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Available
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Publication
Penguin Books (2015), Edition: Reprint, 265 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:Shortlisted for the 2016 Man Booker Prize and chosen by David Sedaris as his recommended book for his Fall 2016 tour. So here we are. My name was Eileen Dunlop. Now you know me. I was twenty-four years old then, and had a job that paid fifty-seven dollars a week as a kind of secretary at a private juvenile correctional facility for teenage boys. I think of it now as what it really was for all intents and purposes�a prison for boys. I will call it Moorehead. Delvin Moorehead was a terrible landlord I had years later, and so to use his name for such a place feels appropriate. In a week, I would run away from home and never go back. This is the story of how I disappeared. The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father�s caretaker in a home whose squalor is the talk of the neighborhood and a day job as a secretary at the boys� prison, filled with its own quotidian horrors. Consumed by resentment and self-loathing, Eileen tempers her dreary days with perverse fantasies and dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, she fills her nights and weekends with shoplifting, stalking a buff prison guard named Randy, and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father�s messes. When the bright, beautiful, and cheery Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counselor at Moorehead, Eileen is enchanted and proves unable to resist what appears at first to be a miraculously budding friendship. In a Hitchcockian twist, her affection for Rebecca ultimately pulls her into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings. Played out against the snowy landscape of coastal New England in the days leading up to Christmas, young Eileen�s story is told from the gimlet-eyed perspective of the now much older narrator. Creepy, mesmerizing, and sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov, this powerful debut novel enthralls and shocks, and introduces one of the most original new voices in contemporary literature.… (more)
Media reviews
Excess drives the descriptions. It is as if Moshfegh has grasped the fact that few things excite modern publishers more than the grotesque and an author daring to be offensive. As a bottom-scratching, finger-sniffing, no hand-washing creation, Eileen never becomes more than a disgusting, impersonal
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caricature caught up in her fascination with her self-loathing: “Having to breathe was an embarrassment in itself. This was the kind of girl I was.”
Well-reviewed in the US, Eileen reveals a great deal about the gimmicky quest for the next big thing which often turns out, as it does here, to be far less worthy of attention than yesterday’s superior offerings. Show Less
Eileen could have stepped out of Flannery O'Connor or Shirley Jackson. Wonderfully horrible Humbert Humbert also comes to mind. Eileen may be "unfit for the world," but I was pulling for her. I wanted her to escape the prison of life with father, wished that her dreams of fleeing to New York might
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come true.
Eileen is a coming-of age novel about a formidable, yet flawed young woman. The norms of society disgust and seduce her at the same time. There is a sweetly sinister humor in Moshfegh's prose. Show Less
Moshfegh, whose novella, “McGlue,” was published last year, writes beautiful sentences. One after the other they unwind — playful, shocking, wise, morbid, witty, searingly sharp. The beginning of this novel is so impressive, so controlled yet whimsical, fresh and thrilling, you feel she can
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do anything....But for this reader, the thrill is the language. It is sentences like this: “The terrain of my face was heavy with soft, rumbling acne scars blurring whatever delight or madness lay beneath that cold and deadly New England exterior.”...Rebecca and her motivations, once we learn them, feel pasted in from another book. They do not square with the universe Moshfegh so meticulously created in the first part of the novel...The real excitement toward the end is watching Eileen come into a position of authority for the first time in her life. Show Less
It’s hard to imagine the terrible, drunken, addled father who visited the toilet with a handgun ever tolerating Eileen’s “blabbering on about my ideas, regurgitating barely read synopses from the backs of books … talking about how I felt about myself, life, the times in which we
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lived”.
The bad thing that is eventually revealed, and the bad thing that happens as a consequence, don’t quite live up to the atmospheric badness with which the novel draws along the reader. But there is something satisfyingly unsettling about the novel – the awfulness of Eileen’s life crackles throughout the air of X-Ville like static electricity, ready to discharge in some unlikely place or upon some unlikely person. And when it does, when the bell jar lifts, our heroine “open to the circulating air” and finally free, we can’t help but feel the slightest bit glad. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member cbl_tn
In the 1960s, twenty-something Eileen Dunlop lives with her alcoholic ex-cop father and works in a local prison for juvenile boys. Describing Eileen's family background as dysfunctional would be an understatement. Eileen's behavior indicates a desire to be unnoticed. She's anorexic, she hides
There's a good short story somewhere in this overwritten novel. Eileen wallows in her own filth for chapter after chapter. There's no reason, except perhaps shock value, that so many pages need to be devoted to this. Do readers really need detailed accounts of Eileen's bowel movements? Eileen writes as an old woman remembering who she used to be. But perhaps she hasn't changed as much as she would have readers believe, and she is still trying to keep others at arms' length. If so, she just may succeed. I suspect that more than a few readers will abandon Eileen to her squalor.
This review is based on an complimentary electronic reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
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herself in her dead mother's clothing, and her neglect of personal hygiene seems at least partially motivated by a desire to keep others at arms' length. Yet underneath all this, Eileen desperately wants to be noticed and loved. It doesn't take long for new prison employee, Rebecca, to break through Eileen's defenses. The perfect Rebecca seems to offer the friendship Eileen craves, but it comes at a price.There's a good short story somewhere in this overwritten novel. Eileen wallows in her own filth for chapter after chapter. There's no reason, except perhaps shock value, that so many pages need to be devoted to this. Do readers really need detailed accounts of Eileen's bowel movements? Eileen writes as an old woman remembering who she used to be. But perhaps she hasn't changed as much as she would have readers believe, and she is still trying to keep others at arms' length. If so, she just may succeed. I suspect that more than a few readers will abandon Eileen to her squalor.
This review is based on an complimentary electronic reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
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LibraryThing member msbaba
“Eileen,” by debut author and Stanford Stegner fellow, Ottessa Moshfegh, could so easily have been five stars. The writing was almost perfect: first-class literary prose, highly stylized to suit the eerie but almost excessively realistic Hitchcockian psychological suspense story at its heart.
So, why am I giving this novel three, rather than five stars? It’s because I found it extremely difficult to take the first hundred-and-fifty pages. For me, these beginning pages were an unrelenting dark and vitriolic tour through the mind of a main character with a very disturbed mind. The blurb on the back of the book implies that this psychological journey should be “sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov.” Unfortunately, I saw no humor in it at all. For me it was disturbing, eerie, and unpleasant.
Perhaps, if I went back now, after finishing the novel and knowing what I do about the character (especially from the last few pages), I might find much in the beginning that was sardonically humorous. But I didn’t through the first reading. Instead, I found these pages quite off-putting, strange, and disagreeable.
The book tells the story of one week in the life on Eileen Dunlop. It is narrated in the first-person, by the main character, as a mature woman in her mid-seventies. She is looking back on the week that changed her life and her identity completely. She implies that this early version of herself is so out-of-character with who she is, that “There’s no better way to say it: I was not myself back then. I was someone else. I was Eileen.”
So, who was Eileen? She was an incredibly immature and mentally disturbed twenty-four-year-old woman who was living a hellish existence in a small town somewhere near the coast of New England. The novel is set in 1964. Eileen’s mother is dead. Her father is an alcoholic and she’s well on her way to becoming an alcoholic, as well. She and her father live in squalor. She doesn’t like to keep the house or even her own body clean. She worries about how she might smell, but not enough to do anything about it. She dutifully tends to her father’s needs (including his daily need for lots of gin) while remaining passive to his never-ending verbal assaults. Eileen is employed as a secretary at the boys local prison. She hates her life. She has no friends and no self-esteem. She spends her time stalking and fantasizing about one of the hot young male prison guard named Randy—a many who probably doesn’t know she exists. Eventually, her life is turned completely on end when an intelligent, alluring, and manipulative new female employee arrives on staff at the prison and actively befriends Eileen.
Eileen as a mature adult narrator does nothing to make her readers sympathetic toward who she was as a young woman. It’s clear, the mature narrator detests the young Eileen and is quite happy to cause us to detest her, too.
I’m not one of those readers who requires a likable main character in order to enjoy a book. But being inside Eileen’s mind for the entire book was not a very pleasant experience. Nor was it very enlightening. Was Eileen a budding sociopath? A budding malignant narcissist? An immature low-life emotionally abused by her father? Or something else more sympathetic that we discover only toward the end of the novel after enduring all that unrelenting caustic prose? I’ll let you answer these questions, if you choose to read this novel.
For me, the style of writing was five stars; the last hundred pages were five-stars; the last chapter (called “The End”) was five stars. But the experience of reading the entire book was mostly not enjoyable.
If you’re especially fond of stylized Hitchcock-type plotting and the feeling of being caught up in a Hitchcockian experience, by all means read this novel.
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The last hundred pages of this novel are so impressive and powerful it’s worth reading the entire novel just to have the pleasure of that experience. So, why am I giving this novel three, rather than five stars? It’s because I found it extremely difficult to take the first hundred-and-fifty pages. For me, these beginning pages were an unrelenting dark and vitriolic tour through the mind of a main character with a very disturbed mind. The blurb on the back of the book implies that this psychological journey should be “sublimely funny, in the tradition of Shirley Jackson and early Vladimir Nabokov.” Unfortunately, I saw no humor in it at all. For me it was disturbing, eerie, and unpleasant.
Perhaps, if I went back now, after finishing the novel and knowing what I do about the character (especially from the last few pages), I might find much in the beginning that was sardonically humorous. But I didn’t through the first reading. Instead, I found these pages quite off-putting, strange, and disagreeable.
The book tells the story of one week in the life on Eileen Dunlop. It is narrated in the first-person, by the main character, as a mature woman in her mid-seventies. She is looking back on the week that changed her life and her identity completely. She implies that this early version of herself is so out-of-character with who she is, that “There’s no better way to say it: I was not myself back then. I was someone else. I was Eileen.”
So, who was Eileen? She was an incredibly immature and mentally disturbed twenty-four-year-old woman who was living a hellish existence in a small town somewhere near the coast of New England. The novel is set in 1964. Eileen’s mother is dead. Her father is an alcoholic and she’s well on her way to becoming an alcoholic, as well. She and her father live in squalor. She doesn’t like to keep the house or even her own body clean. She worries about how she might smell, but not enough to do anything about it. She dutifully tends to her father’s needs (including his daily need for lots of gin) while remaining passive to his never-ending verbal assaults. Eileen is employed as a secretary at the boys local prison. She hates her life. She has no friends and no self-esteem. She spends her time stalking and fantasizing about one of the hot young male prison guard named Randy—a many who probably doesn’t know she exists. Eventually, her life is turned completely on end when an intelligent, alluring, and manipulative new female employee arrives on staff at the prison and actively befriends Eileen.
Eileen as a mature adult narrator does nothing to make her readers sympathetic toward who she was as a young woman. It’s clear, the mature narrator detests the young Eileen and is quite happy to cause us to detest her, too.
I’m not one of those readers who requires a likable main character in order to enjoy a book. But being inside Eileen’s mind for the entire book was not a very pleasant experience. Nor was it very enlightening. Was Eileen a budding sociopath? A budding malignant narcissist? An immature low-life emotionally abused by her father? Or something else more sympathetic that we discover only toward the end of the novel after enduring all that unrelenting caustic prose? I’ll let you answer these questions, if you choose to read this novel.
For me, the style of writing was five stars; the last hundred pages were five-stars; the last chapter (called “The End”) was five stars. But the experience of reading the entire book was mostly not enjoyable.
If you’re especially fond of stylized Hitchcock-type plotting and the feeling of being caught up in a Hitchcockian experience, by all means read this novel.
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LibraryThing member PhilipJHunt
Second novel from a talented author. Great plotting and pace. Lots of reviewers liked it. Short listed for the Man Booker Prize. But thoroughly unpleasant to the very end. And the end itself is let down by a ragged fringe of loose ends. For all her other talents, Moshfegh needs to leave us with a
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more believable and satisfying conclusion. I will check out her other books though. Show Less
LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
The author who has a gift for exploring the human mind on its lonely path to madness in all its shapes and forms, has won the 2016 Pen/Hemingway award for debut fiction and was a Finalist for the 2015 National Book Critics Circle award for fiction. The experience of reading this book is a dark,
Although this novel is about two very disturbed, dysfunctional women who form a bond that encourages each other’s irrational behavior, in fact, it is really Eileen Dunlop’s story. Now, as an elderly woman, she is telling the reader about the events of her life in the week before Christmas, when she was 24 years old. In doing so, she reveals bits of her past and part of her present life, as well.
In her twenties, Eileen was more than unhappy; she was disappointed with her life and very frustrated because she had not been able to change it. She was neglected and/or abused by her family. She was never a popular girl, had few friends and few dates, but she did break away and go away to college for a year. Unexpectedly, she was called home to care for her dying mother, after just a year, and not being a wonderful student, anyway, she decided not to return. Instead, she remained at home to care for her father, an ex-police officer, who was slowly losing his grasp on reality and who often hallucinated about being pursued by assorted, unknown assailants. He was also a drunk, as was her mother. Eileen enabled him to drink by shopping for, and providing him with, a constant supply of alcohol, and she even sometimes drank with him. She fantasized about the life she wanted, but it was more like the fantasy of a child than an adult. She found fault with everyone and everything around her blaming them for her situation. She felt different, unwanted, unloved, and unappreciated; she was insecure and lacked confidence. She felt worthless and useless.
When Eileen’s mother and dog died during the same week, she felt the dog was the greater loss. She began to dream of setting herself free from the responsibility of caring for her dad, of leaving Xville and moving to New York to start a new life. He was very abusive to her, and nightly, he drank himself into a stupor to calm his fears. Eileen remained aloof and distant from everyone around her, always maintaining a face that was unreadable, so no one really knew what she was thinking. Even though Eileen saw herself as dowdy, she dreamed of being glamorous, but, instead of wearing fashionable clothes, she wore the clothes of her deceased mother which made her appear even more matronly and unattractive. Her emotional growth was severely stunted. She had evil, callous thoughts and her behavior was often malicious. She willfully damaged property, shoplifted and lied. She was often deliberately cruel to her father and others. Her tone was mocking and sarcastic. She couldn't fit comfortably into the real world, a world which she viewed through glasses clouded with self-doubt, neediness and yearning. Eileen believed that someday she might turn into a swan from an ugly duckling, a swan deserving respect and admiration. She was woefully naïve.
At the reformatory for boys, which she referred to as Moorehead, the name of a landlord she disliked intensely, she was a secretary. A new employee, Rebecca Saint John was hired as Director of Education; she seemed to be drawn to Eileen and befriended her. Eileen was so grateful for the attention and so hungry for companionship that she quickly became devoted to her, turning a blind eye to any doubts she has about Rebecca’s behavior. She preferred to imitate her confident and self-assured manner. A smile or a compliment easily molded Eileen into a very compliant friend and accomplice. Both Eileen and Rebecca became interested in a prisoner, Lee Polk, at about the same time. After learning about his crime and why he committed it, Rebecca became overly concerned about him and his plight. She believed in retribution and thought someone should pay for what he did, just not necessarily him. Others were guiltier. She manipulated Eileen and lured her into a demonic scheme she was devising.
To the world, Rebecca presented an image of confidence and intelligence. While Eileen was unkempt with poor hygiene, Rebecca’s appearance seemed impeccable. While Eileen saw herself as homely and insecure, Rebecca was good looking, womanly and assertive. Against all odds since they appeared diametrically opposed to each other, why did their friendship seem to grow? The women were studies in contrast, both appearing alternately normal and disturbed, often irrational. All of the characters were self-serving and turned a blind eye to evil and injustice if it served their needs: Lee Polk’s mother, the warden, the police comrades of Eileen’s father, her sister Joanie who left the house at age 17 and took no responsibility for anything but herself, but was the favorite child, all were somehow not quite right.
This book was really an in-depth study of madness and brutality that was hidden in very damaged and disturbed people. They presented one face to the outside world while they lived another life in their own world. They felt nothing for those they hurt because they found reasons to justify their behavior. It was hard to find one redeeming feature in either Eileen or her friend Rebecca. It was a painful read because it felt so bleak, but it was incredibly insightful as it examined the character's thought processes. I felt the book fell short in its development of Eileen’s past and future which I would have liked to learn more about, but the book concerned itself mainly with the week that changed her life forever, and what a week that was!
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intense journey into the world of mental illness, but not necessarily the overt kind. Rather, it is often a more subtle variety. It explores the kind of people who seem to be able to function, however minimally, along with those who function well, without ever showing their true nature to the world at large, people who harbor deep problems that are unrecognized and untreated or even ignored. I felt that all of the characters featured in this book were disturbed to some degree. They were neither sympathetic nor likable.Although this novel is about two very disturbed, dysfunctional women who form a bond that encourages each other’s irrational behavior, in fact, it is really Eileen Dunlop’s story. Now, as an elderly woman, she is telling the reader about the events of her life in the week before Christmas, when she was 24 years old. In doing so, she reveals bits of her past and part of her present life, as well.
In her twenties, Eileen was more than unhappy; she was disappointed with her life and very frustrated because she had not been able to change it. She was neglected and/or abused by her family. She was never a popular girl, had few friends and few dates, but she did break away and go away to college for a year. Unexpectedly, she was called home to care for her dying mother, after just a year, and not being a wonderful student, anyway, she decided not to return. Instead, she remained at home to care for her father, an ex-police officer, who was slowly losing his grasp on reality and who often hallucinated about being pursued by assorted, unknown assailants. He was also a drunk, as was her mother. Eileen enabled him to drink by shopping for, and providing him with, a constant supply of alcohol, and she even sometimes drank with him. She fantasized about the life she wanted, but it was more like the fantasy of a child than an adult. She found fault with everyone and everything around her blaming them for her situation. She felt different, unwanted, unloved, and unappreciated; she was insecure and lacked confidence. She felt worthless and useless.
When Eileen’s mother and dog died during the same week, she felt the dog was the greater loss. She began to dream of setting herself free from the responsibility of caring for her dad, of leaving Xville and moving to New York to start a new life. He was very abusive to her, and nightly, he drank himself into a stupor to calm his fears. Eileen remained aloof and distant from everyone around her, always maintaining a face that was unreadable, so no one really knew what she was thinking. Even though Eileen saw herself as dowdy, she dreamed of being glamorous, but, instead of wearing fashionable clothes, she wore the clothes of her deceased mother which made her appear even more matronly and unattractive. Her emotional growth was severely stunted. She had evil, callous thoughts and her behavior was often malicious. She willfully damaged property, shoplifted and lied. She was often deliberately cruel to her father and others. Her tone was mocking and sarcastic. She couldn't fit comfortably into the real world, a world which she viewed through glasses clouded with self-doubt, neediness and yearning. Eileen believed that someday she might turn into a swan from an ugly duckling, a swan deserving respect and admiration. She was woefully naïve.
At the reformatory for boys, which she referred to as Moorehead, the name of a landlord she disliked intensely, she was a secretary. A new employee, Rebecca Saint John was hired as Director of Education; she seemed to be drawn to Eileen and befriended her. Eileen was so grateful for the attention and so hungry for companionship that she quickly became devoted to her, turning a blind eye to any doubts she has about Rebecca’s behavior. She preferred to imitate her confident and self-assured manner. A smile or a compliment easily molded Eileen into a very compliant friend and accomplice. Both Eileen and Rebecca became interested in a prisoner, Lee Polk, at about the same time. After learning about his crime and why he committed it, Rebecca became overly concerned about him and his plight. She believed in retribution and thought someone should pay for what he did, just not necessarily him. Others were guiltier. She manipulated Eileen and lured her into a demonic scheme she was devising.
To the world, Rebecca presented an image of confidence and intelligence. While Eileen was unkempt with poor hygiene, Rebecca’s appearance seemed impeccable. While Eileen saw herself as homely and insecure, Rebecca was good looking, womanly and assertive. Against all odds since they appeared diametrically opposed to each other, why did their friendship seem to grow? The women were studies in contrast, both appearing alternately normal and disturbed, often irrational. All of the characters were self-serving and turned a blind eye to evil and injustice if it served their needs: Lee Polk’s mother, the warden, the police comrades of Eileen’s father, her sister Joanie who left the house at age 17 and took no responsibility for anything but herself, but was the favorite child, all were somehow not quite right.
This book was really an in-depth study of madness and brutality that was hidden in very damaged and disturbed people. They presented one face to the outside world while they lived another life in their own world. They felt nothing for those they hurt because they found reasons to justify their behavior. It was hard to find one redeeming feature in either Eileen or her friend Rebecca. It was a painful read because it felt so bleak, but it was incredibly insightful as it examined the character's thought processes. I felt the book fell short in its development of Eileen’s past and future which I would have liked to learn more about, but the book concerned itself mainly with the week that changed her life forever, and what a week that was!
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LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
This is a quite satisfying psychological thriller. Eileen works in a dead end job at a juvenile correctional facility. She lives at home and cares for her alcoholic father, all the while dreaming of escaping her bleak reality into a new life. She has no friends, but she stalks one of the attractive
3 1/2 stars
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guards from the facility. Her life changes when Rebecca Saint John is hired as a counselor at the facility. Rebecca is everything Eileen is not--glamorous, beautiful, intelligent (Harvard-educated). Eileen is startled, but thrilled, when Rebecca makes friendly overtures. At first it seems that Rebecca is drawing Eileen out, but it soon becomes apparent that Rebecca may be even more disturbed than Eileen. This was a good read for fans of Shirley Jackson or Patricia Highsmith.3 1/2 stars
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LibraryThing member brangwinn
This is a difficult dark story to read. Told in the first person, Eileen, 24, is the daughter of alcoholics and the gene has been passed on to her. She lives with her father, in a filthy home. They never cook. She seems to survive on peanuts, alcohol and laxatives, vermouth being her favorite. She
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has no friends, she is a shoplifter, hates to read or to watch movies, and spends most of her time up in the attic lying in her cot. She’s fascinated by bodily functions and will probably remain a virgin. She works as a secretary in a boys prison and is befriended by the new education specialist, who also disturbed. Their confrontation with the mother of a boy who killed his father is bizarre and leads to Eileen leaving town telling no one. Creepy psychological reading. Not my cup of tea, but Moshfegn’s writing is superb. It is impossible to read this story without wanting to take a shower afterwards to cleanse you of the bizarre memories Eileen leaves the reader with. Show Less
LibraryThing member froxgirl
After I post my review, I'll have to read those of the critics who raved about this first novel. I found it to be the most unpleasant and pointless book I've read in quite a long time. Horrible lives, miserable characters. There's some good writing in here but what's the point?
LibraryThing member lisapeet
OK, my curiosity's satisfied. It was good—for want of a better term, even though I think using the P word is lazy terminology—loser porn. Or as former Readervillian Serafina would say, schadenfreudelicious. But just a shade too heavy-handed to be sympathetic, which loser characters really need
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at least in tiny doses. And though it was supposed to be Hitchcockian (it would have been obvious even if the cover copy hadn't said so), there wasn't enough tension or twisty plotting to earn that one. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything I'd run around recommending, either. And let's face it, Facebook has kind of ruined public hand-wringing for me. Show Less
LibraryThing member musichick52
Eileen is an adult still living in her alcoholic father's home. She works for a detention center/jail for young boys and men as a secretary. She describes herself as "a shoplifter, a pervert and a liar." This read is an intense and invasive character study. She is emotionally stunted, has a hangup
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on bodily functions, enjoys perversions and is almost entirely twisted. But not quite as twisted as the young woman who comes in to work at the prision. Eileen is drawn in by her and worships or loves (I don't think she can tell the difference) her to the extent that she would do anything to please this looney bird. The ending is a shocker. My thanks to the author and Penguin's First to Read program for a complimentary copy Show Less
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
For the last few years, I have made it a point to read as much of the Man Booker Prize shortlist as is possible (given my stateside residence) before the prize is announced in late October. You know the way some people get excited for the Oscars, the World Cup, the Emmys, the Superbowl, the
Eileen is aptly titled. It is a novel that's entirely about our narrator. The question of whether you'll like this book is a question of whether or not you like Eileen. Perhaps it's not so much a question of whether you “like” her, as she is not likable in many ways; rather, whether you find her interesting. Eileen is an obsessive neurotic who never received proper training on how to be with other humans. Among her many obsessions are bowel movements, sex, icicles crushing human skulls, sociability, alcohol, a guy named Randy, etc. Her constant ramblings regarding these things may irritate a reader. At the same time, that obsessive personality gives us gems like “I wore lipstick not to be fashionable, but because my bare lips were the same color as my nipples. At twenty-four I would give nothing to aid any imagining of my naked body.” Eileen is an interesting character, if you like the type who is bleak, repetitive, and impulsive. She is someone who is unknown to herself, and so it's natural that many readers will not “get her.”
The character I didn't “get” was Rebecca. Rebecca does some things in this story requiring the reader to suspend belief. Without knowing and understanding Rebecca, a reader may think the author is being overly manipulative. Ironically, had the story been called Rebecca, been in Rebecca's head the whole time, I probably would've said the same about Eileen. A novel with two impulsive characters, each suffering from their own mental difficulties, where only one is explained can come across as a poorly executed story. I mean, an observant reader will pick up on Eileen's peculiarities. But Rebecca—what the hell is her issue? It's obvious she's not all there, but since we don't ever get an intimate view of her, the story—particularly the ending—can seem a bit too orchestrated (you'll have to read it to see what I mean.)
Personally, I really liked the psychology of Eileen and the beautifully constructed prose. As for its chances of winning the Booker, I'd say it's very slim. First of all, there's quite a bit of attention (way too much, in my opinion) on who will be the first American author to win the prize. The judges do not want to flub this up and give the prize to a book that is not easily the best of the year. I have a feeling that many longtime Booker supporters would be unenthusiastic if Eileen won. With that in mind, I do think Moshfegh has great potential to be nominated again for a future work. In my opinion, Eileen bears some similarity to Ian McEwan's earlier works. McEwan has now been nominated for the award six times. While I would not be upset if Eileen won (keep in mind I have yet to read the other contenders), I think many would be. So this will probably not be the year for Moshfegh, but a shortlist nomination is an accomplishment in itself.
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whatever—that's me with the Man Booker. Pathetic, I know. From this year's shortlist of six, Eileen is the first I have completed.Eileen is aptly titled. It is a novel that's entirely about our narrator. The question of whether you'll like this book is a question of whether or not you like Eileen. Perhaps it's not so much a question of whether you “like” her, as she is not likable in many ways; rather, whether you find her interesting. Eileen is an obsessive neurotic who never received proper training on how to be with other humans. Among her many obsessions are bowel movements, sex, icicles crushing human skulls, sociability, alcohol, a guy named Randy, etc. Her constant ramblings regarding these things may irritate a reader. At the same time, that obsessive personality gives us gems like “I wore lipstick not to be fashionable, but because my bare lips were the same color as my nipples. At twenty-four I would give nothing to aid any imagining of my naked body.” Eileen is an interesting character, if you like the type who is bleak, repetitive, and impulsive. She is someone who is unknown to herself, and so it's natural that many readers will not “get her.”
The character I didn't “get” was Rebecca. Rebecca does some things in this story requiring the reader to suspend belief. Without knowing and understanding Rebecca, a reader may think the author is being overly manipulative. Ironically, had the story been called Rebecca, been in Rebecca's head the whole time, I probably would've said the same about Eileen. A novel with two impulsive characters, each suffering from their own mental difficulties, where only one is explained can come across as a poorly executed story. I mean, an observant reader will pick up on Eileen's peculiarities. But Rebecca—what the hell is her issue? It's obvious she's not all there, but since we don't ever get an intimate view of her, the story—particularly the ending—can seem a bit too orchestrated (you'll have to read it to see what I mean.)
Personally, I really liked the psychology of Eileen and the beautifully constructed prose. As for its chances of winning the Booker, I'd say it's very slim. First of all, there's quite a bit of attention (way too much, in my opinion) on who will be the first American author to win the prize. The judges do not want to flub this up and give the prize to a book that is not easily the best of the year. I have a feeling that many longtime Booker supporters would be unenthusiastic if Eileen won. With that in mind, I do think Moshfegh has great potential to be nominated again for a future work. In my opinion, Eileen bears some similarity to Ian McEwan's earlier works. McEwan has now been nominated for the award six times. While I would not be upset if Eileen won (keep in mind I have yet to read the other contenders), I think many would be. So this will probably not be the year for Moshfegh, but a shortlist nomination is an accomplishment in itself.
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LibraryThing member flourgirl49
This book made my skin crawl. Eileen, by her own description, is "barely civilized," and, man, that is no lie. There are probably people in the real world walking among us who are like this, and that is a scary thought indeed. I can't really recommend this book, as it makes me feel like I need to
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take a shower, yet it's so far off the hook that one almost has to check it out. The best word I can think of to describe it is "icky." Show Less
LibraryThing member Nirmala.Chandrasiri
Eileen is the story of Lena, as she is now known. Fifty years ago, back in 1964 when she was twenty-four years old, Lena was some one else. She was Eileen Dunlop, a secretary at a boy’s correctional facility in Massachusetts, which she calls Mooreheads. Some boys in Mooreheads were in the system
"I’ve lived with many alcoholic men over the years, and each taught me that it is useless to worry, fruitless to ask why, suicide to try and help them. They are who they are, for better and worse."
We learn that Eileen was never really loved by her parents. Not even Joanie’s somewhat questionable choices could waver their father’s affection towards Eileen. So like a little girl, despite being almost an adult, Eileen yearned for adoration and attention. Just like the boys in the correctional facility, she was a lonely soul. But when the enchanting Rebecca Saint John, the first ever director of education at Moorehead arrived, with promises of friendship and admiration, maybe Eileen’s destiny changed forever?
For good part of the book Eileen’s narration was perverse and vivid. Yes, she kept a frozen dead mouse in her glove box of her Dodge, maintained a filthy house, and shop lifted far too often, but one can not help but notice the human beneath all that, waiting to be noticed and acknowledged by anyone in the world.
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for misdemeanors, while some were in for felonies waiting to be incarcerated in prisons when they turn eighteen. These boys were forbidden to “dance, sing, gesture, talk loud, listen to music, lie down unless they were given permission to”, and it was not only them who were living the life of a prisoner. Eileen had lost her mother when she was nineteen. With her sister, Joanie living away with a man who was not her husband, Eileen was trapped at home with her drunkard father."I’ve lived with many alcoholic men over the years, and each taught me that it is useless to worry, fruitless to ask why, suicide to try and help them. They are who they are, for better and worse."
We learn that Eileen was never really loved by her parents. Not even Joanie’s somewhat questionable choices could waver their father’s affection towards Eileen. So like a little girl, despite being almost an adult, Eileen yearned for adoration and attention. Just like the boys in the correctional facility, she was a lonely soul. But when the enchanting Rebecca Saint John, the first ever director of education at Moorehead arrived, with promises of friendship and admiration, maybe Eileen’s destiny changed forever?
For good part of the book Eileen’s narration was perverse and vivid. Yes, she kept a frozen dead mouse in her glove box of her Dodge, maintained a filthy house, and shop lifted far too often, but one can not help but notice the human beneath all that, waiting to be noticed and acknowledged by anyone in the world.
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LibraryThing member EBT1002
"The shame of arousal, the arousal of shame."
I hated this novel for the entire first half, even while I couldn't put it down. Essentially a character study that feels like it lacks plot, the first half both sets the stage and creates a narrative momentum that falls off a cliff. Eileen is one of
I hated this novel for the entire first half, even while I couldn't put it down. Essentially a character study that feels like it lacks plot, the first half both sets the stage and creates a narrative momentum that falls off a cliff. Eileen is one of
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the least likable characters I have encountered in while, largely because of her shocking tendency toward honesty accompanied by her desperately underdeveloped sense of self. At age 24, living at home with her alcoholic father after the death of her mother, Eileen fantasizes of leaving X-ville, of building a life somewhere else and finding someone, anyone, to love and esteem her. Her own anorexia and alcoholism are presented from such a matter-of-fact stance that the neglect and abuse underlying them almost fail to emerge. Rebecca, a new colleague at the boys' prison where Eileen works, arrives. Eileen's obsessive urges have a new target and she begins to hope for her future. The story moves inexorably toward an unbelievable resolution, one burdened with just a bit too much unbelievability. The novel, long-listed for the 2016 Booker Prize, is creepy and shocking and subtly brilliant in its irony. I both loved it and hated it which, I suspect, is exactly what Ms. Moshfegh was hoping for. Show Less
LibraryThing member alexrichman
Urgh - I felt like I needed a shower every time I read this. I know that doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement but this really is a great book, that places the reader so firmly in Eileen's twisted mind that it's almost claustrophobic. The novel builds and builds, as you know something terrible
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is going to happen, but when the revelation came it still managed to shock me. A creepy thriller par excellence. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mercef
If you’re after completely dysfunctional, unlikeable characters then try this book. I can usually enjoy novels where the characters are extremely flawed but not this one. My local library had given this a “crime” genre sticker but most of the book just concerns the lead up to a crime. So what
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kept me reading? This book had also been labelled a “thriller” (no, it wasn’t) but I was curious enough to want to find out what the crime had been. All know is the protagonist really made me curl my lip whilst reading about her. Show Less
LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh was a finalist for the Book Critics award and on the Booker short-list. I'm sure there are lots of people who wouldn't agree with those honors. Eileen is a pretty unlikeable character. She's the caretaker for her alcoholic, ex-cop father who belittles her continually, and
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she's pretty much invisible to the rest of the world. That might make her sound like a sympathetic character, but here's the rest. She works in a juvenile prison, and she has no sympathy for the boys in jail or for their parents. In fact, she has no sympathy for anyone or any real feeling at all. She does have erotic fantasies about a pretty unappetizing man at the prison, pie in the sky fantasies that have no relation to reality. And she also drinks and doesn't like to shower often - or eat. If you eat your body grows, and she already hates the little amount of body she has, she doesn't want more. So, she's not likable, but she's enjoyably complex . Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
Eileen is a most unpleasant character, a twenty-four-year-old girl working as a secretary in a juvenile delinquent facility for boys, enabling her verbally abusive father's alcoholism, doing everything she can to make herself disappear. This is the story of the last week she spends living with her
The writing here reminds me of Shirley Jackson, although Moshfegh lacks Jackson's acerbic wit. Here, as Jackson frequently did, Moshfegh climbs deep into the head of a disturbed young woman and lets us look out at the world through her eyes. It's not a fun head to be in--the sections about the laxatives were enough to turn my stomach--but Moshfegh manages to make Eileen a believable and sometimes pitiable person in spite of herself. Rebecca, on the other hand, was much more of an enigma, and sometimes I questioned whether she even existed or whether the events unfolded as Eileen related them; some of the plot developments seemed a bit too convenient. But in all, this is a well-done character study, thought-provoking and sometimes queasiness-inducing, and I found myself wondering what horrific things Eileen became involved in after leaving town.
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father in her unnamed dead-end hometown in Massachusetts, the week of Christmas, related from the vantage point of fifty years later, when she has long since given up being Eileen altogether. The turning point that finally catalyzes inert Eileen into movement is the arrival at the prison of an exciting, glamorous woman, Rebecca, whom Eileen instantly idealizes. The writing here reminds me of Shirley Jackson, although Moshfegh lacks Jackson's acerbic wit. Here, as Jackson frequently did, Moshfegh climbs deep into the head of a disturbed young woman and lets us look out at the world through her eyes. It's not a fun head to be in--the sections about the laxatives were enough to turn my stomach--but Moshfegh manages to make Eileen a believable and sometimes pitiable person in spite of herself. Rebecca, on the other hand, was much more of an enigma, and sometimes I questioned whether she even existed or whether the events unfolded as Eileen related them; some of the plot developments seemed a bit too convenient. But in all, this is a well-done character study, thought-provoking and sometimes queasiness-inducing, and I found myself wondering what horrific things Eileen became involved in after leaving town.
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LibraryThing member MaggieFlo
Eileen Dunlop is the narrator of this story which takes place in 1964 before Christmas in New England. Her dysfunctional life consists of working as a clerk at the local juvenile detention centre and living with her alcoholic father in a nice neighborhood.
She has no friends, is estranged from her
Eileen makes plans to run away to New York York city and start a new life. All of this changes when a new employee, Rebecca is hired as a pedagogical consultant for the detention centre.
She has no friends, is estranged from her
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only sister and puts up with verbal abuse from her widowed father who only leaves the house to attend Sunday mass with his sister. He is a former city cop and now has advanced liver disease and paranoia but drinks all day. It’s a dreadful existence but the author makes it seem very interesting with her character development and story lines. It’s a good study of family dysfunction, substance abuse, co-dependency and some hope for a better life. Eileen makes plans to run away to New York York city and start a new life. All of this changes when a new employee, Rebecca is hired as a pedagogical consultant for the detention centre.
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LibraryThing member Audacity88
A real disappointment after reading Moshfegh's other work. The last sentence I read in this book was, “I might add that I didn’t wash my hands after using the toilet.” It pretty well encapsulates what seems to be the book's theme: purposeless disgust.
Disgust is a powerful emotion which, when
Disgust is a powerful emotion which, when
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used correctly and in moderation by an author, can make a novel memorable; for an excellent example, look no further than Moshfegh's own Lapvona. Here, though, rather than being can't-help-but-look entranced by scenes of medieval gore, we're treated to a main character whose main characteristic is unhygenicness. It's not exciting, just offputting. Multiple critics have used the word “gritty” to describe this book. I'd say grittiness works about as well here as in a dish of improperly washed oysters. Show Less
LibraryThing member cuentosalgernon
Eileen, the first-person narrator of this novel, is a 24 year old woman who lives with her alcoholic father in a boring town, and who works in a juvenile correctional. She’s obsessed with herself, her body and with her unhappy life, in which the highlight is her (unrequited) love toward one of
With Eileen as pathetic protagonist, this could have been a bleak and dramatic story, but the book turns out to have plenty of humor (dark, but humor nevertheless) and the plot has some unexpected turns in the third part of the book, turning to be nearly a thriller. Eileen is perfectly developed character, and though she’s ridiculous, despicable, pitiable… she’s also endearing and magnetic at the same time.
Maybe this book is not for everyone, but in my case it was worth the time I spent reading it.
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the young guards in the correctional. Everything will change when beautiful and perfect Rebecca appears in her life.With Eileen as pathetic protagonist, this could have been a bleak and dramatic story, but the book turns out to have plenty of humor (dark, but humor nevertheless) and the plot has some unexpected turns in the third part of the book, turning to be nearly a thriller. Eileen is perfectly developed character, and though she’s ridiculous, despicable, pitiable… she’s also endearing and magnetic at the same time.
Maybe this book is not for everyone, but in my case it was worth the time I spent reading it.
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LibraryThing member DeltaQueen50
Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh is not the sort of book to fit neatly into a genre, this is a dark, at times distasteful portrait of a woman who has a lot going on underneath her deliberately calm, unemotional exterior. The book is told through her own words and she doesn’t hold much back. She tells
At 24, she is living with her alcoholic, verbally abusive father in a filthy, falling apart house. She doesn’t cook or clean or look after her father other than to control him by supplying him with liquor and hiding his shoes so he can’t wander about. She works in the office of a boys’ reformatory but she hates her co-workers and spends most of her time building fantasies about them. When a new, glamorous employee is hired, Eileen becomes focused on her and believing that a friendship with this woman will transform her life, instead she is drawn into something both dark and dangerous.
Eileen is not an easy read. The author however can write, her descriptions are evocative but Eileen’s world is both offensive and unpleasant. I felt like I needed a long shower after reading this book. It is in turns ugly and depressing but occasionally humorous and original. While for me, the thriller aspect of the story didn’t work, the character study of this unusual woman was superb.
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us that she hates just about everybody, and she also makes it very clear that this is a story about her breaking away from the bleak life she is living. At 24, she is living with her alcoholic, verbally abusive father in a filthy, falling apart house. She doesn’t cook or clean or look after her father other than to control him by supplying him with liquor and hiding his shoes so he can’t wander about. She works in the office of a boys’ reformatory but she hates her co-workers and spends most of her time building fantasies about them. When a new, glamorous employee is hired, Eileen becomes focused on her and believing that a friendship with this woman will transform her life, instead she is drawn into something both dark and dangerous.
Eileen is not an easy read. The author however can write, her descriptions are evocative but Eileen’s world is both offensive and unpleasant. I felt like I needed a long shower after reading this book. It is in turns ugly and depressing but occasionally humorous and original. While for me, the thriller aspect of the story didn’t work, the character study of this unusual woman was superb.
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LibraryThing member KateVane
Eileen looks back fifty years to her life in 1964 in New England, caring for her alcoholic father and working in a prison for boys. Dowdy, contrary and appealingly unlikeable, Eileen’s life is transformed when she meets the beautiful and mysterious Rebecca. With the cool gaze of hindsight, she
The author perfectly evokes the world of Eileen, the period and the small town where she lives. She captures the self-hatred of a woman growing up unloved in a house dominated by addiction and cruelty, how she harms herself, how she cussedly survives. She illuminates the way the town and the institutions of family, church and state are complicit in the mistreatment of the vulnerable. The prose has all the poise and craft of an accomplished short story writer. And that may be the problem.
For me the pace isn’t quite right for a novel. Over a third of the book is taken up describing the three days before Eileen’s life changes. We are given almost a minute-by-minute account, forcing our faces into the stink and the tedium of her life, over and over, while nothing happens. Maybe the author thinks, we should know that lives like this exist, that we should suffer like Eileen.
Rebecca appears in Eileen’s life promising a different world, one she can barely imagine. From here things move a little too fast. While Eileen’s infatuation with Rebecca is convincing, Rebecca, for me, isn’t. She feels like a character who exists purely to move the plot. It’s fine that her past and her future remain mysterious to Eileen and to the reader, but I struggled to believe that she even had a past and a future.
So, we know (we really do) what Eileen’s life before Rebecca was like and Eileen-as-narrator tells us something of the years after she gets away. But this means all we are waiting for is to find out what happens between Eileen and Rebecca to lead her to make her escape. This is heavily foreshadowed with hints and coy promises of drama to come.
Foreshadowing can be an effective technique. It can add poignancy, a sense of inevitability, giving weight to apparently insignificant events. But if you’re going to use it, you have to deliver. And for me, when the turning point does come, it’s not moving or convincing or shocking enough.
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I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
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tells of how they conspire in an event which leads her to leave her home forever.The author perfectly evokes the world of Eileen, the period and the small town where she lives. She captures the self-hatred of a woman growing up unloved in a house dominated by addiction and cruelty, how she harms herself, how she cussedly survives. She illuminates the way the town and the institutions of family, church and state are complicit in the mistreatment of the vulnerable. The prose has all the poise and craft of an accomplished short story writer. And that may be the problem.
For me the pace isn’t quite right for a novel. Over a third of the book is taken up describing the three days before Eileen’s life changes. We are given almost a minute-by-minute account, forcing our faces into the stink and the tedium of her life, over and over, while nothing happens. Maybe the author thinks, we should know that lives like this exist, that we should suffer like Eileen.
Rebecca appears in Eileen’s life promising a different world, one she can barely imagine. From here things move a little too fast. While Eileen’s infatuation with Rebecca is convincing, Rebecca, for me, isn’t. She feels like a character who exists purely to move the plot. It’s fine that her past and her future remain mysterious to Eileen and to the reader, but I struggled to believe that she even had a past and a future.
So, we know (we really do) what Eileen’s life before Rebecca was like and Eileen-as-narrator tells us something of the years after she gets away. But this means all we are waiting for is to find out what happens between Eileen and Rebecca to lead her to make her escape. This is heavily foreshadowed with hints and coy promises of drama to come.
Foreshadowing can be an effective technique. It can add poignancy, a sense of inevitability, giving weight to apparently insignificant events. But if you’re going to use it, you have to deliver. And for me, when the turning point does come, it’s not moving or convincing or shocking enough.
*
I received a copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley.
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LibraryThing member la.grisette
"Frigid, Neurotic Woman Leads Life of Crime" -- this is one of my pet genres, so I was inclined to enjoy this book based upon the premise alone... But! Positive bias aside, this novel delivers major literary chops with a side of originality .* The bizarre, claustrophobic forays into Eileen's body
And the ending! The external world is crazier than Eileen's internal world! Of course it is! We knew it, but forgot it in the messy face of the poor girl's anorexia and bloody underwear and drinking binges and unhinged sexual fantasies.
Poor Eileen! Poor humanity!
Wow. That's it, my review in brief: "Wow."
To be read properly, this novel should be binge read in a moment of antisocial despair.
*Originality: adept exploration of a young woman's sexuality blossoming, withering, and re-blossoming in the dirty misery of an American town blighted by equal parts puritanism and poverty.
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issues and laxative abuse! The easy and convincing and unsympathetic and highly subjective characterizations of the wretched townies who make up the periphery of her intensely private, disturbed existence! As good as anything by Patrica Highsmith.And the ending! The external world is crazier than Eileen's internal world! Of course it is! We knew it, but forgot it in the messy face of the poor girl's anorexia and bloody underwear and drinking binges and unhinged sexual fantasies.
Poor Eileen! Poor humanity!
Wow. That's it, my review in brief: "Wow."
To be read properly, this novel should be binge read in a moment of antisocial despair.
*Originality: adept exploration of a young woman's sexuality blossoming, withering, and re-blossoming in the dirty misery of an American town blighted by equal parts puritanism and poverty.
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LibraryThing member antrat1965
I think I missed the point of this book.
My understanding was that it was about a strange woman that gets enchanted by someone and ends up involved in a dark crime.
Well, after 2/3 of the book went by and the event still didn't happen, I became irritated.
Then when it finally happened, it was so
In my opinion they should have marketed this book as what it was and not what they thought would draw readers. It is a book about a woman that wants out of her sad life and this crime finally gives her the reason to actually do something about it. Not a dark crime novel, but a literary novel about wanting to escape. Maybe then I would not have been so disappointed.
I should say that Otessa Moshfegh is a brilliant writer and I will definitely read her next novel. I will probably even end up liking it now that I will go into it with a different mindset.
My understanding was that it was about a strange woman that gets enchanted by someone and ends up involved in a dark crime.
Well, after 2/3 of the book went by and the event still didn't happen, I became irritated.
Then when it finally happened, it was so
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uneventful and strange that I was shaking my head. Disappointing to say the least.In my opinion they should have marketed this book as what it was and not what they thought would draw readers. It is a book about a woman that wants out of her sad life and this crime finally gives her the reason to actually do something about it. Not a dark crime novel, but a literary novel about wanting to escape. Maybe then I would not have been so disappointed.
I should say that Otessa Moshfegh is a brilliant writer and I will definitely read her next novel. I will probably even end up liking it now that I will go into it with a different mindset.
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LibraryThing member Carmenere
If the Booker prize judges are looking for the "unconventional", "to explore the unfamiliar, and to tackle the difficult subjects" then this book has it all. Eileen is a twenty-four year old, college drop out and prison secretary. She lives with her alcoholic father and is on the verge of becoming
When she believes she's found that person her life changes in every way just not exactly the way she's romanticized.
For the first 3/4 of the novel I felt like I was as trapped in Eileen's life as the boy's in juvenile prison. I wanted to get out, escape from her unusual and crude ways and nearly gave up on this book. The last 1/4 was more exciting and the reader senses that the first 150 tiresome and irksome pages were needed to drill in the point that Eileen is desperate and gullible and will do just about anything to have someone love her. Really, we would have understood that by page 75. Still, the author shows talent in setting a stage and creating interesting characters.
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one herself. After her mother died when she was 19 she rarely cleaned the house let alone herself. They live in total squalor and to say that she is the personification of the house would be more than evident. She fantasizes about leaving her father, her humdrum life and finding someone who loves her. When she believes she's found that person her life changes in every way just not exactly the way she's romanticized.
For the first 3/4 of the novel I felt like I was as trapped in Eileen's life as the boy's in juvenile prison. I wanted to get out, escape from her unusual and crude ways and nearly gave up on this book. The last 1/4 was more exciting and the reader senses that the first 150 tiresome and irksome pages were needed to drill in the point that Eileen is desperate and gullible and will do just about anything to have someone love her. Really, we would have understood that by page 75. Still, the author shows talent in setting a stage and creating interesting characters.
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Awards
Booker Prize (Longlist — 2016)
Shirley Jackson Award (Nominee — Novel — 2015)
National Book Critics Circle Award (Finalist — Fiction — 2015)
Crime Writers' Association Awards (Shortlist — 2016)
PEN/Hemingway Award (Winner — 2016)
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Longlist — 2015)
Gordon Burn Prize (Shortlist — 2016)
Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize (Longlist — 2017)
San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year (Fiction — 2015)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (2015)
Language
Original publication date
2015-08-15
ISBN
9780698401624