Welcome to Litsy!

A Christmas novel? Not the kind you might expect or want, in fact it‘s the opposite. There are no warm & fuzzies here.
Instead it‘s a barely functioning gritty & damaged young woman struggling to find the courage to reinvent herself.

Now I feel a need to shower and clean my house. 😬

On one hand, it's pretty impressive that all of these characters are ostentatiously unusual and damaged, yet I believe them. I believe the stories and lives the author has created for them. But on the other hand, it was a long, LONG walk for an explosive last 50 pages. I think the book could lose 100 pages and have the same effect. Not sure it was worth it, but it IS staying with me, turning over in my head. Would try another book by this author.

Loved my reread of Moshfegh‘s debut! She is so good at building tension. It‘s nice to see the nascent elements that made later novels 5⭐️ reads for me.

Eileen works at a juvenile corrections facility and lives with her alcoholic father. She sees her chance to break free in new employee Rebecca, but when Rebecca learns a secret from one of the kids, she turns Eileen‘s ordered world upside down.

I may watch the Netflix movie tonight!

I am intrigued

This is not my usual type of book- it's depressing and the main character is not entirely likeable, but the writing was good and I was drawn in and the ending was quite surprising in interesting ways. So if depressing lit fic is your jam, and an actual plot where something happens, or you just want to be in your feels, then it's a good December read. #WinterGames #GangstaWrappers @Bookwormjillk @StayCurious @Clwojick #WGWordsearch 1590 pts

The trailer for the Film adaptation of Eileen was released a few days ago:

https://youtu.be/wkMIv0xuzr8si=LxtZFADrU0L5J4XO

Part of it was filmed in my town, so an extra reason to be looking forward to this.

This book started out ok but then just hit a dead end for me as I got to the middle. Too much narrative with not much action. I just looked up the ending online and even that was as unexciting as the rest of the book.

Moshfegh has an incredible talent of putting such deep feelings into writing.

Dark, uncomfortable, voyeuristic and unpleasant but very readable!

Ok so i got locked out of my account for a little bit bc of technical difficulties but nevertheless I survived. So now I need to log all the books I‘ve read in this time. I did not enjoy this book at all. It was just too miserable even for me. The narrator is the worst and obviously I feel like that was the artistic choice but I couldn‘t get behind it. Also just overall gross

Spoiler Alert:Everyone in this book is completely bananas

I have had this book on my shelf for years and I was looking forward to it but it just doesn‘t as too drawn out for me. It took so long to get into anything and by then I had lost interest. None of the characters were likable and it was repetitive and slow. I thought there would have been more suspense based on the description, but it just took too long to get to a point where I was even curious about the story.

One of the most enjoyable books I've read in a long time.

So I am DNFing this one. I can appreciate the premise and the author's writing style and social commentary, but this just wasn't for me. There were many times when I actually dreaded picking this up to make progress so that combined with some of the topics discussed by the MC made me decide to put this one down. I would like to try something else from this author however, she has a talent for making you feel like you're inside the book.

Although dark and depressing, this novel does have its charm. In morbid and abundent detail, old Eileen portrays a different young Eileen, the product of a dysfunctional family, struggling to take care of her alcoholic father and keep her job at the boy's prison, a place of abuse and doom for the inmates, until an unexpected chance appears for her to make an audacious move and escape her ugly life.

This is my second try with Moshfegh, and she‘s definitely not for me. I actually liked the plot, but I strongly dislike her writing. Her deliberate provocations come across as performative to me. I won‘t be reading her again.

#bookspin

Here‘s my living bingo card for September #bookspinbingo! 🥳 The tagged is my #bookspin and #doublespin is Fabric. Let‘s do this!

Well that took a turn I was not expecting. I enjoyed this one!

6-4-22: My 53rd finished book of 2022! Eileen, 24, is a lonely woman working in a boys prison in 1964. She lives with her father, a drunk who is slowly dying, and she dreams of leaving home to never return. Then Rebecca starts working at the prison and Eileen can‘t help but be in awe of this woman‘s style and grace. When Eileen and Rebecca become involved in a crime it takes all Eileen has not to lose herself and her dreams of escape.

I definitely was leaning more toward disliking this book until the ending. Though the beginning felt like an unnecessary buildup, the climax of the story made it worthwhile. Definitely an interesting read, especially during the holiday season. I will say, I definitely think some subject matter crossed a line for me. I LOVED My Year of Rest and Relaxation and this just did not hold up.

If you read the back cover you know almost the entire plot, so it goes without saying that this book isn‘t very plot heavy. Instead we focus almost entirely on Eileen and her thoughts, about her alcoholic father, about boys, and about Rebecca. Eileen is an entertaining character for sure but recently I‘ve been more drawn to challenging reads, so, while this one works as a lighter novel, it isn‘t the type of book I prefer to read at the moment.

I‘ve noticed a theme with Moshfegh‘s main characters: They tend to be unlikable, fat-phobic, classist, and have parental issues that would make Freud giddy. Nevertheless, I finished the book. On the whole it‘s okay but has moments well enough written that it elevated it for me. I don‘t love it but I couldn‘t stop reading it.

It was a pretty quick read. At times it reminded me somewhat of ‘Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine‘ , similar vibes in the quirky main character and odd plot.

I‘m learning to embrace audiobooks. While they aren‘t my preference, they help me get through more stories when I‘m working ALL day so I don‘t totally forfeit reading time. Still saving the ones I‘m most excited for to read in print.

This got me another bingo for #bookspinbingo !

This almost worked for me, but the last section took it too far for me, and too much explicit foreshadowing about Rebecca. I did like the way she built Eileen‘s life and the drudgery of her existence as a caretaker for her alcoholic father. I loved My Year of Rest and Relaxation, and I can hear that voice here but My Year was a more effective book for me.

This was brilliant. No spoilers. I agree it‘s a psychological thriller. Unloved Eileen is a complex character, disturbing, strange, funny and touching. There is a real wintery atmosphere and the setting in X ville small suburban US town works really well. I found this book better than My year of rest and relaxation.

“I found myself on a street called Moody. Of course I did.” Ottessa Moshfegh writes the most odd, unsettling characters, yet they are so weirdly compelling. This story was downright unpleasant and I can‘t say I enjoyed it, yet I still read it 🤷‍♀️

🤯🤯🤯 Amazing writing. Not usually my thing but I couldn‘t stop reading this book even though I didn‘t like Eileen in the slightest. Highly recommended.

Darkly comic & twisty with a noir-vibe, this is a character study of a strangely self-obsessed yet self-loathing woman. I can‘t say I enjoyed it, as it was kind of an unpleasant reading experience! Unsettling yet oddly compelling as the writing is just so sharp. Moshfegh creates an oppressive atmosphere and an unforgettable character. All the action comes at the end, but the writing kept me turning the pages. Not a ‘fun‘ read but so well written!

This afternoon‘s slightly unsettling reading session (Eileen is odd to say the least! 😳) was accompanied by this handsome old man.... he balances sleeping precariously on the very top of the couch, also very worrisome!
#dogsoflitsy

My October #bookspin & #doublespin (this one gifted to me by the lovely @Cathythoughts )
Excited for both! 💕📚

I‘m only 60 pages in and I can barely deal with the dread I‘m starting to feel ... I‘m a total chicken 😅

I must have been in the mood for some dark & twisty stuff because I couldn‘t get enough of this! I‘m always amazed when writers manage to pen such deplorable characters. Now to read the rest of her books.
[TW in spoiler]

I‘m late to the party but very much here for this. Fantastic!

Memories, ghosts, dread can be like that, in my experience—they can come and go at their own convenience.

But I used their plaster casts as a guide and practiced very diligently in the mirror, relaxing my face while keeping an aura of benign resilience, such as I saw in those dead men‘s faces. I mention it because it is the face I wore at work, my death mask.

I am not one of those women who try to make people happy all the time. I‘m not that strategic.

I‘ve never read a book before with a narrator that is so unlikable and yet so engaging. It‘s a fascinating read.

👌

This book was well written and gripping, but I didn‘t enjoy it. The protagonist is terrible- so self involved and mean and spiteful. Don‘t know that I would recommend it

Here‘s the dark, depressing Christmas story you‘ve been looking for! Caught up in taking care of her alcoholic father and day job as a secretary at a boy‘s prison, Eileen‘s character has been molded by the bleak conditions she finds herself in, but she dreams of leaving the town. This story tells of the Christmas when an opportunity to leave presents itself, but not in the way Eileen imagined.

Is everyone happy with their Christmas 🎄 presents? I have received these books, my new white Kindle, environmental-friendly soap & toothbrush, and a Call the Midwife DVD collection.

#merrychristmas #booksunderthechristmastree

Kashmiri chai and a book. 😊

A grown woman is like a coyote—she can get by on very little. Men are more like house cats. Leave them alone for too long and they‘ll die of sadness.

Prompt from @ljuliel for #KeepLitsyActive:

Name an author that's an immediate purchase when they release a new book, plus you've read every other book they've written.

I don't buy a lot of books, but a few authors whose new releases I scoop up ASAP from the library: Marilynne Robinson, Otessa Moshfegh, and Margaret Atwood.

John Irving used to be my clear favorite, but I've not been as into his stuff since The Fourth Hand.

Once he‘d gone to church that morning, I cooked myself scrambled eggs with ketchup and heated a beer on the stove, my hangover cure of choice. That doesn‘t work, of course. Don‘t bother trying it.

I‘m nearly a third of the way into this novel and the experience is like wading through muck. The flashes of dark humour have kept me going so far, but I might be bailing soon.