A review by asterope
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

dark tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Moshfegh is my queen of unlikeable yet fascinating characters. And delicious writing. I flew through this, despite the lack of solid plot. It follows a few days in the life of a young woman in the 60s as she plans to run away. 

There's a slow build of foreshadowing, as the book is narrated by present day Eileen. So she hints about where she ends up, what would happen later that evening, etc. We get plenty of melancholy details of her earlier life and family to explain why she's…like that. Moshfegh's writing is so smooth, I found they flowed well and didn't feel shoe-horned in.

Eileen is odd to say the least. I appreciate how Moshfegh portrays a typically unlikeable protagonist with such visceral detail. We learn so much about her personal hygiene and intrusive thoughts. The grossness of it all is part of this book's charm for me. There's no shying away here.

The very last plot development didn't quite work for me, but that's okay. Eileen told us she would run away right from the start, so I'm glad the ending didn't suddenly twist that around or anything. I haven't read the reviews but I'll check out the film adaptation as well. I remember seeing the trailer but I didn't realise it was based on this book! Excited to continue with the next Moshfegh after a break.