Unusual. It’s a descriptor that applies equally to Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel and to its title character. Eileen Dunlop narrates the events of a week in her life from a remove of fifty years. At Christmastime 1964, Eileen was 24 years old and living a hopeless existence. Living with her alcoholic father in a crumbling New England home and working at a dreary juvenile detention center, Eileen is socially awkward, malnourished, and getting more detached from reality by the hour. She stalks a co-worker and dreams constantly of her father’s death and her possible escape from the life she’s living.
Eileen’s life is upended by the arrival of Rebecca, a new co-worker hired to supervise the education of the juvenile delinquents. Eileen quickly becomes obsessed with the beautiful, socially graceful Rebecca, and is astonished when her interest seems to be reciprocated. As the two women get closer, Eileen’s attraction to Rebecca, which may or may not be sexual in nature overwhelms her nearly completely. Never a stable person to begin with, Rebecca draws Eileen into a dangerous situation.
Ottessa Moshfegh’s writing does an incredible job of sustaining the reader’s interest during some scantily-plotted sequences. It’s clear that she’s thoroughly built out the character of Eileen and carefully considered all her various eccentricities and distorted thoughts. However, she’s just not very good company. She drags out her story to the breaking point, testing the patience of the reader. From the very beginning she foreshadows her departure from her hometown, but this action doesn’t take place till very close to the end of the book. Indeed, it almost feels like Eileen finishes right at the very start of the actual story, which has somehow gone missing. This may be the story of how Eileen managed to escape her situation, but the events that turned Eileen into the confident woman narrating these events are nowhere to be found.
On the whole I’d have to say that Eileen, the novel, is a major disappointment. Ottessa Moshfegh invested so much effort into creating a wholly original character, but then wasted her on a minor story like this.