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

dark funny slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

This is probably a good book, but it was too triggering for me. I did not enjoy reading it and I did not like any of the characters. I could relate to the main character, but Reva was the more sympathetic character. The psychiatrist was funny in an absurd & pitying way-- felt very Log Lady. Everything about this book felt cold and hard.

  • It's fucked up that the first time she admires Reva is when she's literally jumping to her death
  • I hate how she treats her "friend" throughout the book-- that is NOT a friendship
  • I did think it was cool how Moshfegh wrote her descent into her most unhinged states
  • I do enjoy novels that center art history and art criticism, and those sections were cool to read
  • I don't think it's okay to talk about a living famous Black person's genitals, especially while also kind of saying she is not a good actor
  • Reva's internalized fatphobia & disordered behaviors/eating was really hard to read
  • Reminded me of Animal: A Novel by Lisa Taddeo; the drugged section of True Story: A Novel, by Kate Reed Petty; the show The Assassination of Gianni Versace; and Catherine House, by Elisabeth Thomas
  • Overall: would not re-read, would not recommend, but would discuss more!

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