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

dark reflective sad 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

2.5

My official rating of this book would be 2 1/2 stars out of 5 because I did not actively hate or dislike reading it, but I also did not find myself actually enjoying it until around the last 100 pages. While I haven’t read or watched a lot of reviews for the book (to avoid what was a terribly predictable spoiler that I’d guessed upon starting it); I can totally understand why readers would deem the “payoff” unworthy of persevering through the boredom and un-like-ability of the main character. 

Would I recommend this? I guess so, if you don’t mind an unlikeable, unreliable, almost Patrick Bateman-type of main character (without the murder and with the satire level turned way down). Around the two-thirds mark, I had a realization which I had to stop and say to myself- this is very similar to the movie Donnie Darko! If you like that movie, read this book and get back to me about my loose comparison.


:::::::::::::::SPOILERS AHEAD:::::::::::::::
This brings me to my next point- I knew this would be a 9/11 book from the moment I read that it takes place in 2000-2001. I pointed it out to my husband every time the World Trade Center was mentioned and every time, I was met with “that’s just a red herring- the author can’t be that lazy.” To be clear, I don’t believe this was a completely lazy direction to take- but I can’t help but think about Remember Me’s twist 9/11 ending. I will say that I wasn’t completely correct in my predictions, though- I assumed Trevor would die too, MC would lose all hope and die the same way her mother did.

I guess I’m glad that I didn’t give up on this book because I always like to see even the least sympathetic characters find redemption, though it was in the most rich, white, fictional way possible. I’m still unsure of whether I believe that was satirical or not.

I’m just glad I got to see what all the hype/hate was about. I’ve seen this on a list of “red flag books” and I’ve yet to figure out why it’s a red flag- there’s nothing terribly shocking or gut wrenching- to me it’s mostly boring rich white people stuff.
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