, Addiction, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Stalking, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Animal death, Gun violence, Blood, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Incest and Abortion

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

casmirdonna's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.0

First book of the year, I’m not sure it was a good idea as it’s quite a gloomy and somewhat depressive story. It was very slow paced for the first 80% of the book which was disappointing, even the end wasn’t too intense. What I really enjoyed in this book was the descriptions and writing, the plot was ordinary. I would rate it much lower if it wasn’t for the beautiful writing that captivated me despite the lack of action in the story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Incest, Addiction, Rape, Vomit, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Child abuse, and Eating disorder

pkc's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective 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

4.0

It’s weird to think that a book so profoundly dark also has some of the wittiest prose I’ve read to date, but this does. A lot of heavy lifting was done by the last 50-60 pages of this for me in terms of how it impacted the star rating, but the preceding 200-odd are a fascinating character study of the eponymous Eileen and her less-than-desirable circumstances. She put me in mind of a much (MUCH) darker Eleanor Oliphant. Please do read the trigger warnings before you read this book, just in case.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Gaslighting, Body shaming, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, and Child abuse

bugcollector's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

0.75

At last, I'm done with this book, and it only took me 12 months! 

Eileen starts off funny and cunning. A bit suicidal, but mainly stuck in her place craving an escape:
▫️ "Icicles hung from the rafter over the front door, and I stood there imagining them cracking and darting through my breasts, slicing through the thick gristle of my shoulder like bullets or cleaving my brain into pieces."   (p. 3)
▫️ "If my daydreams from back then cane true, one day I'd have found him splayed out at the bottom of the stairs, neck broken but still breathing. 'It's about time', I'd say with the most bored affect I could master, peering over his dying body." (p. 5)
▫️ "He was a cruel character. Imagining his parents beating him as a child is the only path to forgiveness that I have found so far. It isn't perfect but it does the trick." (p. 6)
▫️ "I could be very dramatic with my self assessments." (p. 8)
▫️ "I imagined what relief I might feel if I could lie on Dr. Frye's couch just once and confess like some sort of fallen hero that my life was simply intolerable. But, in fact it was tolerable. I'd been tolerating it after all." (p. 22) 

As I read on (until about p. 50) Nothing made me want to pick this book again for a long while. I Ended up reading Moshfegh's newest book from this year, Lapnovka, and regretted it dearly, which put me off from this one even more. Determined to cut down my currently reading list before the new year, I found myself working hard to read through it this weekend. 

My problem with Eileen is that she stays stuck in the place for most of the book. Near the very end something interesting happens, but by then you have fallen asleep.
Her routine isn't unique, and there's so much you can read about her hating everything, her repeating that she's a new girl now and those things happened in the past, her saying it's the last time she went to the prison, the last time she saw her father, the last time she saw an icicle drop, yada yada yada.
Eileen ends being relatable relatively fast. She is deeply disterbing, pretty vile, and endulged with some hard topics (Moshpeg loves bringing poop and masterbation to the conversation)

I think the plot sounds promising, centering a young girl seeking an escape. 
But you won't get an escape with it, you'd end up wanting to escape from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, and Violence

lauramparis's review against another edition

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death, Eating disorder, Death of parent, Excrement, and Body shaming

Minor: Blood, Miscarriage, Rape, Confinement, Gun violence, Murder, Vomit, and Kidnapping

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

edamamebean's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious reflective 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Incest, Blood, Addiction, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Body horror, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Rape, Pedophilia, Gun violence, Excrement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Dysphoria, Drug use, Death of parent, Cursing, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Forced institutionalization, Torture, and Fatphobia

Moderate: Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Animal death, Stalking, and Blood

ardour's review against another edition

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.

nabila99's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body shaming, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Child abuse, and Emotional abuse

Moderate: Blood, Death, Incest, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Bullying, Excrement, Gore, Grief, Murder, Rape, Sexual harassment, Chronic illness, Stalking, Violence, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Racism, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Addiction, Drug use, Police brutality, Classism, and Confinement