Eileen

Reviews / Votes

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. -- Robert Douglas-Fairhurst * The Times * A sucker punch of a novel, full of fury and disgust, heart-wrenching in places, a masterclass in mood and tone. Eileen is a fantastic creation and a surprisingly satisfying antidote to the dozy and complacent heroines of much so-called literary fiction. -- Julie Myerson An unforgettable new American voice. * Los Angeles Times * The great power of this book...is that Eileen is never simply a literary gargoyle; she is painfully alive and human, and Ottessa Moshfegh writes her with a bravura wildness that allows flights of expressionistic fantasy to alternate with deadpan matter of factness... As a character study, the book is a remarkable tour de force... As an evocation of physical and psychological squalor, Eileen is original courageous and masterful. Moshfegh never panders. -- Sandra Newman * Guardian * A seductive novel...Moshfegh writes beautiful sentences. One after the other they unwind - playful, shocking, wise, morbid, witty, searingly sharp. The beginning of this novel is so impressive, so controlled yet whimsical, fresh and thrilling, you feel she can do anything. * New York Times * In the literary world...Ottessa Moshfegh is seen as a comer, perhaps even the Next Big Thing. Eileen is a remarkable piece of writing, always dark and surprising, sometimes ugly and occasionally hilarious... Trust me, you have never read anything remotely like Eileen. * Washington Post * Ottessa Moshfegh has created one of the great characters of recent fiction. Eileen is a modern masterpiece: cruel, grotesquely beautiful and merciless as a hungry wolf finding a lost fawn in the snow. -- John Burnside If Jim Thompson had married Patricia Highsmith - imagine that household - they might have conspired together to dream up something like Eileen. It's blacker than black and cold as an icicle. It's also brilliantly realised and horribly funny. -- John Banville Excellent...a taut, well-written, and completely engrossing novel...culminating in a dynamite ending. * Boston Globe * Perverse, squalid and sinister this expertly paced novel ... delivers a thumping finish to match the build-up: a single line near the end has the effect of a thunderbolt, leaving us dumbstruck by her sly, almost wicked storytelling genius. -- Anthony Cummins * Daily Telegraph *