The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Moshfegh, Ottessa. Homesick for Another World. Penguin Books, January 17, 2017. Kindle.

In Ottessa Moshfegh’s collection of stories, Homesick for Another World, Moshfegh presents a collection of characters who are longing for something missing in their life. Some long for a job; some long for love; others long to fit in with the world. The characters sometimes attempt to fulfill their longing by cheating or manipulating circumstances. They sometimes sabotage their attempts at happiness.

In “Bettering Myself,” Miss Mooney hates her job as a teacher. She believes that she has been given the dumbest students and fears they will jeopardize her job if they fail their tests. When she has a chance to quit her job, however, she does not take it.

In “Mr. Wu,” the title character is in love with a woman, but he manages to convince himself that he has made a mistake before the relationship has even started.

In “Malibu,” a bulimic man manipulates his disabled uncle into naming him as his sole heir in his will.

In “The Weirdos,” a woman stays with her narcissistic boyfriend even though she does not love him.

“A Dark and Winding Road” tells the story of Charles, a man who spends a weekend alone in his parents’ cabin to spite his pregnant wife, whom he believes has been being hateful to him. While at the cabin, he has an affair with his brother’s girlfriend.

“No Place for Good People” compares the narrator Nick’s trip to Hooters for his birthday with his trip to Friendly’s, which is now where Hooter's used to be. He is at Friendly's with a mentally retarded adult in his care.

In “Slumming,” a woman thinks herself so above the residents of the town where she has a summer home that she does not even seem to care when the teen cleaning her house miscarries her baby.

In “An Honest Woman,” Jeb propositions his young next-door neighbor. Then, he criticizes her for being a slut when she accepts his invitation to his house.

In “The Beach Boy,” John learns that his late wife Marcia had been visiting prostitutes during the island vacation they took just before she died. John goes intending to get revenge on Marcia. Instead, he almost drowns because he gets drunk and goes swimming. A male prostitute saves him, but refuses to have relations with him because John has no money.

In “Nothing Ever Happens Here,” Larry moves from his hometown, where he could live any life he wished, to Los Angeles to pursue a career as an actor even though he has no talent.

In “Dancing in the Moonlight,” Nick spends all of his money and even gives away his coat to buy a cheap ottoman that he believes he can use to win the love of Britt Wendt, a woman who refurbishes old furniture. He believes it is an act of God when he returns to find the flophouse where he rented a room was on fire, destroying his contact information for the woman.

In “The Surrogate,” a woman, given the name Stephanie, is beautiful. She lives her life in sadness because she has a pituitary problem that causes her genitals to swell.

In “The Locked Room,” the narrator decides to do things that will make her happy after she is locked in a practice room with her boyfriend, Takashi. She breaks up with Takashi while locked in this room because she believes that he does not care about her.

Urszula, the main character in “A Better Place,” decides to kill Jarek Jaskolka because she believes by doing so she will be able to go to a place that she will like better than Earth.