Book Review: "Homesick for Another World" by Ottessa Moshfegh

When we think of the modern short story, something makes us think of the stories of Hemingway down to the post-modern writings of Japanese Writers concerned with the quickening difference in technology from around twenty years before. Short stories are not for every writer and can be tricky for the ones who intend on creating amounts of atmosphere that are more typical of a full length novel. Ottessa Moshfegh is one of these writers who has a brilliance for creating atmosphere without overtly and overly using adverbs. There is no stronger way to write a modernist, realist atmosphere than to be as precise and concise with your wording as possible. For example, instead of describing the romanticised difference between happiness and sadness, she gives a comparison set in the everyday which may be short, but adds to the atmosphere as it is directly representative of that realism which has made modern life so ‘dull’ and emotionless:

“On a good day, every small thing is enchanting. Everything is a miracle. There is no emptiness…”

Even writing about how the everyday can be ‘enchanting’ is made dull by its bland, short sentences and lack of complex punctuation. It is a talent by which Ottessa Moshfegh is known and that is why I am a bit on the fence about this book of compiled short stories, most of which that were published in the Paris Review.

When compiling short stories into an anthology, it is a very good idea to pay attention to theme, character and voice. This is because you do not want all of your stories being about the same thing. This is where that kind of goes wrong for this anthology. Every story seems to have a similar ‘modern dreariness’ plot. None of them resemble her other works such as “Eileen” and “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”. However, they are well-written stories in the modern style by which the author is known.

However, the voice gets to be a problem for me. You see, when reading the book it is actually very difficult to remember one particular story and that has nothing to do with the plot. It is actually to do with the voice and tone of the pieces being so very similar that it is difficult or near-impossible to differentiate them from each other. As this is the case, the stories turn out to be pretty boring towards the end as a reader, expectant of a short story anthology, would be bored at the repetition.

I believe that when it comes to short stories as well, the author is not as good and prepared with them as she is with her novels. With her novels, she has managed to become one of the most famous authors writing today. Whereas, her short story collection reads like she has not adapted well to the challenge of compilation. The writings themselves would have featured alone and alongside other authors within the Paris Review and therefore, would have offered some difference. But, within the compilation of an anthology, it presents a boredom of tone and voice, a lack of ability to differentiate them and storylines that are incomplete and repetitive.

I adore this woman’s writing but I think I can honestly say that I prefer her novels in which the modernist atmosphere is changed according to the novel’s themes and story. For example: “Eileen” becomes slightly more gothic in the midsts of the book. But when the compilation of short story is at hand, there is a clear struggle to make one or two hear above the rest and a struggle to compile the stories in a way that would be effective to the tone of each piece.