Reviews tagging 'Miscarriage'

Byłam Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

16 reviews

lauramparis's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, and Death of parent

Minor: Confinement, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

gnomeypilled's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Phenomenal debut by Ottessa Moshfegh. Anti-protagonist Eileen is a horrible, awful, wonderful character who I was engaged with her the whole time. Shocking twist that made me put the book down and cry and laugh for a few minutes. Really beautiful use of imagery and symbolism. Never heard a story quite like this one, but it definitely takes some inspiration from Plath’s The Bell Jar. I will think about this book for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Excrement, and Grief

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

calisbooklog's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

2.25

I'm just frustrated. This should have a been a short story, or a novella at most. I prefer character-driven stories but when you get to the halfway point and still nothing of notice has happened, your reading journey starts to drag a little. Eileen's thoughts could only be so interesting before they became repetitive and dull. I got the gist of her psyche less than 50 pages in, her motivations are pretty clear and didn't need to be dwelled upon as much as they were. 

Basically, the material didn't have enough substance to actually be a fleshed-out novel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Miscarriage and Abortion

taylorroseship's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

ahudd's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Excrement, Stalking, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Police brutality, Car accident, and Gaslighting

beckybb0's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

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

4.5

It's meticulously raw. You get to see Eileen being her, sad and self-centered self. Nevertheless, I come to really like the writing. I found it a bit tasking at first but I always have a soft spot for detailed POV. I find it fascinating that the author manages to capture how humane Eileen is with her flawed characteristic and how she lives her monotonous life. 

More on the plot, I think the end is

not really that satisfying. But isn't that appropriatefor Eileen? I think out of all endingsout there, this ending and her relationships with people is so unmistakably her.

 

Most importantly, be careful with the TWs.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual content, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

Minor: Body shaming, Miscarriage, and Self harm