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A review by alexkersbergen
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
4.0
I related a lot to the main character. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll leave that up to the people who didn’t relate to her. I for one, think it’s pretty clear.
I love this book for it described how I felt in perfect ways. But it did not however, make it heavy, filled with self-pitty. I’m tired of reading novels which in a way I might relate to but make me more and more depressed because of the melancholic and pitty way it is written.
This book succeeded in showing how I felt but making it humoristic, making it very much clear that everything the narrator did is very much self-destructive, but not making her dwell on that fact.
She knows that she is an asshole. She knows that she treats her “friend” poorly. But she doesn’t make long ass monlogues about how bad her life is, how unfair it is. How she is a bad person and doesn’t like herself. She knows she might be a bad person. And she is okay with that. She is okay with being self-centered and slightly narcissistic. I can only admire her for that. She doesn’t care what people think about her. While I don’t stand by the things she does, and I would never do them myself, I admire her for not caring. I wish I could do that in some type of way.
For these reasons I loved this book. I was drawn to the story. It was relatable, it read quickly and I enjoyed reading it. It was also done in a very clever way and I look forward to reading more books of this particular author.
The only thing I didn’t really like about the book was the ending I guess. It felt kind of anticlimactic for me. I don’t know why, or I don’t know what I expected since the narrator literally sleeps for a year so what could have happened that would’ve reached my expectations? I don’t know, maybe I’m being too critical. Maybe the ending wasn’t supposed to be big and spectacular. Maybe I’m just stupid.
However this is an app, I’m only a person. The only thing I’m doing is telling my initial thoughts.
I love this book for it described how I felt in perfect ways. But it did not however, make it heavy, filled with self-pitty. I’m tired of reading novels which in a way I might relate to but make me more and more depressed because of the melancholic and pitty way it is written.
This book succeeded in showing how I felt but making it humoristic, making it very much clear that everything the narrator did is very much self-destructive, but not making her dwell on that fact.
She knows that she is an asshole. She knows that she treats her “friend” poorly. But she doesn’t make long ass monlogues about how bad her life is, how unfair it is. How she is a bad person and doesn’t like herself. She knows she might be a bad person. And she is okay with that. She is okay with being self-centered and slightly narcissistic. I can only admire her for that. She doesn’t care what people think about her. While I don’t stand by the things she does, and I would never do them myself, I admire her for not caring. I wish I could do that in some type of way.
For these reasons I loved this book. I was drawn to the story. It was relatable, it read quickly and I enjoyed reading it. It was also done in a very clever way and I look forward to reading more books of this particular author.
The only thing I didn’t really like about the book was the ending I guess. It felt kind of anticlimactic for me. I don’t know why, or I don’t know what I expected since the narrator literally sleeps for a year so what could have happened that would’ve reached my expectations? I don’t know, maybe I’m being too critical. Maybe the ending wasn’t supposed to be big and spectacular. Maybe I’m just stupid.
However this is an app, I’m only a person. The only thing I’m doing is telling my initial thoughts.