A review by lizzyreadz
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

2.0

This book was a slog to get through. I did not find anything fresh or thrilling about the writing. It feels like the author spent most of the book trying to create the grossest main character so that in the end you might find some empathy and root for her triumphs. The story is a first-person narrative by the main character, Eileen, now in her 70s, retelling her story of her 20s in the 1960s. Eileen’s desire to runaway from X-ville and grow into her own agency is driven by her struggles to understand her body, her sexuality and her place in society in which she does not conform. All around her the town, her family and the people she encounters are terrible, until not-as-terrible Rebecca is introduced. Most of the action happens in the third act. By then I just wanted the book to end. I really enjoyed Moshfegh’s My Year of Rest and Relaxation, gross is good, but boring and gross, which is Eileen, is a pass for me.