Finished book #110 in 2025 – A WRITER'S GOTTA WRITE

Book #110	Book: Homesick for Another World		Author: Ottessa Moshfegh
	Source: Library loan Format: Print	Pages: 294	Duration: 11/15/25 – 11/16/25 (2 days)
	Rating: ★★★★★	Genres: literary fiction, short stories, science fiction
📕10-word summary: 14 dark short stories featuring longing, isolated, and discontented characters. 🖌6-word review: Classic Moshfegh. Icky, yet realistic, revelations.
💭A few favorite quotes: “The house smelled like garlic and laundry.” “It wouldn’t be fair to call me a snob and my brother trash, but it wouldn’t be far from accurate.” “My poor wife. I didn’t know how little I loved her until she was dead.” “A few times we even tried to recapture whatever odd coincidence of lonesomeness and availability we’d found together that first summer in Alna, but inevitably one of our body parts would fail us — sometimes his, sometimes mine.” “You know women. Stray, cats, all of them, either purring in your lap or pissing in your shoes.”
🎓Some new-to-me words: padded, mottled, cornichon, melasma
Description:^* [A]s many critics noted, Moshfegh is particularly held in awe for her short stories. Homesick for Another World is the rare case where an author’s short story collection is if anything more anticipated than her novel. And for good reason. There’s something eerily unsettling about Ottessa Moshfegh’s stories, something almost dangerous, while also being delightful, and even laugh-out-loud funny. Her characters are all unsteady on their feet in one way or another; they all yearn for connection and betterment, though each in very different ways, but they are often tripped up by their own baser impulses and existential insecurities. Homesick for Another World is a master class in the varieties of self-deception across the gamut of individuals representing the human condition.^{*From goodreads.com’s synopsis.}
Thoughts: This is my third Ottessa Moshfegh book, following Eileen (read in 2018) and My Year of Rest and Relaxation (read in 2020), which is enough for me to say that this is “classic Moshfegh.” Moshfegh has cited the poet and novelist Charles Bukowski as an influence on her work. And like Bukowski, she creates characters who are considered socially deprived and isolated. This book comprises 14 short stories, and here are 6 of them with synopses for a flavor of her characters and topics: Bettering Myself: A teacher who despises her students becomes paralyzed by the fear of her own success when she is given a chance to leave her job. Malibu: A man manipulates his disabled uncle into making him his sole heir. Mr. Wu: A man sabotages a potential relationship before it can even begin. The Beach Boy: A widower seeks revenge at the resort where his wife may have cheated on him with a male prostitute. A Dark and Winding Road: A man goes to his parents’ cabin to spite his pregnant wife and ends up having an affair with his brother’s girlfriend. A Better Place: The collection’s final story, a dark fairy tale about two siblings who believe they don’t belong on Earth and decide they must kill someone to return to their true home.

See the rest of the books I’ve read in 2025 and previous years: 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019.

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