Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Byłam Eileen

this book describes the inner world of a troubled young woman. it's a difficult line to walk, but the author focuses so much on the inner workings of the main character's mind that the book doesn't really have much of a plot until almost the very end. i suppose that's meant to be a representation of the character's own experience--nothing mattering outside of herself until something comes along to force her into reality--but it makes for a slow, boring read. while i understand the main character, she's not very likable (again, likely by the author's design), so the reader is left to spend time only with her for the majority of the book. an interesting concept in theory but falls a bit flat in practice.

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eileen_asr's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

this is what I called a good complex character, this book is probably only 10% focused on the story itself rather that unraveling the mind of Eileen
that’s what I call the duality of a woman: feeling like the most repulsive person and also that i’m the most interesting person that you’ll ever see
we’re stuck between feeling empathy for Eileen that she never got to experience love and yet every time she take the rag under our feet with some rather disturbing thoughts
it was already weird to read a book where the main character shares your name but then to relate that was another level of insane
honestly I feel like Eileen has nothing special in the way she think and act, looking back, all of it it’s pretty common, she just feel out of her skin and who hasn’t feel like that, especially as a teenager
as much as her thoughts can be disgusting they’re also nothing shirt but brutally honest
anyway I did wish we could understand more Rebecca, like truly between the two of them she was the crazy one
(I found very funny and sad at the same time Eileen being so delulu abourt Rebecca’s friendship)
anyway a very good book to reflect on the human mind and how deranged yet normal it can be

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risemini's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny mysterious sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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zoraleigh's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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annasorr's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Eileen is full of writing that is beautiful, tense, strange, and scary. I enjoyed getting to know Eileen and her world and deeply related to Eileen’s lack of self-assuredness. The novel’s narrator, Eileen’s older self, turns this narrative from a self-indulgent thriller to a well-paced, mysterious puzzle of the past. As this is Moshfegh’s first novel, it lacks some of the polish that her later writing has, but it’s still very much worth a read.

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vouija's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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maddb_96's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

This book is very descriptive and really well written. I was super intrigued the whole time and was shook when Rebecca said that they were in Mrs Polk’s house and she was tied up downstairs in the basement. The penultimate chapter felt so chaotic, Eileen was on a mission of trying to impress and pander to Rebecca, whilst Rebecca was on a mission of her own, to get revenge for one of her students… it felt odd that they were clearly on such different pages and as a reader we only get Eileen’s perspective. I needed more context for Rebecca’s character. From this point in the book (the ending) it got a lot worse for me… to introduce such a violent and horrific and upsetting story about what Lee Polk went through at the very end, and treat it with such nonchalance, felt a bit problematic.

Did Eileen tie up Rebecca and leave her in her dad’s basement? Why did she not leave Mrs Polk in her dad’s house after shooting her and framing her dad for the murder like she planned? Even though we learned so much about Eileen as a person, I still had no idea what her intentions were.

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