A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 An electrifying first collection from one of
the most exciting short story writers of our time I can t recall the last time I laughed this
hard at a book. Simultaneously I m shocked and scandalized. She s brilliant this young woman.
David Sedaris Ottessa Moshfegh's debut novel Eileen was one of the literary events of 2015.
Garlanded with critical acclaim it was named a book of the year by The Washington Post and the
San Francisco Chronicle nominated for a National Book Critics Circle Award short-listed for
the Man Booker Prize and won the PEN Hemingway Award for debut fiction. But as 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. But part of the unique quality of her voice the echt Moshfeghian experience is the
way the grotesque and the outrageous are infused with tenderness and compassion. Moshfegh is
our Flannery O'Connor and Homesick for Another World is her Everything That Rises Must
Converge or A Good Man is Hard to Find. The flesh is weak the timber is crooked people are
cruel to each other and stupid and hurtful. But beauty comes from strange sources. And the
dark energy surging through these stories is powerfully invigorating. We're in the hands of an
author with a big mind a big heart blazing chops and a political acuity that is
needle-sharp. The needle hits the vein before we even feel the prick.
