Reviews tagging 'Ableism'

Meu ano de descanso e relaxamento by Ottessa Moshfegh

118 reviews

annanas's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad 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

3.0

I'm glad I've read this, but I didn't exactly enjoy most of it. The protagonist was very hard to like and to root for. But I guess that was the point. For some reason I enjoyed the last part the most.

However, I don't know how I feel about her plan to sleep and her heavy drug use actually ended up being beneficial to her in the end. Maybe allowing herself to rest was what she actually needed, but overall I was just worried about her going through withdrawl and needing to go to hospital, but that never happened. Then It hurt how badly she treated her friend and how she didn't seem to even like her. Her friend clearly was codependent with her own issues, but it still wasn't nice to for example throw the Christmas card, where Reva expressed her gratitude to her as a friend, in the trash. And in the end she seemed to want Reva back in her life again as soon as Reva had become more independent and more content with her life. Then  all of a sudden she wasn't annoyed with her anymore and she told her that she loved her. It was sweet but it just annoyed me that she couldn't have figured that out sooner. I also didn't like the way she judged her ex's new partner's son who was autistic. As an autistic person myself I was very hurt by that and I almost didn't want to finish the book after that.

In conclusion I liked a lof of it, and I also didn't like some parts. Mostly because I wasn't prepared for how dark and sad the entire book was going to be. But I'm very curious to hear other people's interpretations of the book since I do think that there are a lot of interesting things to discuss about it. And I think Ottessa Moshfegh's writing was often beautiful and I enjoyed  how she portrayed the early 2000's. 

For example how heartbroken I felt after Reva was excited about starting a new job in the Twin Towers in early 2001, because I instantly knew she was probably going to die. That was just so sad, but aslo a very effective way to pull at my heartstrings since I probably cared more about Reva than the actual protagonist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Drug abuse, Drug use, and Grief

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

Minor: Ableism

chickaboogawah's review against another edition

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

0.25

This book was horrible. The end epiphany that I expected didn't happen. The main character was still unlikeable. It was predictable and dumb. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Dysphoria, Grief, Infertility, Infidelity, Terminal illness, Vomit, Alcoholism, Eating disorder, Sexual violence, Toxic friendship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Drug use, Pregnancy, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Addiction, Death, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cancer, Fatphobia, Toxic relationship, Abortion, Drug abuse, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Chronic illness, Classism, Confinement, Death of parent, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Sexual assault, and Suicidal thoughts

_corrin's review against another edition

challenging funny 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Toxic friendship, Drug abuse, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Confinement, Vomit, Sexual content, Eating disorder, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual assault, Ableism, and Cancer

liz_rath's review against another edition

reflective 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

Could have been an e-mail.
If this had just been the last chapter I'd have given it a much higher rating, but the way it is I feel like it's just very deeply mid. Don't read this if you don't like unlikeable protagonists though or it will feel like torture.

Honestly the book seemed deeply confused about it's themes becauee unless the intended take away was "If you're unhappy with your life and suffer from depression Jus continue being a shitty person refusing to cope with your issues abouse a bunch of drugs and your attitude and life will magically fix themselves eventually" then it was lost. If that was supposed to be the take away then "Uh weird message bro, but sure". I liked the whole disaffected Millenial stick but it did not carry a whole book. At times it felt more like I was reading a character bible instead of a story. And with how it ends, her plan just working no real twists or curveballs, I was just left wondering what the point was.
Like I'm not one to demand a classic american story structure. You just had a cool quick idea and protagonist doesn't change substatially or learn anything by the end - fine by me. But we did not need so many words to tell this story (and I am using the term very liberally here) and the thing doesn't have that many words to begin with.

But whatever the prose was competent and it was a very quick read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Toxic relationship, Grief, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Self harm, Mental illness, Drug use, Toxic friendship, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Gaslighting and Alcohol

Minor: Ableism

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Fatphobia, Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Racism, Classism, Vomit, Addiction, Grief, Alcohol, Body shaming, Death, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Ableism, Excrement, Antisemitism, and Abortion

knikchevich's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Ableism, Drug use, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, and Vomit

Moderate: Cancer, Death, and Sexual assault

ilyones_'s review against another edition

medium-paced

• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism and Fatphobia

gin_and_panic's review against another edition

dark reflective sad 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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Fatphobia, Racism, Classism, Infidelity, and Ableism

sp3llb00k's review against another edition

dark reflective 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

the last chapter makes up for the rest which i don't even really remember. i don't think it was funny like it's marketed as and it isn't really absurd in an interesting way, kinda just odd & not very good at being odd. anyway i still enjoyed. it was a fun & easy read for me but not as deep or comedic as i thought it would be. i did enjoy some concepts related to the human experience that were somewhat explored. i also enjoyed the writing style & moshfeghs ability to portray the main character so well & show her inner monologue / thought process. additionally, i didn't really get bored at any point during this book which i think is impressive when you're writing about sleeping for a whole year which can be seen as a repetitive & boring concept. 3 stars from me ! ౨ৎ

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death of parent, Drug abuse, Drug use, Addiction, Mental illness, and Eating disorder

Minor: Toxic relationship, Body shaming, Vomit, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Classism, Suicide, Alcohol, Grief, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Ableism

mia_stenbro'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Eating disorder, Suicide, and Drug abuse

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Vomit