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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
challenging
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
Oh WOW. 24 year Eileen lives at home with her alcoholic father and works at a correctional facility for teenage boys. She has a low sense of self worth and has been overlooked by many people, something she both relishes and despises. She doesn’t have friends, let alone girl friends, so when radiant Rebecca is hired and smiles down upon Eileen, she is sure her world is about to change. What would have been another boring Christmas suddenly has the potential to be a pivotal moment in Eileen’s dreary life, until she finds herself as an accomplice in what is sure to be a significant crime.
dark
funny
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
This book was somehow both depressing and lighthearted. There's a certain humor in the bleak and disaffected way Eileen goes about her life. I despised the character, but was rooting for her at the same time. The twist at the end was welcome, although it felt abrupt and a little bit out of place. Why would Rebecca go to such extreme lengths to help one of the imprisoned boys? This is the third Moshfegh novel I've read, and I continue to enjoy her work quite a bit.
dark
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:
Yes
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I knew the ending was going to be twisted but I did not expect that. This book is so disgusting and fucked up and I absolutely loved it. Ottessa Moshfegh's mind is a scary place.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence
dark
tense
medium-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
Moshfegh really has a knack for portraying scenes of destitution and squalor, images so grey and sad and repugnant in their mundanity that you just have to keep going to see where it all goes. Languid pacing that feels like wading through molasses suddenly shorn through with a shock of red hair, which then somehow descends into one of the most unexpected twists I'd read recently. The author really excels at expressing the inner thoughts of her protagonist, the titular Eileen, looking back at yet another sad and uneventful Christmas that was anything but.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Third book of Otessa Moshfeg that I have read and possibly my favourite. Completely outrageous and it just got weirder the longer it went on.
I feel like death in her hands had a few lulls in it but I didn’t feel there was a lull with this book. I also like how it was narrated by the elder Eileen rather than a progressive present tense story.
Looking forward to watching the film!
I feel like death in her hands had a few lulls in it but I didn’t feel there was a lull with this book. I also like how it was narrated by the elder Eileen rather than a progressive present tense story.
Looking forward to watching the film!
A great novel, a perfect twist that I somehow didn’t see coming. I love a narrator with no moral code, and I love that it’s kinda gay. Tore through this book in just a couple of days!! Great first read of 2024. Can’t wait to see the film.
dark
mysterious
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