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Want something warm and fuzzy? This ain't it! From the very first page, this debut novel has a dark and foreboding feel, a sense of evil lurking just around the next page. You have to keep turning the pages to get there, though, because nothing much happens until three-quarters of the way through. It's all atmospheric buildup, relying on Moshfegh's cutting prose to keep it tense.
Eileen is 24 years old. She's miserable and alone, a virgin with no friends. She's living in a filthy house with her demented father, a former cop who never misses an opportunity to tear her down, and working for a cruel warden in a boys' prison. She feels ugly and invisible.
Told from the vantage point of an older and much wiser 70-year-old Eileen, this is the story of how one unexpected event changes the entire course of Eileen's life.
I heard about this novel from a Twitter thread on novels with unlikeable heroines. Eileen is not as unlikeable as the protagonist of [b:Animal|55711559|Animal|Lisa Taddeo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1623264432l/55711559._SX50_.jpg|65558173], another book on that list that I read, but she's certainly not relatable. She's not evil, but with no compassion having ever been afforded her, she's entirely cold and devoid of empathy. She hides her complex feelings of rage and self-loathing behind a placid exterior, a "death mask."
I'm still not sure what to make of this novel. But it's original. And unsettling. And not one I think I will soon forget.
Eileen is 24 years old. She's miserable and alone, a virgin with no friends. She's living in a filthy house with her demented father, a former cop who never misses an opportunity to tear her down, and working for a cruel warden in a boys' prison. She feels ugly and invisible.
Told from the vantage point of an older and much wiser 70-year-old Eileen, this is the story of how one unexpected event changes the entire course of Eileen's life.
I heard about this novel from a Twitter thread on novels with unlikeable heroines. Eileen is not as unlikeable as the protagonist of [b:Animal|55711559|Animal|Lisa Taddeo|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1623264432l/55711559._SX50_.jpg|65558173], another book on that list that I read, but she's certainly not relatable. She's not evil, but with no compassion having ever been afforded her, she's entirely cold and devoid of empathy. She hides her complex feelings of rage and self-loathing behind a placid exterior, a "death mask."
I'm still not sure what to make of this novel. But it's original. And unsettling. And not one I think I will soon forget.