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

dark 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

Having literally read this within two days and just finished it (immediate thoughts before having let it simmer): My main problem with this book was that I had heard it was funny and it said it was funny on the back (or someone was quoted saying it was funny) and as I was reading, it kept creeping into my head why the hell people thought this was funny. 
I found the depiction of the main protagonist's depression and the people (ab)using her razor sharp at times. Maybe it was borderline triggering for me. But that being said: it captures depression and the feeling of having no self-worth (and not even having the will to fight for it) quite well!

I am not American and the extreme use of medication was ... maybe even most frustrating to me. Maybe I didn't get the "joke" because I did not know anything about the drugs she was using? 
Is it a good thing that her plan appears to work in the end? That she "slept" her way out of it? I don't know.


Maybe the point of the book for me is to take a closer look at myself, because I at times found it hard to have compassion for the main protagonist, who was clearly suffering, but instead was frustrated with her and her numbness and her having given herself up and how she treats other people. For someone who has had to deal with depression herself that is almost shocking. 

I did also not at all notice that the main character is in fact unnamed, I read it somewhere after I finished it. I find that astonishing. It did not bother me whatsoever that she didn't have a name, I didn't even know.


...
Edit: After Giving it some thought–is the protagonist something of a modern day Daisy Buchanan?
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