S. F. Prescott

Twisted and intriguing.

Ottessa Moshfegh is a fiction writer from New England. Eileen, her first novel, was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Man Booker Prize, and won the PEN/Hemingway Award for debut fiction. My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Death in Her Hands, her second and third novels, were New York Times bestsellers. She is also the author of the short story collection Homesick for Another World; a novella, McGlue; and the forthcoming novel Lapvona. She lives in Southern California.

Published August 21st, 2017.

I want to be clear on one thing: Ottessa Moshfegh is a brilliant writer. In fact, her voice is one of few I savor when reading. Her novel, Eileen, is one I can’t compare to anything else. The pace was on the slower side for me—I definitely need more action—so if you’re someone who enjoys breakneck speed, this isn’t for you. It felt more like a character study, but I continued because of the underlying tension in the main protagonist, Eileen. A young woman who feels stagnant in her home town, unable to escape a mundane life. It was dark and suspenseful, a sad, strange tale of someone who grew up emotionally neglected in her own family. Eileen’s insecure habits and mental musings were weird, creating a tedious protagonist who wallowed in her own self-pity. Not that I could blame her. Instead of dating and socializing with friends, Eileen was forced to take care of her alcoholic father following her mother’s death in their family home. Moshfegh’s voice is brutally honest and impactful, and I felt sorry for Eileen’s character.

When Rebecca Saint John arrives at the prison as the new Director of Education, she’s definitely the more likable character. At first. A beautiful, confident, Harvard graduate, who is quickly drawn to Eileen. It unleashes something dark and primal in the protagonist, and not long after, they strike up an odd friendship. It results in the most interesting part of the story (at least for me)—murder—and the two of them must figure out a way to cover it up or face prison time. Eileen’s dark obsessions, particularly with a young inmate named Leonard Polk, were very disturbing to read. But not nearly as disturbing as learning what landed him in Moorehead prison.

I have mixed feelings about this book. It’s very different from other books I’ve read in the same genre. I expected more shock value in the beginning but it didn’t occur until the last 80% of the novel. The characters were all fleshed out but I didn’t find them particularly likeable. Rebecca’s character being very disappointing in the end. The most disturbing scene for me was the confession of Leanord Polk’s mother, and the gruesome details of abuse she described by her late husband. A crime in which she let happen and didn’t seem to have any remorse about.

For readers who enjoy dark topics, twisted protagonists, and slow building suspense.

Synopsis:

A small town in New England, Christmas 1964. Twenty-four-year-old Eileen Dunlop hates herself and the world. She has to care for her paranoid, alcoholic father, a former cop with whom she lives in a run-down house. She earns her meager wages as a secretary in a correctional facility for juvenile offenders. When the beautiful Harvard graduate Rebecca Saint John starts her job as the prison education officer, Eileen is immediately hooked. She wants nothing more than to be like this confident, independent woman. But Rebecca Saint John’s friendship comes at a high price. Eileen is drawn into a horrific crime…