A review by lindseyhall44
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

dark slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? N/A
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

“Eileen” is a character driven novel which follows our protagonist  as  she narrates her final and climatic days living in the gloomy small town of “xville.” I had read Ottessa Moshfeg’s most popular work “my year of rest and relaxation” prior to this, and knew  immediately that “Eileen” had to be my next read. Surprisingly enough I think I liked this book better… Moshfeg does a great job intertwining the narration of a 24 year old with narration of her older self, less naive and able to come to terms with the struggles she so desperately wanted to escape from. Eileen’s actions really exemplify  that the coming of age process doesn’t stop at 18, and through adversity and experience do we find growth. won’t say any more about the plot, since it’s best to go in blind, but I will say that Moshfeg reminds me very much of Salley Rooney. While Rooney focuses on the relationships of her characters as opposed to Moshfeg exploring the darkness of her charterers, both really convey the complexity of each individual. It was interesting to see how the characters were written as unlikeable and sometimes unreliable, but facets of themselves created redeemable features in the readers eyes. This book is not a light read, and not for everyone, so I advise searching up trigger warnings before you pick it up . But if you like darker literary fiction with foreshadowing and phenomenal character development, “Eileen”might be for you.
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