A review by mvonmalmborg
Ett år av vila och avkoppling by Ottessa Moshfegh, Alva Dahl

dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

im entirely undecided on this book, which i guess is kind of the point. great literature opens up great conversations, right? in the first twenty pages, i was hooked, utterly in love with the plot at hand, with the narrator incredibly humorous in her ironic and sarcastic one liners. i told all my friends about it, and then she, um, shits in an art gallery. shocked and confused doesn’t put it right, i get it was for humour but this was downright weird. and all within the first chapter? come on moshfegh, i had such hopes for you! (don’t worry, remainingly redeemable hopes nonetheless). her chronic obsession with whoopi goldberg was funny, placing it in the most unsuited points of the novel to increase comedic effect. yet after a while this got repetitive. i’m gen-z, i literally have no prior information on goldberg, and in the 4 days it took me to read this book, i’ve probably thought about her 4 times as much as i previously had in the 16 years of my life. moshfegh better be getting paid, my mate whoopi be getting free promo for a reason that’s not yet clear to me. moving on from public defecation and the big WG, this book was mediocre. i can totally understand the people that hold this book as all that is high and mighty. i can empathise with that one girl i saw burn her copy. it had passages that i believe will turn this into a classic and other parts my eyes merely gazed over. the first and last twenty pages were incredible, and the middle was nothing but substance. which moves us into our next topic. substance abuse. obviously the key them of the book, although the narrator is clearly suicidal and has no life purpose, i ultimately felt this book didnt sufficiently show what makes this lifestyle dangerous and hazardous. reading this while momentarily mentally stable, i had no urge to relate to our dear narrator, but we’ve all had bad years, who doesn’t want to sleep them away? what in this book presents the severe self harm the narrator undergoes as something directly impacting the rest of her life? heck, i have no evidence to believe she didn’t end up displayed as one of the models in the art gallery she took a dump in. i checked no for strong character development, but maybe i was wrong. really, i don’t know. if i read it in 10 years i’m likely to be entirely changed on my opinion, arguably to a greater extent than most of the other books i read. i’m sure i will get the chance, i’m almost certain this book is the embodiment on what is to become a modern classic. that is to say if i don’t sleep away a couple of years before that happens <3
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