Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

내 휴식과 이완의 해 by Ottessa Moshfegh

213 reviews

read_with_bi's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Drug abuse, Self harm, Drug use, and Toxic friendship

redflyingbook's review against another edition

2.0

fleabag if all the characters were utterly unloveable. 
The writing style wasn't bad. it did keep me going. but the narrator was just an unbearable person to me. mentioning on literally every page how thin and pretty she is, being mean to literally everyone and having the book become just a single narration of pill names ? the only time i started finding her okay was when she started sleepwalking and apparently being a decent person during the forgotten time periods but dude....... also

the fact that the 4 month sleep actually helped her in the end pisses me off. she was an asshole and then all of a sudden she's not ? idk does not seem fair to me lmao

anyway glad i can move on now bye 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Fatphobia, Drug use, Addiction, Alcoholism, Grief, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Vomit, Self harm, and Abortion

taryn174's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death of parent, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Self harm and Vomit

Minor: Alcoholism

lillihms's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

bin beim lesen teilweise selbst in hibernation gefallen.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, Sexual harassment, Toxic friendship, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Drug use, Cancer, Gaslighting, Pregnancy, Sexism, Vomit, Mental illness, Death, Drug abuse, and Self harm

Minor: Abortion

sophiemarie422's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I think it's easy to write this book off as off as a superficial portrayal of a privileged sad women, but if you've ever struggled with very intense depression and given the options, I would have found myself in a similar position. It's not about class or race that would be reducing especially when you consider the author Otessa Moshfegh as a person and her other works. In a high pressure world where were consistently under each other's criticisms it's hard for me to imagine why somebody with her thought process would want to come to a world that would inevitably criticize and demean her one way or another. This isn't a defense of some of her very selfish acts in the books primarily towards her best friends, but rather the importance of the perspective the book brings to the table 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Self harm, Addiction, Alcoholism, Suicide, and Sexual content

fergiegl's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Drug abuse

Moderate: Sexual content and Vomit

stargatelover's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Drug use, and Excrement

erikalv97's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, Terminal illness, Drug use, Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Panic attacks/disorders, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Infidelity, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Vomit, and Sexual content

Moderate: Abortion and Violence

_sofiia_'s review against another edition

dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Vomit, Eating disorder, Alcohol, and Death of parent

Minor: Self harm and Suicidal thoughts

beatrizdizon_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Ottessa Moshfegh has a hand in concretizing on pages the feeling of emptiness. That incomprehensible, unfathomable, undecipherable feeling. This book consumed me (like MC did with those pills). But honestly, though, the blurb says it all. Don’t expect butterflies and rainbows going into this book. Don’t expect rest and relaxation afterward. Don’t expect a cathartic moment. With every rotting woman is another rotting woman next to her (me). It can never be me though! The pathological people pleaser (Swift 2023) in me cannot handle losing that much control and man did she lose control.

There’s so much to say about MYORAR. The social commentary it touches but it’s not in your face, so it doesn’t sound pretentious. The way our narrator adhered to the very things she criticized. How telling her toxic relationships are, especially with men, about her experiences.

So, I took my time considering if I liked that we readers can predict what will happen to Reva, and I settled on the notion that I do. Maybe it became predictable the moment she had that change, but what matters more is how the narrator reacted in the last chapter which arguably is not predictable. Reva is a star though. Something about her demise juxtaposed with MC’s plan b is poetic in a way.

Moshfegh makes me want to go all “you just don’t get it” type of insufferable. Now my friends and I can be miserable and insufferable together. As if we’re not already doing that. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug use, Addiction, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Drug abuse, Medical content, Mental illness, and Alcohol

Moderate: Vomit, Grief, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Toxic friendship, Death of parent, Infidelity, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Sexual content

Minor: Blood, Classism, Confinement, Death, Pregnancy, Racism, Body shaming, Cancer, Abortion, and Self harm