Ottessa Moshfegh

the appeal of her writing was v immediate to me but ive had mixed results in turning friends onto her, if u don’t like the stories it’s nbd, like there’s no big secret to it; flappy’s description gets at her appeal pretty well. i would say maybe try mcglue just bc it’s an awesome piece of writing, if you still wanna give it a try

I read the stories and eileen and they did seem of a piece, a kind of similar detachment. what should I look for in mcglue from a writing POV? (I feel like if i notice what a writer is doing, the writer's doing a bad job, so i'm not going to automatically take notice of really good writing)

this thread makes me remember that i thought mcglue sounded like something i'd enjoy, despite my reservations. may well give it a try.

anybody else finish the book yet? thoughts?

She has a talent for depicting squalor.

I started it and I'm not sure how I feel yet, but it does make for excellent bedtime reading.

i finished & liked the book...i think maybe less than i liked eileen? i dont have any issue w the end, fully understood & knew 9/11 was gonna be implicated here

the end as a set of snapshots, step out into a new world, felt poignant to me w/e. old person on a bench how did they get there.
self-observation so much different than eileen but also the same. a person observing themselves 200+ pages but stillcompelling?like alfred says, squalor, lotta pages of it
nothing compares to the short stories for me, havent read mcglue
dont ever read interviews of anyone ever obv why u torturing urselves

i finished & liked the book...i think maybe less than i liked eileen? i dont have any issue w the end, fully understood & knew 9/11 was gonna be implicated here

― johnny crunch, Monday, July 23, 2018 9:54 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

m/l my thoughts, though reiterating that certain characters work in the world trade center pretty much robs the rest of the book of suspense. i suppose the ending could be read as a final indictment of the vacuity and banal selfishness of the narrator.

Great interview with OM on the Bret Easton Ellis Podcast today. Behind a paywall but worth it: https://www.patreon.com/posts/b-e-e-podcast-10-21822014

the novel she's working on now 1) stars a Chinese cross dresser 2) the first chapter is narrated by a ghost

reading this while depressed and in a fog of over-sleeping + barely leaving my apartment has been quite the trip

Omg, I had the same experience. Sent me in to a total tailspin. I gave it to my wife and she got depressed, too. Not recommended (or highly recommended) for delicate readers feeling anxious or hopeless about current events.

the psychiatrist is just the best though

Yeah, Dr. Tuttle the best drawn character imo.

despite the descriptions of her having red hair I always picture her as Fran Lebowitz

Reading her short stories. She’s good with conception, setup, and details, but shit on endings

Who is good at endings, though?

'my year' is the worst thing i have read since 'ready player one'

the sort of sub-lanchesterian satire-adjacent archness of it

the (tongue-in-cheek? or genuinely fucking stupid?) september 11th 2001 millenarianism

this is otm:

It read like an attenuated short story, extended beyond its scope.

though i think alfred is actually referring to her other book there

tin ear approaching lanchesterian proportions also. i just got to the bit where the narrator orders “a case of sexual lubricant” which is good enough for the man himself almost

that tic of novels trying to prove a point about their new yorkiness by playing mad libs with ETHNICITY + SERVICE INDUSTRY

the laotian lady at the korean beauticians messed up when she was threading my eyebrows so i bought a cannoli from the iraqis at the jewish delicatessen and ordered a sicilian pizza from the sephardic jews at the Italian restaurant and hoped they’d send me the cute eritrean delivery driver

have you read anything else by her

hough i think alfred is actually referring to her other book there

― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp),

yeah -- Eileen

no one knows who lanchester is thom

she nailed the ending in Eileen imo, and the stories are impeccably constructed. I didn't like MYORAR at all though.

it made me laugh a few times but a bit of a letdown tho i had high expectations

that tic of novels trying to prove a point about their new yorkiness by playing mad libs with ETHNICITY + SERVICE INDUSTRY

― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:48 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

the laotian lady at the korean beauticians messed up when she was threading my eyebrows so i bought a cannoli from the iraqis at the jewish delicatessen and ordered a sicilian pizza from the sephardic jews at the Italian restaurant and hoped they’d send me the cute eritrean delivery driver

― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Thursday, January 24, 2019 10:51 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lmao

If you haven’t read the John Lanchester thread you should leave ILB and not come back until you are ready to learn

ay ay captain

it’s a good thread but i categorically object to american writers being called lanchesteresque. also otessa has a great ear imo

Who the fuck is John Lanchester?

If you haven’t read the John Lanchester thread you should leave ILB and not come back until you are ready to learn

Who the fuck is John Lanchester?

And what does he have to do with OM?

the sort of sub-lanchesterian satire-adjacent archness of it

Take it to the JL thread

Read “A Dark and Winding Road” from the short stories and hated it, but "sub-Lanchester" is a bit of a low blow.

Maybe I picked the wrong story? It felt very I WILL SHOCK YOU, like the annoying over-talkative person at a party

I don’t mean to sound down on her, she’s brought me a good deal of pleasure. Still reading the short stories but will definitely go on to Eileen and Year. It’s just the endings...dark and winding is a good example of how she tries to up-end / shock the reader. Or “the beach boy” which isn’t very interesting to start with and just kind of putters to a stall. I know short stories are hard to end well - it takes a good measure of poetry. Maybe I’m being too hard on her.

Stories okay but at least we had Nirvana

(if the end of the short story is shit then it is a fail, I liked her collection a lot but also feel many great writers finish stories well)

What's considered a good ending though, especially when it's not particularly plot oriented?

I'm rereading Flannery O'Connoor, and, boy, she could end'em, sometimes at the risk of being reductive.

she sold her hair to buy him a watch chain - but he sold his watch to buy her a set of combs

I'm only answering this because I just read it, but Robert Aickman's short story "The Inner Room" has a *great* ending

the extent of the american annoyance at comparing a bad book of yours to one of ours is half amusing and half dispiriting

and i haven’t read the others. mcglue sounds .. more amenable? .. and certainly it is possible for writers of talent to produce bad books so i might give her another go. but this one just seems a spectacular series of own goals and self-owns