Eileen Dunlop is an unassuming yet disturbed young woman who lives with her alcoholic father in 1960s Boston. She works as a secretary at a local prison for boys, and has sexual fantasies about one of the guards, dreaming about escaping to the big city. Deeply introverted, and burdened with caring for her father – with whom she endures a difficult relationship – she shoplifts at the weekends and daydreams of a better life. But when a new counselor arrives at the prison, the beautiful and charismatic Rebecca Saint John, Eileen becomes enchanted by her. It’s a budding friendship that spirals out of control, pitching Eileen into the darkest of crimes.

Eileen is a rather downbeat book, which feels rather like a debut novel (although it isn’t). I was surprised to see that it was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize. Not that I didn’t like it, but I perhaps was expecting a little more. The character of Eileen is captivating, if not wholly original, but the setting and 60s era add an extra element of repression to the proceedings. It’s set at Christmas, but isn’t very festive, and the wintry prose chills to the bone. The morose tone makes it at times a difficult read, but the pace picks up more towards the end as the almost Hitchcockian reveal propels us off in a different direction.

There has recently been a feature film adaptation of this novel, one of which I am keen to see as I think the subject matter offers a lot cinematically. As a novel, it’s steady and decent, and one I can recommend, but nothing groundbreaking enough for me to go to too much trouble to search out more of this author’s work.

What a weird, grubby little book! Eileen looks back on her own depressing life in her mid twenties in New England, telling us of some horrible people along the way. Eileen herself is pretty unlikable to say the least. Not sure what to make of this one to be honest - definitely a unique author.

Reading other reviews, this book certainly divides opinion. However, for me the psychological depths explored were interesting, and having the narration of an unsympathetic woman was disturbing and yet brilliant.

Eileen is 24 and has suffered abuse all her life; her parents using her to vent their frustrations among other things, she is constantly insulted. Despite this she's expected to get on with things. When her mother is dying she has to leave college to nurse her, and after her death she's expected to take care of her unbearable alcoholic father. With her low self-esteem, Eileen is an easy victim for her colleagues at the detention centre to bully.

Due to all this Eileen is prone to drinking like her father, struggles with body image, and finds social interactions difficult. Its then when she meets young Harvard graduate Rebecca joins the prison staff, and tries to do everything to become her friend,

This book is a very slow burn, and I can understand why the author spends a good chunk of the book setting up the unexpected twist between Eileen and Rebecca. There a few gruesome scenes, not to everyone's taste but its certainly it brings to light the reality of alcoholism and the lasting psychological issues from abuse.

Eileen's not a reliable narrator in convincing us of her feelings about her youth and what she has suffered.

This wasn't a bad book, but I think it could have been shorter.

I found Eileen to be quite a dark and unexpected read. I'm always interested to read books that are from female characters that aren't particularly likeable. I think it breaks conventions. However, this book wasn't quite my cup of tea.

3.5 stars in fact
Eileen, the first-person narrator of this novel, is a 24 year old woman who lives with her alcoholic father in a boring town, and who works in a juvenile correctional. She’s obsessed with herself, her body and with her unhappy life, in which the highlight is her (unrequited) love toward one of the young guards in the correctional.
Everything will change when beautiful and perfect Rebecca appears in her life.
With Eileen as pathetic protagonist, this could have been a bleak and dramatic story, but the book turns out to have plenty of humor (dark, but humor nevertheless) and the plot has some unexpected turns in the third part of the book, turning to be nearly a thriller. Eileen is perfectly developed character, and though she’s ridiculous, despicable, pitiable… she’s also endearing and magnetic at the same time.
Maybe this book is not for everyone, but in my case it was worth the time I spent reading it.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this review copy, given in exchange for an honest review. I chose to read this as I had been given the task to create a Booker Prize Display at the library where I work, and this book sounded interesting. I'm sorry to say that I found the whole book very hard going, and I had to abandon it half way as I was not enjoying it. I've no doubt it is a very good piece of writing, but it wasn't really for me. Sorry.

24 year old Eileen is living on X-Vale with her alcoholic father, Eileen is full of self loathing pretty much brought on by her parents, Eileen dreams of leaving her life in X-Vale begging and when a beautiful woman called Rebecca starts work at the prison Eileen works at she starts to see her as a way out, Eileen is mesmerised by Rebecca and becomes obsessed with her, trying her hardest to impress her in any way possible...but how far is too far?


Eileen is a repulsive character, she has bad habits and her personal hygiene is awful...she has some very bad thoughts and does some awful stuff...yet I found myself rooting for her, there was some very beautiful moments in this book, especially when Eileen is talking about her father and how she just wants him to love and accept her and I found these quite powerful. I found it riveting being inside Eileen head and what I loved the most is how Eileen seemed so real, she wasn’t this beautiful woman who is perfect in every way but has a secret or flaw which isn’t actually that bad which we see a lot in literature, she was a damaged, flawed, plain looking girl who had a lot of things going on in her head that just felt real to me.

So glad I read this and proof again that literary fiction isn’t as scary as I think.

This book has had a number of enthusiastic reviews, and recognition from a number of prize juries. It struck me as a tragic, repetitive, story about a young woman with no resources and therefore subject to seduction by any number of temptations that have to do with putting stuff in your mouth and your bloodstream that you do you harm,

A little late reviewing this book but nevertheless... This dark story of loneliness will strike a cord with anyone who, despite appearing and acting in a 'conventional' life, feels like an outsider. Someone watching and imaging the world and then acting on impulse. The story does not take the the romantic twist it appears to be following but veers off into a situation that is like an out-oof-control train crashing forward on rails it cannot escape from. Not a joyful, happy read but challenging and disturbing, I loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdDPX0Fqm8Y

There was something quite compelling about this but ultimately I felt it didn't quite match my expectations from what I'd heard about this. The blurb seemed somewhat misleading in that the "strange crime" that is alluded to doesn't occur until the very end and then it feels like an afterthought rather than an important plot point . Nonetheless it was an interesting read and I would certainly read more of Ottessa Moshfegh's work

3 out of 5 stars for Eileen, an intriguing yet very weird book

I will say this about houses. Those perfect neat colonials I’d passed earlier that evening on my way through X-ville are the death masks of normal people. Nobody is really so orderly, so perfect. To have a house like that says more about what’s wrong with you than any decrepit dump. Those people with perfect houses are simply obsessed with death.
The novel, which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize, has received a lot of attention in the last year. I was intrigued by the premise of this book. It follows the story of Eileen Dunlop, a twenty-four-year-old woman who lives alone with her alcoholic father and works at a boys’ prison. An older Eileen is the narrator of the story and looks back at events that passed in the week around Christmas in the 1960s. While Eileen’s external life is drab and uneventful, her inner life is complex as she is plagued by thoughts of sexual desire, remorse, depression, and self-loathing. Her outward life changes dramatically when she meets Rebecca. Eileen narrates the events that unfold after meeting Rebecca, which, within the course of one week, put her on a drastically different life path.

Eileen is full of self-loathing, but she is also a loathsome character. It is never really clear how much we, as readers, should trust the story that Eileen is telling us. Nevertheless, she paints herself as a self-absorbed twenty-four-year-old, while also assuring the reader that in her later life she became well-adjusted. I opened my review with a quote that I think exemplifies one of the main themes of the book. It explores the question of what is under the surface, what is repressed or hidden. It is a book that is at times repugnant. Eileen is obsessed with the biological functions of her body, her digestive system, her waste—in short, all that occurs under the surface of her body. In a similar way, she gives the reader a surface story, one the reader must speculate about and read into.

On the whole, this was an interesting read. It is not for the squeamish. If you can’t deal with dark themes or are easily taken aback by grotesque imagery or situations, I would pass over this one. If you like books that push the boundaries of what is “acceptable” to explore deeper themes and questions, give this one a go! I found myself thinking about it a lot in the days after I read it. It’s one that will stick with you for a while after you read it.

My copy of this book was provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, NetGalley and Vintage for helping me get a copy of this book.

A very dark read about a lonely woman trapped at home with her alcoholic father and trapped in a soulless, miserable job. Redemption comes in the shape of a female who is a vivacious, outgoing and pretty as Eileen is not. But all is not as it seems and and ugly truth is revealed that changes Eileen's life forever. An excellent read once the narrative starts to move.

Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh is a general fiction (adult) read.
Eileen Dunlop is a twenty-four year old then and had a job that paid fifty-seven dollars a week as a kind of secretary at a private juvenile correctional facility for teenage boys.
This was a good read with good characters. Little slow for me I couldn't get into it but I managed to read it. 4*. I voluntarily reviewed an advanced copy of this book from netgalley.

Such a gripping book! Eileen is the most unreliable of narrators, but she has such a unique voice that she captures and holds your attention completely. It evokes the feel of small town America in the 1960s so deftly and vividly that you are caught up in the claustrophobic unease of her life. When she meets the beautiful and charismatic Rebecca Saint John, she is ripe for rebellion...
A brilliant slow burn read that never lets up.

Eileen Dunlop is a very dissatisfied young woman, with plenty to be dissatisfied about. But she glories in her misfortunes. "Had I been born into a different family, I might have grown up to act and feel perfectly normal. Truth be told, I was a glutton for punishment." She even stays up late to drink with her paranoid, alcoholic father and wears the clothes of her dead mother.

In the juvenile prison where she has a low-paying clerical job, She sounds like the workmate from hell.

Then a glamorous counsellor, Rebecca, joins the staff and Eileen becomes infatuated. Rebecca encourages this. Maybe she knows that Eileen's definition of a good friend is someone who helps you hide the body.

For the first nine-tenths of the book, the writing and characterisation are quite compelling. The final tenth moves into a fast-moving denouement in which the incredible can prove quite credible.