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suchsweetsorrow89's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
tense
medium-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? It's complicated
4.0
i had been putting off reading this book for a few months now because i heard lots of mixed reviews— mainly that it’s a book white women love and people of color do not love so much. however the waifspo lana del rey coquettes broke me— i could no longer repress my inner desires to read the book so i caved.
the book follows an unnamed narrator in her journey to “rebirth” herself. she does this by turning to cosmetic psychopharmacology with the help of a pretty sus psychiatrist. in this book, we only ever see her focus on three people: dr tuttle, trevor, and reva. there are others in the story who become more prominent, but the majority of the novel revolves around those three. all in all, i have a love hate relationship with the book— but i certainly liked it more than not. the message of the book isn’t clouded in a sea of metaphors (good thing!) and it’s funny at some moments, disturbing at others. the amount of times the narrator speaks on being skinny i could see as triggering for some, and the casual racism and stereotyping was 1000% not needed to show that the characters are bad people (it’s always unnecessary, i promise you). is it revolutionary? no. is it interesting? yeah, if you can get through it. will i read it again? most likely no. i hate to compare books, but is this book the “modern The Bell Jar”? not at all. so….yeah 4/5.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Self harm
Moderate: Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Racism and Xenophobia
fictionalalex's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
4.0
Book 26 2022 || My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
TW for drugs
Where do I even start with this review? This book follows a woman in her attempt to hibernate for a year in an attempt to restart her life. With the help of her therapist, she takes an assortment of medications in an attempt to stay unconscious, only leaving her apartment for coffee and appointments.
The cast of characters in this book is unusual and honestly not super likable. The character I appreciated the most was Reva, the main character's best friend, and I spent most of the time book mad about her being underappreciated. Our main character comes off as blunt and snarky, but also painfully relatable.
I think the main thing I found with this book was this it's quite a clever satire of the story itself -- it mocks the art culture our main character despises while producing it itself throughout the book. It reminded me a lot of the book Bunny by Mona Awad in that way -- they are both fascinating but unusual journeys that keep you reading and produce almost melancholy feelings when reading them.
The ending caught me off guard completely, and I haven't quite decided how I feel about it yet. I think I might need a reread or two to truly flatten out my review, but I know this is one of those stories I will likely think of for a while.
Overall, it is an intriguing and complex story that you can't help but keep reading.
Again, another book I would recommend looking at the trigger warnings for on The Story Graph before pursuing as it covers a plethora of difficult topics.
4 stars.
TW for drugs
Where do I even start with this review? This book follows a woman in her attempt to hibernate for a year in an attempt to restart her life. With the help of her therapist, she takes an assortment of medications in an attempt to stay unconscious, only leaving her apartment for coffee and appointments.
The cast of characters in this book is unusual and honestly not super likable. The character I appreciated the most was Reva, the main character's best friend, and I spent most of the time book mad about her being underappreciated. Our main character comes off as blunt and snarky, but also painfully relatable.
I think the main thing I found with this book was this it's quite a clever satire of the story itself -- it mocks the art culture our main character despises while producing it itself throughout the book. It reminded me a lot of the book Bunny by Mona Awad in that way -- they are both fascinating but unusual journeys that keep you reading and produce almost melancholy feelings when reading them.
The ending caught me off guard completely, and I haven't quite decided how I feel about it yet. I think I might need a reread or two to truly flatten out my review, but I know this is one of those stories I will likely think of for a while.
Overall, it is an intriguing and complex story that you can't help but keep reading.
Again, another book I would recommend looking at the trigger warnings for on The Story Graph before pursuing as it covers a plethora of difficult topics.
4 stars.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Classism
chilivanilli28's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexual violence and Suicidal thoughts
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
“‘If you knew what would make you happy, wouldn’t you do it?’ I asked her.”
TITLE—My Year of Rest and Relaxation
AUTHOR—Ottessa Moshfegh
PUBLISHED—2018
GENRE—contemporary fiction
SETTING—New York City in 2000
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—rich white people in NYC; depression; psychotropic medication; different kinds of love/emotional support and what it means when you don’t have the most important kind in your life; the art world; grief & mourning, but almost in a subversive way
WRITING STYLE—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CHARACTERS—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
STORY/PLOT—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
BONUS ELEMENT/S—Honestly the fact that I found the MC’s experience *so* relatable in spite of our enormous socioeconomic differences and the realization that her privilege didn’t *really* help her, it was just really interesting for me to encounter that perspective.
PHILOSOPHY—⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“…that when I’d slept enough, I’d be okay. I’d be renewed, reborn. I would be a whole new person, every one of my cells regenerated enough times that the old cells were just distant, foggy memories. My past life would be but a dream, and I could start over without regrets, bolstered by the bliss and serenity that I would have accumulated in my year of rest and relaxation.”
What an interesting, and thought provoking read! This book is about a privileged white 26yo woman living in NYC dealing with massive depression. It’s very literary contempo but with ordinary language not flowery language which makes it a fast read which is good because getting pulled along with good momentum is I think the best way to “get” this book. At least it was for me. And in fact, the more I think about it, the more 🤯 I feel about the book as I feel like I’m uncovering layers that weren’t entirely apparent to me at first.
This book was a solid 4.5 until the very last sentence, which bumped it up to a 5. 😂 I have a new autobuy author. And yeah she is the american Scarlett Thomas, I know we’re not supposed to say shit like that but, sorry. It’s true. 😆
“The notion of my future suddenly snapped into focus: it didn’t exist yet. I was making it.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW // drug addiction (pills), eating disorder, depression, grief, abandonment, toxic relationships, abusive relationships, sexual content, suicide, the World Trade Center attack (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- more Ottessa Moshfegh—TBR
- Oligarchy, and The Seed Collectors, by Scarlett Thomas
- The Bird’s Nest, by Shirley Jackson
- that movie Young Adult (2011) with Charlize Theron. I don’t even know why I’ve seen that movie but the MC in this book made me remember it lol 😆
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Racism, Suicide, and Classism
james1star's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.25
This book did something to me. I am so conflicted and literally became obsessed with it, I just wanted to spend my whole day reading it (this is so out of the norm for me as only got into reading about a month ago - this is my 3rd book) and I just read and read not looking at the pages getting through 30, 40, 50 pages in what seemed like 10.
Now the review: I loved the writing in the book, it’s *very* vivid and you can definitely imagine what’s going on and being described. It is very character based with a basic of plot line of a woman who goes to the bodega, gets coffee, takes a plethora of sleeping tablets, sleeps, sees her psychiatrist, her ‘friend’ and sleeps some more. Albeit, other things happen and she does take us back through memories about her ‘ex’, her life pre-sleep year, her childhood and parents. Now. Whilst character based novels are enjoyable, it’s hard when you literally despise the protagonist and I did with her. I hated her. She was horrible, an absolute bitch! For basically the whole of the book I honestly didn’t care what happened to her … but for some reason I did want to read on and on, I was invested in her life and this year. Additionally, I kinda hated all the other characters too: reva, ping xi (especially- oh my goodnessssss this man made my blood boil!!), her mum and dad, Trevor (aghhhhh him too really irked me), dr Tuttle (I always read it aloud as turtle) and practically everyone else that we came across, I remember telling my friend about it and how the only unproblematic character was reva’s mum and all she did was die.
Also, this book contains many trigger warnings and things the main character says can be extremely hurtful so if you struggle with eating disorders, mental health, suicide, tense and negative sexual relationships, racism, death, and so many more then you may want to give it a miss.
As it went on, and *kinda a spoiler*, in the last chapter I did begin to hate the protagonist less, even more so after completing her year of sleep. I still don’t exactly know her reasoning for wanting to sleep for a year - I presume a mix of built-up tension and depression from events in her life but I don’t feel this is explicitly stated - which I did want to know so I can understand her better but didn’t. Also, I feel reva’s character - albeit problematic - is portrayed in a negative light throughout the book until the last page and now with hindsight I do dislike her less and I did actually cry at the ending.
I did really enjoy this book, it captivated me and sent me spiralling. Despite being very problematic I just wanted to read on and the writing is very good and vividly depicted scenarios.
Now the review: I loved the writing in the book, it’s *very* vivid and you can definitely imagine what’s going on and being described. It is very character based with a basic of plot line of a woman who goes to the bodega, gets coffee, takes a plethora of sleeping tablets, sleeps, sees her psychiatrist, her ‘friend’ and sleeps some more. Albeit, other things happen and she does take us back through memories about her ‘ex’, her life pre-sleep year, her childhood and parents. Now. Whilst character based novels are enjoyable, it’s hard when you literally despise the protagonist and I did with her. I hated her. She was horrible, an absolute bitch! For basically the whole of the book I honestly didn’t care what happened to her … but for some reason I did want to read on and on, I was invested in her life and this year. Additionally, I kinda hated all the other characters too: reva, ping xi (especially- oh my goodnessssss this man made my blood boil!!), her mum and dad, Trevor (aghhhhh him too really irked me), dr Tuttle (I always read it aloud as turtle) and practically everyone else that we came across, I remember telling my friend about it and how the only unproblematic character was reva’s mum and all she did was die.
Also, this book contains many trigger warnings and things the main character says can be extremely hurtful so if you struggle with eating disorders, mental health, suicide, tense and negative sexual relationships, racism, death, and so many more then you may want to give it a miss.
As it went on, and *kinda a spoiler*, in the last chapter I did begin to hate the protagonist less, even more so after completing her year of sleep. I still don’t exactly know her reasoning for wanting to sleep for a year - I presume a mix of built-up tension and depression from events in her life but I don’t feel this is explicitly stated - which I did want to know so I can understand her better but didn’t. Also, I feel reva’s character - albeit problematic - is portrayed in a negative light throughout the book until the last page and now with hindsight I do dislike her less and I did actually cry at the ending.
I did really enjoy this book, it captivated me and sent me spiralling. Despite being very problematic I just wanted to read on and the writing is very good and vividly depicted scenarios.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cancer, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Grief, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Abandonment
Minor: Racism
bootsmom3's review against another edition
dark
reflective
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Abortion, Death of parent, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Cursing, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Pregnancy, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Infidelity and Medical content
indiaabb's review against another edition
dark
reflective
sad
slow-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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Sexual violence, and Suicidal thoughts
babybelchels's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
bvrealis's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
medium-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
4.0
un libro che inizia con una cit di joni mitchell non può che non essere un bel libro
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Toxic relationship, Excrement, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Mental illness, Sexual violence, Death of parent, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Cancer, and Abortion
sofivear's review against another edition
dark
funny
reflective
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
Content Warnings
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Sexual violence, and Suicide