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Do not read Eileen if you don't like repulsive characters, if you're turned off by graphic descriptions of bodily smells and filth, or if you like your novels to be action packed. Do read Eileen if you like dark character studies and can stand to be strung along for most of a book before getting to the crux of what is being foreshadowed. Eileen -- the narrator -- looks back at a few days in 1964 when she was 24 years, and living a nasty life in a small town with her nasty father working at a nasty job. And Eileen is not particularly nice either -- in fact she's pretty nasty and she pretty much knows it. Enough said. There's no point revealing the plot. This one is an experience rather than a story, and it will work for some and not for others. I liked reading Eileen once I got in the right head space. It's cleverly written -- it's like the layers of an onion slowly being peeled away -- underneath there's still more onion -- but I like onions -- every now and then. Despite the darkness, there's an undercurrent of humour -- dark humour. The end was weird -- but no weirder than the rest of the book, really. I'm not sure I would classify this one as Booker material, but the lists are getting odder every year, so Eileen probably fits as well on the list as other books. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for giving me access to a copy.