EILEEN

by Ottessa Moshfegh
 

I had wanted to read this Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel so badly that I inadvertently bought it twice.  Maybe that added to my disappointment and how let down I felt after reading it.  Giving the author credit, she may well have accomplished exactly what she set out to accomplish.  However, I found the novel too dark and depressing.
 
Eileen is a young woman, living at home with her ailing and demented father who abuses her emotionally.  She has an awful job at a juvenile detention center and has no friends – male or female.  She’s anorexic and depressed, wears her dead mother’s clothes and is generally at the end of her rope.  And then Rebecca Saint John starts working at the detention center and Eileen falls head-over-heels for this glamorous woman.  Just when Eileen thinks her life has taken a turn for the better, Rebecca leads her down a truly nasty rabbit hole.
 
If the novel has one thing to recommend it, it’s that Eileen finally does get away from her awful life in the end – but not before she commits some memorable atrocities.  Definitely NOT my cup of tea! (Liz)