Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - Mijn jaar van rust en kalmte

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

Mijn jaar van rust en kalmte by Ottessa Moshfegh

202 reviews

ashleymg99's review against another edition

dark hopeful sad slow-paced

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

3.0

I wanted to like this book more. I enjoyed the last chapter the most, but I honestly think this would work better as a short story. The premise is interesting, but I felt like I didn’t really care about the main character, as she is so detached from everything it’s hard to get any sense of who she was before her year of rest. So the growth doesn’t feel quite as earned - I only know her in the throughs of depression.

That said,

I really enjoyed the final sequence where she takes the last infermiterol and “wakes up”. The process of her starting her life again, finding joy in little things, THAT was the most compelling and hopeful part to me.

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destinyridc's review against another edition

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reflective 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

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meganspletzer's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny 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

4.5

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mary's review against another edition

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hopeful lighthearted sad fast-paced

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

4.5

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lovelymisanthrope's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective sad fast-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

4.5

I picked up this book after hearing so many things about it on social media.
"My Year of Rest and Relaxation" follows a young woman who seems to have it all. She has a great apartment on the upper East Side of Manhattan, she recently graduated from Columbia, she comes from a wealthy family, she is beautiful and thin, and she has an easy job at an art gallery. However, she does not feel lucky, and after losing both her parents, she does not care to live her life any longer. She decides she needs a break; all she needs is to sleep for a year and then she can get her life back on track. So, she sets out on a drug-induced sleep to cure all of her problems.
I did not have super high expectations going into this book because I felt like the premise might be boring to read at times. However, even though I think the main character is unlikable most of the time because she is struggling so deeply with her depression, I really empathized with her and wanted to give her a hug. This book is highly pretentious, and it is definitely not for everyone, but it hit a chord with me, and I have not stopped thinking about it since I finished it.
The main character's attitude towards life and the narrative about how monotonous her days are really highlights someone's mindset who is struggling with depression. I think she provides an excellent example of someone who seems to have it all and people around her do not understand how she can be depressed. Depression is not "earned" by those with the hardest struggles.
She is a pretty horrible friend to Reva throughout the story, but Reva is not necessarily better towards her. Their friendship seems to be because they have been friends for so long and neither one wants to let go, but honestly neither does much for the other. I did really enjoy seeing Reva poised against the main character to highlight how two people with similar lives can turn out so very different.
This book ends with a mention of 9/11. I cannot think of many other fictitious titles that I have read that mention 9/11, let alone one set in New York. It was heartbreaking and interesting to read about a character witnessing the violence firsthand.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and I am curious to pick up more from Ottessa Moshfegh.

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lauchpferd's review against another edition

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dark 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

1.5

!Spoilers!

I don't know why this book exists, this should've been a short story and even then the plot is extremely flimsy. It took me 6 months to finally finish because of how much it drags it's feet. Most of the characters are completely unlikable and don't change or develop at all over the course of the story.

The main character does a 180 in her personality once the author realises the book is almost over but there are no in-story justifications for it. Reva dying is cliché, of course the best friend has to die for the betterment of the main character. Using 9/11 and her subsequently buying a new DVR to record it as a metaphor just seems crass, as does the very last line: "There she is, a human being, diving into the unknown, and she is wide awake."

While the occasional sentence or image might be interesting, (the arctic fox freezing to death) it's immediately undermined by whatever comparison to genitals the author can come up with.

The book was recommended to me for being "deep" and "real" but I'd say it's the exact opposite.

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