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A review by agirlwalkshomealoneatnight
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
dark
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
Man, I wish I had liked this book as much as I first thought I would. I liked the writing style and I found the premise to be interesting, but I guess the execution was lost on me somehow...Maybe it just wasn't satirical enough for me to really land. Or maybe because it was pushing the limits of what an unlikeable character could be? I did enjoy how unfiltered it was—how fears of repercussion were thrown out the window which led to a brutal, grotesque, and perhaps disillusioned honesty. I get that. I'm like that when I'm off my meds lol. (Or on it, depending on the medication.)
I think because I drew similarities between my own outlook during bad depressive episodes with the narrator's, I wanted more scenes of genuineness and vulnerability. And it's not like the narrator didn't want to get better. The whole point of her hibernation was to (hopefully) "reappear in some new form." So we spent time with this unlikeable character in her efforts to achieve that, and it was an ugly chrysalis. And we hardly get a reward for sticking around all that.
Maybe I didn't come in with the right expectations, or read it at a bad time. But I definitely want to read more of Moshfegh's work (call it an Iranian loyalty) and I'll probably keep my copy of this book to read for another time, if I ever feel up to giving it another chance.
I think because I drew similarities between my own outlook during bad depressive episodes with the narrator's, I wanted more scenes of genuineness and vulnerability. And it's not like the narrator didn't want to get better. The whole point of her hibernation was to (hopefully) "reappear in some new form." So we spent time with this unlikeable character in her efforts to achieve that, and it was an ugly chrysalis. And we hardly get a reward for sticking around all that.
Maybe I didn't come in with the right expectations, or read it at a bad time. But I definitely want to read more of Moshfegh's work (call it an Iranian loyalty) and I'll probably keep my copy of this book to read for another time, if I ever feel up to giving it another chance.