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hannneke's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Mental illness
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Minor: Fatphobia, Abortion, and Alcohol
bookbabe0614's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Antisemitism, Medical content, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Dysphoria, and Classism
james1star's review against another edition
- 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
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.
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
juli_rold's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol
bootsmom3's review against another edition
- 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
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
shaunaghreilly's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
in most of the book i felt criticism for how bland and basic the writer was but it wasn’t until the final few chapters of the book i realised how purposeful this was (this is my first reading of a Moshfegh book so i was not familiar with her style or talent) truly a wonderful book.
not inspiring in a conventional way, nor was it lighthearted by most regular means but nonetheless a book that changed my own perspective and mindset.
i felt very fulfilled by the ending, for reasons i can’t explain
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Abortion, and Death of parent
Minor: Body shaming, Death of parent, and Classism
embre's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement and Racism
Minor: Animal death and Abortion
mimsyweretheborogoves's review against another edition
- 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
1.0
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Homophobia, Racism, Sexual content, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism and Abortion
blueberryhotel's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, and Death of parent
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Death, Fatphobia, Self harm, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Addiction, Cancer, Racism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jessicaludden's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
So, I hated this. The only reason I didn’t DNF is because my friends were reading it with me, but trust me I really wanted to. And I never DNF a book. I understand exactly what the author was trying to do with this book. I get it. I just think it was executed poorly and I didn’t like it. The character is unlikeable on purpose, but not even in an entertaining way. If you’re gonna make your protagonist unlikeable, it has to mean something. Nothing happened in this book. It was super repetitive and gave so many unnecessary details that I almost fell asleep many times while reading. Maybe it gave an accurate representation of the monotony of depression? But was that enough to interest me? Nope. The sarcasm and humor in this book was funny at times, but most of the time it really really wasn’t. It felt like when someone says they have dark humor, but really they just say a bunch of offensive things for the sake of shock value. Nothing about the plot (what little there was of it) was shocking. Some of the “jokes” were shocking, but they were ultimately just unfunny. They weren’t even funny in an ironic way. The ending was very rushed disappointing. I didn’t care about a single thing in the book and I’m glad it’s over.
“Favorite” Quotes:
“I wanted to hold on to the house the way you’d hold on to a love letter. It was proof that I had not always been completely alone in this world.”
“Die young and leave a beautiful corpse.”
“She wasn’t resting. She was not in a state of peace. She was in no state, not being. The peace to be had, I thought, watching them pull the sheet over her head, was mine.”
“Rejection, I have found, can be the only antidote to delusion.”
“I was the vacant, repressed depressive, and she was the obsessive blabbermouth, always knocking on my door, asking random questions, looking for any excuse to talk.”
“And that was exactly what I wanted—my emotions passing like headlights that shine softly through a window, sweep last me, illuminate something vaguely familiar, then fade and leave me in the dark again.”
“My blind eye was the one real comfort I felt I could give her.”
“‘You’ve got friends, you’re alright, no matter what.’”
“‘Sometimes friends are better than family, because you can say anything. Nobody gets mad. It’s a different kind of love.’”
“…there was stability in living in the past.”
“What would come later would be only sort remembrances of the thing called love she used to give me.”
Minor: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship