One of my all time favorite characters-the one largely responsible for my comedic taste- is Jim Carrey's The Grinch. Eileen gives heavy Grinch energy; they are both darkly funny and are governed by their distaste for society and its structure, but where the Grinch is ostracized, Eileen is invisible. Plus, Eileen takes place in New England in 1964 during the 5 days leading up to Christmas, so if your fav holiday movie is the Grinch, but only up until he steals all the presents, I think this is the type of "festive" book you'd enjoy-in other words, not at all festive.

This book is slightly thriller, slightly mystery, but mostly a confrontation of a disturbed woman with the world hell-bent on erasing her. What I liked about this book is its use of conventional form to echo Eileen's entrapment. I found Moshfegh's writing to be gorgeously unsettling. Eileen is disgusting and hard to stomach as a character. She loves talking about her bowel movements in great detail, but there's also a stark honesty to her that feels commendable.

If you like to read books that explore the female psyche, female relationships, or how a disturbed woman rebels against oppressive structures, this is the one for you. But I warn you now, you've gotta be ok with reading some very vile and graphic description of the body and it's fluids (+ TW SA of minors, sodomy).