Reviews with content warning for Toxic friendship - Byłam Eileen

Reviews tagging 'Toxic friendship'

Byłam Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

59 reviews

gaeliloveweiss's review against another edition

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dark funny 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

4.75

Don’t read this unless you love an awful person character study.

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riotgrrrl92's review against another edition

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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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kaylanoellesims's review against another edition

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dark 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

1.75

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rachaelwho's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

I didn't enjoy it but it was quite good. I saw someone call it "Carol for psychos" and honestly that's not too far off. Not quite as boring as Carol, but not lively, either. A very good character study. Not quite my cup of tea.

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ana_h's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

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olive_lol's review against another edition

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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

2.5

This novel's setting over the Christmas season creates a uniquely lonely atmosphere. Each scene is packed with description of often mundane things, which, for me, at least, got old after about a hundred pages. Some topics, like alcoholism and child abuse, are explored deeply through multiple characters who experience them.

This novel obviously makes you uncomfortable and grossed out on purpose, but I honestly don't think the story benefits much from that. Most of the sensetive or gross topics feel like they were only included for shock and contributed little to any wider commentary. However, some topics are very well-explored, just not most of those included. That said, make sure you check the content warnings for this book.

Nothing much in the plot happens until about the last third; most of the book leading up to that point is a mix of anecdotes, atmosphere, and gross-out description. For most of the first third, I was really considering picking up another book instead because so little was happening or felt significant. It did create a nice payoff when, in the last third, things started happening, but that didn't outweigh the slowness of the beginning and middle for me.

This book really wasn't for me. It had some merits, like strong descriptions and atmosphere. However, I couldn't look past the overly slow pacing and the overuse of some sensetive topics seemingly for shock.

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