I'm still trying to figure out what to do with these stories—in a good way. It's extremely visceral writing, at times a little too much so, that's also painstaking in its detail. And each narrator is so different from the last. How does she do that so well? Overall just a great reading experience that makes me want to read more. ( )

Compared to Flannery O’Connor, but they seem to me profoundly different. They both deal in what you could call the grotesque, but O’Connor’s stories offer their characters divine grace and redemption. Moshfegh’s offer nihilism. This is a collection for your favorite misanthrope, where the physicality of human flesh is disgusting, human behaviors similar, and that’s pretty much what there is. O’Connor’s writing is famously imbued with her Catholicism; Moshfegh can only be an atheist.

It could make for unrelentingly grim reading, and sure that could be one’s takeaway, but the stories are wired with a dark energy and black humor and usually don’t fail to be interesting. ( )

4.5 ( )

2.5 stars
The weirdest book, this author has a big case of misanthropy. I can relate, that's why she gets an extra half star. But the characters she peoples her stories with--good grief. They are the most sickening, hateful people that are represented in the human species. For example, boys who let their pimples grow, so they can be clawed open, squeezed, allowed to scab over, and repeat the process. These characters actually have girlfriends. Or a woman who hires a pregnant 18-year-old to clean her vacation house. She sits on her couch while the near-term teenager lugs a water-filled bucket and mop up the stairs, and reads her magazine. She hears a loud thump on the floor above her, so she goes to the foot of the stairs and calls up to her: "everything alright?" Yes, answers the girl. When she comes downstairs to get more cleaning supplies, the woman sees that she is bleeding from her crotch, unbeknownst to the preggo, with her big belly blocking the way. The woman let's her finish the cleaning job, and takes out$20 to pay her, as the girl staggers out into her yard, with blood now running down her legs. Two women are in lounge chairs in the neighboring yard, and get up to help her, giving the woman a dirty look.
Just a sampling of the weird-ass stuff you'll read in Moshfegh's stories. I've highlighted some of the strangest sections, so I can remember it. Enjoy. ( )

i did not care. i sat down today and told myself that i'd finish the last 200 pages today and honestly? i did not even like one story, the last one was okay but the rest were honestly such bores ( )