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A review by everie
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Almost hypnotic in its structure--the narrator drifts from location to location and conversation to conversation, always circling back to the same topics in her quest to sleep, forget, and become someone other than she is
It's definitely never boring, though! There's a sense of dread and nihilism hanging over the whole piece (of course), but it's also incredibly funny, and worth a wince just about whenever the narrator makes a judgment about just about anything. I can't imagine a city like the pre-9/11 NYC in this story, but the narration brings it to life, just like the self-obsessed narrator.
That said, there's plenty to read into the narrator, but other characters exist as (sometimes very funny) caricatures, like her ask-no-questions-remember-no-patients psychiatrist. Reva is definitely the most sympathetic character in the cast (not saying much, I'll admit it), though the choice to have the audiobook reader use a typical Bronx drawl for the Jewish best friend character who's always worried about her weight is so funny. Hello Rhoda Morgenstern! If I hadn't been thinking about you before, I sure am now!
Anyway, very interesting. I wonder if the narrator worked at a Guggenheim parody (as someone who loves the Guggenheim)
It's definitely never boring, though! There's a sense of dread and nihilism hanging over the whole piece (of course), but it's also incredibly funny, and worth a wince just about whenever the narrator makes a judgment about just about anything. I can't imagine a city like the pre-9/11 NYC in this story, but the narration brings it to life, just like the self-obsessed narrator.
That said, there's plenty to read into the narrator, but other characters exist as (sometimes very funny) caricatures, like her ask-no-questions-remember-no-patients psychiatrist. Reva is definitely the most sympathetic character in the cast (not saying much, I'll admit it), though the choice to have the audiobook reader use a typical Bronx drawl for the Jewish best friend character who's always worried about her weight is so funny. Hello Rhoda Morgenstern! If I hadn't been thinking about you before, I sure am now!
Anyway, very interesting. I wonder if the narrator worked at a Guggenheim parody (as someone who loves the Guggenheim)