Et cetera : What We're Reading: Eileen

What a strange, wicked, and bizarre gem! I waited almost three months on the Libby app for Ottessa Moshfegh's 'Eileen' and was not disappointed! If you fancy thrillers that are also female character studies tackling heady topics such as body dysmorphia, alcoholism, and familial abuse, then this one is for you. Eileen Dunlop is a 24-year-old woman living in a New England town in the 1960's with her alcoholic father wearing her deceased mother's clothes & working as a secretary at a boys' home (which is pretty much a juvenile prison for boys.) Enter Rebecca: a woman who appears to be everything Eileen wishes she was and, ultimately, ends up freeing Eileen from herself in the darkest of manners. It's a dark and twisted story (3.57 rating on Goodreads) that I highly recommend, and check out the film adaptation starring Anne Hathaway afterwards! Happy reading, friends! ~Heather