Homesick for Another World: Stories Hardcover – January 17, 2017

WRITING A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES IS A DEMANDING AND CHALLENGING TASK. ON THE ONE HAND, AN AUTHOR HAS TO ACCOMPLISH ON A FEW PAGES SOMETHING THAT A NOVELIST WOULD ON A FEW HUNDRED PAGES. ON THE OTHER, AN AUTHOR SHOULD CREATE A SOPHISTICATED COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES THAT ARE PERFECTLY CHOREOGRAPHED AND AT THE END GIVES A READER A FEELING OF HAVING BEEN LOOKING ON A COHERENT, MATURE AND COMPLETE PICTURE.Ottessa Moshfegh unquestionably has accomplished both of those challenges. With minor differences, all of the stories are beautifully crafted and astonishingly composed. Some of the writers have a tendency to circumlocute and go all around with plenty of words, definitions, descriptions of circumstances, trying to get to the point, yet never really getting there in a way that can nail the reader. Moshfegh writing is rather straightforward and to the point. She doesn’t try to make something ugly sounds different than it should, especially when it comes to her characters. As she once said she didn’t like them, and it seems that neither she expects us to esteem them. However, Moshfegh doesn’t evidently and demonstrably define her characters as villainous. She leaves it to us to make a judgment on, sometimes, very obvious circumstances.The characters of the stories – men, and women, they are who they are, and don’t pretend to be someone else. They speak plainly for themselves, clearly stating their mind. Let’s, for instance, take the opening story “Bettering Myself”, in a very first sentence a woman who’s a math teacher speaks about her workplace:MY CLASSROOM WAS ON THE FIRST FLOOR, NEXT TO NUNS’ LOUNGE. I USED THEIR BATHROOM TO PUKE IN THE MORNINGS.Further describing how she sleeps in that classroom and takes cocaine, and how the school principle doesn’t visit her classroom as if he knew that otherwise, he would have to fire her. Or a man in another story “A Dark And Winding Road”, who escapes his home for a weekend to an old cabin:I LOVED IT, OR AT LEAST I THOUGHT I OUGHT TO LOVE IT – I’VE NEVER BEEN VERY CLEAR ON THAT DISTINCTION. I RETREATED TO THE CABIN THAT WEEKEND IN EARLY SPRING AFTER A FIGHT WITH MY WIFE. SHE WAS PREGNANT AT THE TIME, AND I SUPPOSE SHE FELT ENTITLED TO TREAT ME TERRIBLY. SO I WENT UP THERE TO SPITE HER, YES, AND IN HOPES THAT SHE WOULD COME TO APPRECIATE ME IN MY ABSENCE, BUT ALSO TO HAVE ONE LAST WEEKEND TO MYSELF BEFORE THE BABY WAS BORN AND MY LIFE AS I’D KNOWN IT WAS FOREVER RUINED.The bonding link between all Moshfegh’s characters is the feeling of entrapment and an endeavor to escape it. They are all longing for something, but none of them is capable of identifying what actually would it be. Cornered in their lives, they seem unsatisfied and lost. A protagonist of “No Place For Good People” finds himself in a way relieved when his wife dies. As he sees it, their marriage was an act, a pretense that has nothing to do with either happiness or love.IT WENT ON LIKE THAT FOR DECADES, ME TWIDDLING MY THUMBS BEHIND THAT DESK, MY WIFE AT HOME FILLING THE HOUSE WITH ANTIQUES AND FAKE FLOWERS, DIPPING HER FINGERS INTO CHEESECAKES AND FROSTINGS AND HOLLANDAISE AND GRAVY.(…)LACEY AND I HAD NEVER BEEN CLOSE. WE NEVER BONDED. SHE LOVED ME NO MORE THAN I’D LOVED HER MOTHER (…)When he was tired of taking Christmas family pictures, he suggested to his wife that maybe this time she should be taking this picture only with their daughter. She agreed, she said that it even would better without him. This and other stories portray not lives but people who live them oblivious of what they genuinely want and how to get it eventually. We’re acquainted with the characters rather by their dark sides, mistakes, carelessness and sometimes pitiful approach to life.The whole volume creates a complete and precise picture of people’s characters, faults, and weaknesses. Mentioned earlier man who works in a residential facility after his wife passed away describes his feelings:… I WATCHED ALL THE REGULAR PEOPLE MILL DOWN THE SIDEWALK. I RARELY INTERACTED WITH ANYONE BACK THEN WHO WASN’T RETARDED. WHEN I DID, IT STRUCK ME HOW POMPOUS AND IMPATIENT THEY WERE, ALWAYS MEASURING THEIR WORDS, TWISTING THINGS AROUND. EVERYBODY WAS SO OBSESSED WITH BEING UNDERSTOOD. IT MADE ME SICK.In Moshfegh’s volume the ugliness, both emotional and physical, as well as patheticness seem to be ubiquitous. Still, astoundingly the stories are incredibly enjoyable. This debut of Moshfegh’s short stories proves how incredibly talented writer she is. Her unique talent to use repellent emotions and nefarious characters to compose and choreograph such an amazing collection is truly astonishing.

I’ll be honest, I kinda hated Moshfegh’s novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. I found the central character entirely unlikeable—not in an antihero kind of sense, which would’ve required me to love or hate her, but in the sense that I absolutely didn’t care what happened to her. Also, the premise felt like a sketch—fine for a 10-minute SNL skit, but not for a full-length novel.Homesick for Another World is the same but pleasantly different. The protagonists are still largely unlikeable, but because they’re only with us for a short time, they’re also more bearable. As I read, I felt as if I were peeking in the window of a quirky neighbor, watching them do their thing for a few minutes, then moving down the block. Because I didn’t have to follow them for very long, they felt more like a cast of supporting characters and interesting oddballs than like some exhausting, deplorable person I felt obligated to follow for hours.Two more things of note. First, Moshfegh’s love of ambiguity and avoidance are on full display here. Without spoiling anything, I can say that if you’re looking for stories with nice, tidy, satisfying ends or big, dramatic confrontations, you should probably try another book. In the hands of another writer, her approach might feel sloppy, like she’d written herself into a corner and couldn’t figure out how to get out. But Moshfegh manages to make graceful exits.And lastly, I should point out that the best story in the bunch, “A Better Place”, is reserved for the very end. Here, the characters are more motivated and interesting, the plot somehow more compelling, and the stakes definitely higher. As such, the tone is a bit different than the other tales, but it makes for a nice, slightly more decisive end of the book than others might’ve.

I LOVED this book, Otessa Moshfegh is definitely not for everyone but she was a big hit with me! She uses some very mundane imagery but perverts it until it’s uncomfortable, but it’s like a real discomfort, the feelings and ideas portrayed in these stories feel very real. These stories come across as your weird family relative has this juicy bizarre story about this one time in this one place. My favorite aspect in Moshfegh’s writing is how she manages to write in OCD, I am a textbook over thinker so having the detailed descriptions, even of the mundane, is amazing!! It’s like all my overthinking and ridiculous observation of minute details has been written directly on the page! Excellent work from Moshfegh! **this is to add a disclaimer because I didn’t see many people talking so much about the graphic nature of this book, there are a few stories that have some detailed sexual acts, some of it in a very comical way, but others in a sexy way**

A collection of 14 short stories by a magnificent writer, but for me, the characters in some of these stories were major turn offs. I’m fine with unsympathetic characters as long as they have something interesting going on with them at some level, and they often do. But when she gets into graphic descriptions of characters who are repulsive and/or disgusting, or characters whose motives are indecipherable or maybe just absent, she loses me.

absolutely loved. from the first few stories you can tell that they will all end abruptly. so to read the whole entire book and not like it because of that is on you.least favorite story was the surrogate.If I could describe this book it would be: if you were a fly on the wall in random peoples lives for a couple weeks. theres no beginning, middle, nor end. a lot, if not all, of the characters are messed up and/or delusional but i love books like that.

El libro llego en buenas condiciones

Wierd and fun stories. Interesting and well written. Lots of black humor.

Despite not really enjoying any part of it, I read the whole book. As someone who has no problems abandoning a book I gotta admit that there's something about this collection that keeps you reading, I just can't tell what it is, given the fact that any of the characters or their stories are particularly interesting, funny, or charismatic. It's just unpleasant people going to dates, and the word "calisthenics" is a bit overused, if you ask me.The cover is gorgeous, tho.

It seems you either love or hate Otessa's stories. I do believe there are people in the world who live lives like the ones she describes. They elecit horror, disgust and can make your skin crawl but eventually sympathy and even a bit of empathy can surface ecause they are very very human.

I picked this up after reading my year of rest and relaxation. It's a collection of short stories, all of which are dark (in their own way) and sort of eerie.I really like ottessa moshfegh's writing, but did not necessarily connect with all the stories. Some of the stories were really well written and I admire her writing style. I would definitely recommend reading this for anyone who enjoys her work.