angel_kiiss's review
challenging
dark
reflective
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? It's complicated
3.0
This book is about 40 pages too long. And what I mean is the 40 pages where f*g is splattered across the page should have been heavily edited. Also, shoehorned racism and an unnecessary drop of the hard r n-word.
Moshfegh is a gifted writer, the last hundred pages reflect this, but I haven’t come across such an ‘edgy’ woman in a very long time. “Oh, she’s raw, she tells it like it is,” can happen without the flippant use of slurs.
Moshfegh is a gifted writer, the last hundred pages reflect this, but I haven’t come across such an ‘edgy’ woman in a very long time. “Oh, she’s raw, she tells it like it is,” can happen without the flippant use of slurs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Racial slurs, Addiction, Racism, Alcohol, Blood, Homophobia, and Misogyny
oddly's review against another edition
3.0
I’m glad they are reissuing Moshfegh’s first work now that her books have found a steady following! This little novella set in 1851 is quite interesting, following the perspective of a man being held for the murder of his friend as he floats back and forth between present events and the past, attempting to remember what happened leading up to his friend’s death.
This novella has shades of Eileen—Moshfegh’s breakout novel—throughout, evoking the dark and brooding atmosphere of that work along with the strange and unsettling narration that digs deep into the mind of a semi-disturbed individual.
Her writing, though sometimes a little difficult to unpack, forces the reader to fully reside in the mind of her character, however uncomfortable that place may be. You aren’t just seeing the world of the character, you are experiencing what they experience, thinking their strange, unconnected thoughts, and in a way, becoming them—it can be scary place.
This novella isn’t perfect, but I definitely saw the shadow of Moshfegh’s writing to come and as a completist, I love to see where authors have been and how their early work threads through their later work.
I’d definitely recommend this as a one-sitting type read. Though it does have chapter separations, there is a flow to the book that almost demands you to live in it, and experience it, all at once. I have a feeling it is the type of read I would see new things in if I read it again, too.
My thanks to Penguin Press for my advance copy of this one to read and review.
This novella has shades of Eileen—Moshfegh’s breakout novel—throughout, evoking the dark and brooding atmosphere of that work along with the strange and unsettling narration that digs deep into the mind of a semi-disturbed individual.
Her writing, though sometimes a little difficult to unpack, forces the reader to fully reside in the mind of her character, however uncomfortable that place may be. You aren’t just seeing the world of the character, you are experiencing what they experience, thinking their strange, unconnected thoughts, and in a way, becoming them—it can be scary place.
This novella isn’t perfect, but I definitely saw the shadow of Moshfegh’s writing to come and as a completist, I love to see where authors have been and how their early work threads through their later work.
I’d definitely recommend this as a one-sitting type read. Though it does have chapter separations, there is a flow to the book that almost demands you to live in it, and experience it, all at once. I have a feeling it is the type of read I would see new things in if I read it again, too.
My thanks to Penguin Press for my advance copy of this one to read and review.
beanwa's review
challenging
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Homophobia, Racism, Gore, Racial slurs, and Body horror
_bookegg's review against another edition
3.0
There’s some interesting homoerotic tension here that builds nicely towards the end and especially in the final two pages. The whole story as a Brecht feel too it as well which is fun.
A classic unreliable Moshfegh narrator. I really love McGlue’s damaged skull that he picked at. Absolutely gross in all the right ways.
This works solely as a novella. It’s a bit abstract and hazy in its sequences. Purposefully.
A classic unreliable Moshfegh narrator. I really love McGlue’s damaged skull that he picked at. Absolutely gross in all the right ways.
This works solely as a novella. It’s a bit abstract and hazy in its sequences. Purposefully.
emmaallenmarshall's review
dark
2.75
it’s just too dark for me. soaked in blood, and not in a good way?
reenreads's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
fast-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
2.0
ethangaskill's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0