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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
reading this book was an absolutely dread. only gave it two stars cause it made me laugh in my head a few times.
dark
sad
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
this book is more like what i expected velvet was the night to be, which drew me to it while i was in the middle of reading the previous book. didn’t know it would fulfill the missing piece that book left in me, but it was appreciated. i love ottessa’s style of writing, how dour and painfully human her narratives are. building the knowledge of all her different characters in my mind adds a lot to the reading experience of eileen. in eileen’s hopelessness, yearning and submissive nature, i think back to marek of lapvona. in eileen’s cruelty, hypocrisy and sometimes self indulgence, i think of miss rest and relaxation. in her darkest moments, jude or ina come to mind… i really love noticing the similarities and yet vast differences between ottessa moshfeghs works and ever since myorar i never stopped thinking about the subtle homoeroticism between those two girls. so seeing what ottessa would classify as genuine homoerotic behavior and thoughts within eileen does sort of make me want to reread myorar and find parallels…
anyway, after watching the movie i do find that it does kind of write eileen’s father a bit more rounded out as opposed to a random plot (in)convenience, where eileen is never truly impacted by her father’s abuse as she alludes to in the past, the book gives him a few damning remarks (“i can imagine you with a gun, but only to kill yourself with” was damn good). plus, eileen is much more outward, having more actual conversation with rebecca where she contributes. only upon watching the movie did i really realize that it’s sort of strange how rebecca seems drawn to eileen when the girl can barely get a word out around her. this is the disadvantage of constantly hearing eileen’s thoughts, they speak for her.
i actually like that there was no kiss. not that im complaining about the kiss in the movie because i love it too, but the yearning andunfulfilled destiny” nature of ottessa’s works comes through a lot stronger without eileen’s wish for connection being fulfilled and validated in that way!
also.. book rebecca on TOP. where were her beautiful copper locks and blonde eyebrows. they did my girl dirty
companion song: easy by liz phair
anyway, after watching the movie i do find that it does kind of write eileen’s father a bit more rounded out as opposed to a random plot (in)convenience, where eileen is never truly impacted by her father’s abuse as she alludes to in the past, the book gives him a few damning remarks (“i can imagine you with a gun, but only to kill yourself with” was damn good). plus, eileen is much more outward, having more actual conversation with rebecca where she contributes. only upon watching the movie did i really realize that it’s sort of strange how rebecca seems drawn to eileen when the girl can barely get a word out around her. this is the disadvantage of constantly hearing eileen’s thoughts, they speak for her.
i actually like that there was no kiss. not that im complaining about the kiss in the movie because i love it too, but the yearning andunfulfilled destiny” nature of ottessa’s works comes through a lot stronger without eileen’s wish for connection being fulfilled and validated in that way!
also.. book rebecca on TOP. where were her beautiful copper locks and blonde eyebrows. they did my girl dirty
companion song: easy by liz phair
dark
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
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Loved the character study of Eileen but the big reveal or the moment the book is leading up wasn’t nearly as shocking or exciting as I was expecting.
so gross and boring EDIT: Ok i finished it this time. got good at the end 🔪🔪
challenging
dark
medium-paced
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh
Read in Braille
Jonathan Cape
pub. 2016, 264pp
___
This book wasn’t on my radar but it popped up on a braille book swap email list and I knew it was well respected, having been shortlisted for The Booker Prize and then being adapted into a movie, so I gave it a go.
I’ve only ever attempted one Moshfegh work, a short story called The Comedian, on The New Yorker podcast which I couldn’t finish as their was a blind character that was written in such a pitying way I was turned right off. From that I knew Eileen would likely be a challenging read, which it certainly was!
It took me quite a while to get into this story, set in an anonymous U.S. town, referred to as “X-ville”, and what kept my attention was the skilful writing. There were so many little nuggets of information that were seemingly out of place and many false starts to Eileen’s escape from her small town existence, that I was intrigued.
This novel is about 24 year old Eileen Dunlop, who lives with her alcoholic ex-cop father in a comfortable part of town, though their home is shabby and neglected.
Eileen’s had a run of bad luck, having escaped to college only to be called back to the house to nurse her dying mother. She takes an admin job to tide her over in a correctional facility for young boys and gets stuck in a rut.
The narrative is told from the point of view of Eileen as an old woman looking back to the early 1960s which means time shifts as memories surface and then recede. I enjoyed this style of writing but found the first part of the book almost relentlessly bleak (If you’re squeamish about bodily functions this book might not be for you!) and questioned whether to continue. I’m glad I did as the book ends very strongly. I won’t say any more about the plot as this is one of those books which slowly builds and it’s best to just go along for the ride knowing as little as possible!
It surprised me that I started rooting for such a frustrating, unlikeable and self-loathing character who I really couldn’t relate to, but somehow Eileen got under my skin.