read it back in 2022 and gave it 4 ⭐️. i really liked how different this was compared to what she wrote in previous years. very brave of her to do. i liked the nastiness of the writing style l; moshfegh quite literally did not hold anything back.

2nd time reading this (2023) it low key lost its charm. while i loved the absurd & dark story i wasn’t a fan of the execution. the length (although short) does not justify the actual story line objectively speaking. the pace was very dragged out and tedious at times. in terms of the major themes (complex child-parent relationships and abuse of power), some of the character POVs were unnecessary. we did not gain anything by having the POVS of ina and grigor, for example. and while i liked how everyone was awful and disgusting, moshfegh went overboard with some of the descriptions in my opinion. again, we did not gain anything by having graphic descriptions of agata’s rapes. that’s just one example.

all in all, good story , okay execution. i liked it and i do recommend it. but i can see why some people don’t like it.