Eileen
Now a major film
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3.7 • 64 Ratings
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- £4.99
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- £4.99
Publisher Description
**NOW A MAJOR FILM**
**SHORTLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE**
Trapped between caring for her alcoholic father and her job as a secretary at the boys' prison, Eileen Dunlop dreams of escaping to the big city.
In the meantime, her nights and weekends are filled with shoplifting and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father's messes.
When the beautiful, charismatic Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counsellor at the prison, Eileen is enchanted, unable to resist what appears to be a miraculously budding friendship.
But soon, Eileen's affection for Rebecca pulls her into a crime that far surpasses even her own wild imagination.
**FROM THE AUTHOR OF TIKTOK SENSATION MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION**
'Fully lives up to the hype. A taut psychological thriller, rippled with comedy as black as a raven's wing, Eileen is effortlessly stylish and compelling' The Times
*SHORTLISTED FOR THE CWA NEW BLOOD DAGGER AWARD*
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Ottessa Moshfegh’s Eileen is one of the most fascinating literary characters we’ve encountered. A secretary at a young offenders’ institute in the '60s, she is herself imprisoned by her alcoholic father. You’d think she’d be a sympathetic figure, but Eileen contends she’s a “monster”. Her obsession with an effervescent stranger named Rebecca—and her involvement in a catastrophic crime—help build that case. A 2016 Man Booker Prize finalist, Eileen is a wildly seductive, wickedly sinister book.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Winner of both the Paris Review's Plimpton Prize and a Stegner Fellowship, Moshfegh moves beyond her previous short fiction achievements with this dark and unnerving debut novel. In 1964, Eileen Dunlop is 24 years old, living with her cruel, alcoholic father, and working at Moorehead, a juvenile detention center for boys. She also spends a lot of time hating herself ("I looked like nothing special") and plotting her exodus from the small New England town where she's been trapped. Eileen's perspective is one of hindsight, some 50 years later, looking back on her final days of quiet, isolated misery before the rest of her life begins, a very different life we know will happen without knowing much more. The book's opening evokes a stark kind of empathy for Eileen, who is extreme in her oddness and aversion to personal hygiene, but still quite likable. Unfortunately, some 100 pages in, she is still announcing her imminent departure. As the claustrophobia and filth of her circumstances become more suffocating over the course of the novel, they seem more redundant than effective. With the arrival of the mysterious Rebecca, an alleged education specialist at Moorehead, Eileen's momentum (and the narrative's) finally picks up somewhat, although it will still feel stagnant to some readers.
Customer Reviews
I weirdly loved this.
I think anyone who reads this can say(some with more shame than others) related to Eileen, I believe it widen my prospectof knowledge and my view on some certain topics. An edgy winter story was the perfect read for me right now a bit graphic but fun.
Too depressing
I bought it as I’d read it was inspired by Du Maurier’s Rebecca. Unfortunately it had none of the imaginative elements, symbolism, vividness or dark romanticism of the latter. Here the protagonist is an extremely sad and pathetic creature who indulges it self-loathing which ultimately leads her to commit the unthinkable crime.
Dark, disturbing but absorbing
Eileen's most meaningful relationship is with herself. Her outer world is hauntingly unhappy, yet she manages to create her own reality in order to survive. The book tends to meander at times but I found it original and, worryingly, saw aspects of myself in her. An interesting read.