Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Byłam Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

22 reviews

czoltak's review against another edition

DNF at 25%
This book is so disgusting and weird (not it a good way). On top of that there are so many problematic things I don’t even know where to begin. I read an overview of how this ends and I want absolutely no part of this any longer.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Excrement, Stalking, and Lesbophobia

Moderate: Pedophilia and Sexual assault

jaja_1212's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Body shaming, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Homophobia, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, Murder, and Lesbophobia

Minor: Stalking

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

katieohara's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective 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

4.25

I think that this book is one of the best examples of a character study that I have read this year. As a native New Englander if also has a certain sense of for lack of a better word, dark charm for me. However, the book is hurtling you to this big bad moment that it hints at, but it just didn’t feel as bad as I was expecting. But honestly I might just be a spoiled reader to used to the horrifying details of murder podcasts and criminal minds. Perhaps what happened is sick enough and the author is making a subtle point that if you are looking for perversion you are no better than the spoiled rich girl not realizing her idealism has consequences.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Incest, Mental illness, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Grief, Stalking, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Classism

ardour's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny hopeful reflective tense slow-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

5.0

i legit felt reborn as the novel ended

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Stalking, Lesbophobia, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Animal death and Blood

Extra content warning for the existential dread that’s portrayed for the most part of the novel (I’m thinking of others with existential OCD like me)—HOWEVER important to note that everything changes for Eileen at a certain point in the book and she undergoes a paradigm shift where one (seemingly insignificant thing) makes her realise that her life can have meaning. I found it SUPER cathartic in this way so I’m glad I kept going even though up until then her existential angst was hard to read. ~~~ Why there’s so many TWs - read to get a more accurate perspective on whether it’s the kind of book for you (spoiler free): This book is written from the perspective of Eileen writing about her young adulthood—as an elderly person. A lot of her dark thoughts & xenophobia come from the time when she grew up and the lack of love/care she received as a child. In this way I found it somewhat easier to suspend my reaction to some of the awful things she said. Additionally, Eileen, at the age she is writing the story, wants to portray what kind of person she was back then—warts and all—without trying to distract from what she feels are negative & toxic traits by inspiring sympathy. In this way it’s aggressively honest and Eileen doesn’t want to shield her past self from the judgement she feels she deserves.

smalika's review against another edition

adventurous dark 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, and Toxic friendship

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? It's complicated

3.5

I think this would have worked better as a short story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body horror, Gun violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Stalking, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

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

zjarr's review against another edition

dark 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

3.75

i liked this i think? i enjoyed reading it and it only took me two days even though i usually can't get through slow paced books with little engaging plot lines. i liked eileen in the sense that it was interesting to see things from her point of view. obviously she is very flawed but some of her hangups were relatable to me. the ending got spoiled for me before reading but i do think you should know beforehand that the big stuff doesn't happen until the very end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Child abuse, Fatphobia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Eating disorder, Stalking, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, and Injury/Injury detail

dealingwithdragons's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Police brutality

Minor: Terminal illness, Abortion, and Pregnancy