Reviews tagging 'Injury/Injury detail'

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

13 reviews

lady_oracle's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective 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

4.5

“Sodium”: salt, white, clouds, gauze, silt, sand, sky, lark, string, kitten, claws, wound, iron, omega.
“Lauryl”: Shakespeare, Ophelia, Millais, pain, stained glass, rectory, butt plug, feelings, pigpen, snake eyes, hot poker.
“Sulfate”: Satan, acid, Lyme, dunes, dwellings, hunchbacks, hybrids, samurais, suffragettes, mazes.
quite possibly one of the literally coolest books available on planet earth. who doesn't just want to take a year off? and not die, necessarily, but sleep? ottessa nails this. really fascinating take on the hero's journey, where really all the protagonist does is pop pills and pass out, effectively falling deeper down the rabbit hole of drug abuse. a thoughtful perspective of grief and trauma - and my favourite, an unlikable, relatable bitch of a narrator.

the memories of her parents were so spectacularly done. the passage in particular about the week leading up to the day of her father passing made me a bit queasy, because that was nearly exactly the experience i had with my own. prose was poetic and tactile. also love-hated the doctor.

some questionable moments, but nothing i think too shocking for anyone who's familiar with this author. so glad this is what i've kicked off 2024 with.

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spooderman'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? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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cosy_crow's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

3.0


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sundaybookclub's review

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dark 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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juliafran's review against another edition

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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

5.0


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hannaelisab's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.75

this one’s hard to rate. people either love this book or they absolutely despise it & i must say, i actually kinda liked it (even though there should virtually be nothing interesting about someone sleeping their life away for a year…but her descent into depression somehow hooked me). the protagonist kind of reminded me of the main character in “boy parts” (in irina’s earlier non-psycho phases at least), especially in how they both treated their “best friends”. in both cases i ended up rooting for their besties more than for them. i do have a critique about how the story wrapped up though, but this might’ve been done on purpose, idk: it felt extremely unsatisfying to me, that the MC truly just went on with her life as planned after completing her “year of rest & relaxation”. at this point she was so far detached from reality that it would’ve been much more satisfying to see her fail tremendously. 

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pineapplesunshine's review against another edition

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dark funny sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75


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readinglitwithbritt's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad 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

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aliyachaudhry's review against another edition

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dark funny sad tense 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

4.0


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jillianalice's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective sad 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

5.0

I was surprised at how much I genuinely loved this book. I already want to re-read it. I can see the criticisms that we’re made about this book, but personally, the book was very relatable for me. The book gave a real look at types of depression and how different people cope with their grief. I also love books that describe every day, mundane things in an interesting manner, and the prose of this book does it very well. The psychiatrist was hilarious, I don’t think I’ve run across such a perfectly scattered and absurd character before. The ending was also interesting and unexpectedly tied historical events into the final chapter. I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone because it can definitely be triggering and the characters may be annoying to many people, but I love this book and will be re-reading it.  

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