Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

Byłam Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

28 reviews

lagaialettrice's review against another edition

dark funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Police brutality, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Lesbophobia

torihbu's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense 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

3.0

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism

thisiscourt'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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Incest, Pedophilia, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

rebeccaquinton's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

eve81's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Pedophilia, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Stalking, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Medical content and Classism

amharless417's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

alexandrabelze's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious 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

4.0

i liked this a lot more than i thought i would! as usual, i loved moshfegh’s writing style and style of storytelling. i think she laid out the setting very well. once again, she utilized an unlikable character as her protagonist, but this one was much easier to “put up with,” so to say, compared to the protagonist in mcglue. there was this minute feeling of boredom i felt throughout the entire novel, and i caught my mind drifting every once in a while. though that seems to be a trend with moshfegh’s novels due to how she likes to dwell on certain things, similar to the “violet prose” style often seen in classics. the ending was kind of disappointing as well? though i’m not sure what i expected or what could’ve been done differently for me to feel satisfied. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Body shaming, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Violence, Vomit, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Gun violence, Blood, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

kmcgraw's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

I felt at times it was slow and repetitive but I was truly enthralled from the beginning. I read this in two days and couldn’t put it down. Deals with very dark/heavy themes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Excrement, Kidnapping, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Addiction, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

Minor: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, Police brutality, and Abortion

riotgrrrl92's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad 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

4.25

Ottessa Moshfegh lets us into the minds of people we would never want to get to know in real life. Her narrators are fascinating, horrible, darkly satirical, and sometimes relatable in very shameful ways. In fact, I think shame is the main theme of this book. I typically don’t like slow-paced novels but every sentence of this book kept me hooked. Eileen’s inner world is twisted and disturbing, making even the most mundane tasks a freakish horror. I love it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Incest, Excrement, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Rape, Medical content, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

libellumartinae's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

2.5

My main problem with this book is the pace. Nothing - LITERALLY NOTHING - happens through the first page and in the last two chapters everything goes down, which might have been interesting as the previous chapters depict Eileen's life but ugh, was it just plain boring. and the plot-twist? not that impressive. Certainly doesn't make up for the whole waiting.

Still, I love the way that Moshfeg just write something like so unhinged and yet so close to the truth. She hangs onto the line of 'what if we just listened and did what that dark part in us tell us so?'. And it's strangely cathartic. STILL, it was plain boring and badly paced.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Drug abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, and Stalking