So far, so unsurprising, until on the fifth page Moshfegh hits the reader with a passage that made me sit bolt-upright, realising joyously that Eileen is not your typical, meek and long-suffering heroine: In the first few pages we learn that her Mother has died, that she lives her life dutifully caring for an alcoholic father and dreams of making her escape. In fact, what is striking about this book is just how starkly it shows us how very conventional the female characters we are used to reading really are…Įileen is a young woman in her early twenties, living in a coastal New England Town in what we assume to be the late 1950s or early 60s. What is quickly revealed, however, is that it’s central character is something special indeed. Thus, innocuously, begins Ottessa Moshfegh’s Man Booker prize-nominated debut novel Eileen. I looked like a girl you’re expect to see on a city bus, reading some clothbound book from the library about plants or geography, perhaps wearing a net over my light brown hair. The Lesser Bohemians, Eimear McBride (Faber, 2016) Two great books by women published this yearĮileen Ottessa Moshfegh, (Jonathan Cape, 2016) Anna Pigott reviews Eileen by Ottessa Moshfegh and The Lesser Bohemians by our favourite Eimear McBride.
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