Reviews tagging 'Cancer'

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh

8 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

ephe16's review against another edition

dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Murder

kay4eva's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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: Alcoholism, Body horror, Confinement, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Murder

Moderate: Cancer, Domestic abuse, Blood, and Death of parent

aalayah's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Incest, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Vomit, Kidnapping, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Dysphoria

Minor: Cancer and Blood

jamihoneycutt's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

3.5

Pleas look up trigger warnings for this, because this book is full of them! 

This book took me an eternity to get through. I didn’t want to pick it up but felt like I was in too deep to DNF it. Ottessa Moshfegh writes unlikeable characters better than anyone I’ve read and it made for an uncomfortable reading experience at times. Especially given her love of detailed descriptions of excrement. However, the last hundred pages really turned it around for me. I think I just struggle with her pacing, but I’m glad I powered through because there were a few great quotes and reflections in the final pages that I would’ve hated to miss. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Excrement, Vomit, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Body shaming, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Murder

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.25

“Eileen” is a character driven novel which follows our protagonist  as  she narrates her final and climatic days living in the gloomy small town of “xville.” I had read Ottessa Moshfeg’s most popular work “my year of rest and relaxation” prior to this, and knew  immediately that “Eileen” had to be my next read. Surprisingly enough I think I liked this book better… Moshfeg does a great job intertwining the narration of a 24 year old with narration of her older self, less naive and able to come to terms with the struggles she so desperately wanted to escape from. Eileen’s actions really exemplify  that the coming of age process doesn’t stop at 18, and through adversity and experience do we find growth. won’t say any more about the plot, since it’s best to go in blind, but I will say that Moshfeg reminds me very much of Salley Rooney. While Rooney focuses on the relationships of her characters as opposed to Moshfeg exploring the darkness of her charterers, both really convey the complexity of each individual. It was interesting to see how the characters were written as unlikeable and sometimes unreliable, but facets of themselves created redeemable features in the readers eyes. This book is not a light read, and not for everyone, so I advise searching up trigger warnings before you pick it up . But if you like darker literary fiction with foreshadowing and phenomenal character development, “Eileen”might be for you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Cancer, Confinement, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, and Death of parent

Moderate: Gun violence, Grief, Stalking, and Sexual harassment

zuleika's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

nialiversuch's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Xenophobia, and Antisemitism