My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Books | Fiction / Literary
3.9
(5.6K)
Ottessa Moshfegh
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Vice, Bustle, The New York Times, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Entertainment Weekly, The AV Club, & AudibleA New York Times Bestseller • New York Times Readers Pick: 100 Best Books of the 21st Century “One of the most compelling protagonists modern fiction has offered in years: a loopy, quietly furious pillhead whose Ambien ramblings and Xanaxed b*tcheries somehow wend their way through sad and funny and strange toward something genuinely profound.” — Entertainment Weekly “Darkly hilarious . . . [Moshfegh’s] the kind of provocateur who makes you laugh out loud while drawing blood.” —VogueFrom one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes.Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.
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Author
Ottessa Moshfegh
Pages
304
Publisher
Penguin
Published Date
2019-06-25
ISBN
0525522131 9780525522133
Community ReviewsSee all
"4/10- this book was a complete waste of my time. Its character driven as opposed to plot driven, but the character doesn’t even experience personal growth. Unnecessarily sexual without ever being sexy, almost as if it was trying to be raunchy for the sole purpose of eliciting a reaction from the reader. Overall did not enjoy, but I still finished it."
"***I believe our view of this book is how society largely feels about depression/mental health. Like they don't care, they don't wanna see it, don't want to experience their experience because it's UGLY & selfish & at times complicated & uncomfortable. **** I want to rate this a 2.5 but I believe it may deserve a 3.
This is one of the most bizarre books I have read. I went from loving it, to "ehhh" but understanding there is a message, to hating it, & then being so confused.
This book is basically existential dread, depression, addiction, trauma, & selfishness. But I do agree that I did at parts identify with the narrator. I have found myself in times of depression hating everyone & everything & having everything annoy me... & I know people just has mean & rude & self-centered as her as well. This I believe shows the affects of being raised by absent parents with drinking issues, a failed marriage, & pure parental neglect. In this case, it's the affect of inadequate nurture.
Her addition & desperation plunges her into almost a psychosis? Or idek what to call it. However, with the ending, hated the well known event reference... I thought it contributed nothing & was quite offensive in some case. didn't really understand the need for it.
1 learned a lot from this book & almost saw it as a different path of my life that could have been sadly; in addition to how it may also be the unfortunate reality for many with a similar upbringing as us. This book reminds me of the attitude & vibe of The Catcher in the Rye & Notes from the Underground. Maybe I am an empath, but this legit made me depressed & feel how she may have felt. In that case, I'm glad I read it but am glad it is over."