Reviews tagging Vomit

Byłam Eileen, by Ottessa Moshfegh

82 reviews

bookishbrenbren's review against another edition

dark reflective medium-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

3.5

I really like Ottessa Moshfegh but this book was a miss for me. I've read two others of her work but this lacked the engrossing, drawing in of the other two. In fact this book was pretty repulsive not just in that it describes a lot of gross, pitiable things, which it does, but also in that it feels like she didn't want the reader to get into Eileen's shoes, she wanted to keep the reader at older-narrating-Eileen's head, which looks back on her former self with judgment, disgust, and pity. The propulsive conclusion felt forced, although I liked Rebecca's neurotic spiral, I didn't see the need for

Spoiler

the mother's version of the incest rape story, I think it cheapened the story and sensationalized the rape, which I can never respect.

. All said, I enjoyed the character Eileen and the grimy, gritty inner life she leads. Ottessa has such a talent for these kinds of stories but to me the ending felt like any old paperback thriller and I was left feeling disappointed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual assault, Addiction, Alcohol, Confinement, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Vomit, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Murder, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Gun violence

joensign's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Rape, Incest, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Death of parent and Fatphobia

Minor: Vomit

alisha247's review against another edition

dark 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Child abuse, Death, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

beanwa's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

4.5

Although it's never named as one in this book, Eileen very clearly has an eating disorder and it's described VERY graphically throughout. Proceed with caution!

I'm giving this book a 4.5 because even though it did make my stomach churn - it did give me A LOT to think about. I loved the New England setting, and I found Eileen a really interesting and complex character. I pitied her, but also found her revolting. But my heart went out to her over how much she yearns for love.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Vomit, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, and Alcoholism

lucajgrainger's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Vomit, Stalking, Rape, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Pedophilia, and Murder

emrjohnson29's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.0

This book is sick and twisted and weird in the best way. Ottessa Moshfegh has a way of writing about all of the nasty bodily functions and intrusive thoughts. This story follows Eileen Dunlop, a 24 year old woman who works at a boys prison and is the caretaker for her alcoholic father, and it is set to the holiday season in New England in the 60s. Eileen has a dream of running away and never being found. She dreams of getting away from her father and leaving it all in the past. She meets Rebecca, a new employee at the prison she works at and Eileen is immediately enamored by Rebecca. It is unclear if Eileen is in love with Rebecca, or just loves the attention and affection, I personally would say that Eileen loves the feeling of being liked, and will hold on to anyone that makes her feel this way. Rebecca gets Eileen wrapped up in something that ultimately leads to Eileen's final departure from her hometown and her former life. 

This book is told from the perspective of old Eileen. She tells us throughout the book that her memory is foggy on some aspects of her story, so it makes Eileen a very unreliable narrator. She tells us all about her nasty habits, she has a weird thing about sex, she is vile and grotesque and flat out mean... and yet I was rooting for her, because she is weird and it is the 60s and she has never been dealt a good hand of cards. Eileen wants to be loved, and I think if you have been deprived of love for so long, you would do anything to feel loved, which is what happens with Eileen in this story. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fatphobia, Sexual assault, and Child abuse

Moderate: Vomit and Suicidal thoughts

bugcollector's review against another edition

challenging dark tense slow-paced

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

0.75

At last, I'm done with this book, and it only took me 12 months! 

Spoiler

Eileen starts off funny and cunning. A bit suicidal, but mainly stuck in her place craving an escape:
▫️ "Icicles hung from the rafter over the front door, and I stood there imagining them cracking and darting through my breasts, slicing through the thick gristle of my shoulder like bullets or cleaving my brain into pieces."   (p. 3)
▫️ "If my daydreams from back then cane true, one day I'd have found him splayed out at the bottom of the stairs, neck broken but still breathing. 'It's about time', I'd say with the most bored affect I could master, peering over his dying body." (p. 5)
▫️ "He was a cruel character. Imagining his parents beating him as a child is the only path to forgiveness that I have found so far. It isn't perfect but it does the trick." (p. 6)
▫️ "I could be very dramatic with my self assessments." (p. 8)
▫️ "I imagined what relief I might feel if I could lie on Dr. Frye's couch just once and confess like some sort of fallen hero that my life was simply intolerable. But, in fact it was tolerable. I'd been tolerating it after all." (p. 22) 

As I read on (until about p. 50) Nothing made me want to pick this book again for a long while. I Ended up reading Moshfegh's newest book from this year, Lapnovka, and regretted it dearly, which put me off from this one even more. Determined to cut down my currently reading list before the new year, I found myself working hard to read through it this weekend. 

My problem with Eileen is that she stays stuck in the place for most of the book. Near the very end something interesting happens, but by then you have fallen asleep.
Her routine isn't unique, and there's so much you can read about her hating everything, her repeating that she's a new girl now and those things happened in the past, her saying it's the last time she went to the prison, the last time she saw her father, the last time she saw an icicle drop, yada yada yada.
Eileen ends being relatable relatively fast. She is deeply disterbing, pretty vile, and endulged with some hard topics (Moshpeg loves bringing poop and masterbation to the conversation)

I think the plot sounds promising, centering a young girl seeking an escape. 
But you won't get an escape with it, you'd end up wanting to escape from it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicidal thoughts, Addiction, Blood, Sexual violence, Torture, Alcohol, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Sexism, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gaslighting, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic friendship, and Violence

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: Child abuse, Alcoholism, Body horror, and Pedophilia

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

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

devilconcrete's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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

4.25

Eileen is a truly abhorrent human being. Throughout the book she is almost nothing but perverted, hating, homophobic, and misguided. That behind said, I loved this book. The writing style is smooth and vivid, and both pulls you into the moment of the story yet feels like someone sitting down and recalling it for you. There are so many individual dark but beautiful lines in this. The writing really kept me going, if it was written with even a sliver less quality I would have taken this deplorable book and burned it. It has the gritty details and thoughts worth hiding that make it seem terribly terribly real. All the most prominent characters are just as terrible. But they all feel like people. 
Horrendous cast of characters with wretched thoughts and wretched actions.

Reading this book and observing these characters was like pulling entertainment from footage of a trainwreck. But I couldn't bring myself out of it. Riveting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Alcohol, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Bullying, Drug use, Sexual violence, Body shaming, Addiction, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Excrement, Lesbophobia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Rape, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Incest, Murder, Toxic relationship, and Vomit

kelsea's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism

Moderate: Vomit, Child abuse, and Sexual violence

Minor: Terminal illness and Eating disorder