Ottessa Moshfegh is a ground breaking writer. Her ability to create such deep characters and fill every scene leaves no stone unturned. “Nothing Ever Happens Here” follows along the life of a young man who left everything behind to become an actor in Hollywood. The story line does not seem adherently great, in fact it sounds quite boring and somewhat like a coming of age story. However, Moshfegh takes this rather typic
al topic and flips it into the realistic. She leaves out no detail too small and creates a world the reader could attempt to relate to. The story is not so clean and shiny, but slightly gray and foggy.
Moshfegh developed the mode and overall feeling of the reading so well, the reader is able to hold onto it throughout the duration of the story. As the narrator changes, so do the characters around him. Mrs. Honigbaum, his mother, and the faceless Bob Sears. To the reader, it may be obvious that the narrator is trapped in some kind of scheme to take advantage of those chasing their dreams, but overtime, the reader too wants to start rooting for the narrator. His negativity follows him, but there is an underlying amount of determination that lingers with him as we learn more about him.
This story was one of Moshfegh’s less gruesome stories within this collection, but the quality of story telling is still there. I believe that there was at least one lesson that could be learned from this story an its characters, and that is to call your mother. As Mrs. Honigbaum says, “Every mother loves her son” (202).
While on the surface it’s less bitter than the other stories, there’s still an underlying sense of something being wrong with this narrator. We don’t legitimately know if the relationship he has with his mother will ever change, and we don’t know if he ever truly will either. He’s a naïve kid out in LA with only his landlady really to help him. He’s not exactly the most likable person in creation, nor does he have a lot going for him. The only reason I think that he gets by a bit is because we as the audience want for him to learn and grow considering he is so young. I would argue that he isn’t that determined given how many excuses he makes for his, this sounds harsh, but his failures as an actor. Unless he really listens to Mrs. Honigbaum I personally think that he won’t change his ways and that he’ll probably fall into a bitter routine where he never admits that he shouldn’t have gone out west.