Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh

Had it not been for a former student, I never would have known who Ottessa Moshfegh was. Instead I saw this book selling for 50p at the local farm, and immediately made it mine. Now it has been sold to Skoob (the secondhand bookshop in Russell Square) for 50p as it didn't quite make it as one of the 283 novels I have space for in my living room. The circle of life applied to books!

This was one of the most disturbing (if not the single most disturbing) reads of the year, one in which you know from the start that things are going to go so darkly wrong. Kind of like watching Fargo. 

I can absolutely see why Moshfegh is hailed as one of the best young American novelists, though I think that My Year of Rest and Relaxation deserves more praise, but that may have to do with the even more bizarre plot.

Go Tell It on the Mountain - James Baldwin

 

Oh, the haunting beauty of James Baldwin's writing! In a year that saw the release of the wonderful If Beale Street Could Talk (which I unfortunately went to see with a friend who failed to appreciate it, probably due to its lack of car chases and superheroes) I thought it was fitting to finally read this book. 

In many ways, reminded me of Secrets and Lies transposed in a racially turbulent American East Coast. All the characters appear like good people at heart, but broken (to different extents) but the drama of daily life. The reader wishes them to have good lives, but knows that in most cases there are simply too many hurdles. It is heartbreaking, but it has love in it and, ultimately, hope. 

And, much like with Coates below, I am afraid that it still does not get read by the people who really should, like my friend with his car chases and superheroes.