A review by tigerlily800
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

dark emotional reflective 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

5.0

This was like watching a car crash in slow motion, I couldn't stop reading but I didn't want to see the seemingly inevitable end. Do not take my 5 star rating as me liking the book, I hated it and the characters but the story and writing were so captivating I couldn't put it down.

Please do not skip reading through content warnings associated with this book, it has more than I've ever seen in a single piece of media: eating disorders, addiction, death of a parent, suicide, mental illness, abortion, depression, sexual assault mention, drug abuse, use of the r-slur, animal abuse, abortion, toxic friendship and relationship, terminal illness, alcoholism, and mention of terrorism and 9/11.

I'll be honest, I didn't like the book. The characters were unlikeable, they were self destructive and honestly didn't seem to grow much. I don't consider myself particularly sensitive, but I almost had to DNF after the first quarter of the book. The speaker is crude, harsh and to the point. A beautiful, rich, blonde white girl living in NYC in 2000, who doesn't need to work to pay her bills and squanders all the privilege she has. I could not understand why this book had been so highly recommended, but as I read more I couldn't stop. I had to know just how far she would fall.

The plot was non-existent, but for once this is not a negative. We heard the story as the speaker experienced it: through a haze, with missing pieces and overlooked details. The speaker experienced the world through such a harsh, pessimistic lense. She hated everything and everyone around her but didn't care enough

This was a refreshing take on depression. As someone who has long suffered from depression, the description of the speaker's reality felt real and recognizable. I understood why she wanted a year of hibernation, I just don't have the privilege to do the same. It was refreshing in the sense that the goal of the plot wasn't her recovery. There wasn't a goal for the plot, no big crescendo or peak. This is a book that reads like a diary, with wandering thoughts and missing sections of time. 
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