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A review by marns20_
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
fast-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
5.0
Honestly? This is the most UNHINGED book I’ve ever read and probably will ever read??? but I loved it sooo much and I can’t even tell you why. Every 5 pages I literally said ‘Wtaf’ to myself out loud. It’s truly bizarre, in the best way. There were so many moments that you couldn’t help but laugh that had me thinking omg am I crazy too, I definitely shouldn’t be laughing at that. Her perplexing friendship with Reva was my favourite thing to read. The complex feeling of loving someone but not liking them, your friendship evolving past having nothing in common anymore because you have both grown separately yet you are still inextricably linked by history alone, not being able to let them go even though they’re no good for you and vice versa.
The weird candid way she describes her parents and her relationship with them throws you off balance because she says really deep and personal things but in a detached, emotionless way that keeps you at arms length almost like when someone is crying but they don’t want you to hug or comfort them and you just stand there awkwardly staring at them. As unrelatable as the main character is (white, rich, privileged) her experience of the lethargy and apathy towards life was very relatable. Her crazy experiment is probably something we have all wished we could do at some point. I know I have. At parts, I found myself desperately rooting for her experiment to work, for her to be able to pull herself out of her despair and then other times you really couldn’t ignore what a truly terrible person she was, terrible friend she was. This struck a chord thinking about how mental health affects your relationships, your inability to show up or want to show up for people, it makes you irritable and mean, only willing to do the bare minimum despite how much you hate it or how much you love them. The complex nature of the human condition
The weird candid way she describes her parents and her relationship with them throws you off balance because she says really deep and personal things but in a detached, emotionless way that keeps you at arms length almost like when someone is crying but they don’t want you to hug or comfort them and you just stand there awkwardly staring at them. As unrelatable as the main character is (white, rich, privileged) her experience of the lethargy and apathy towards life was very relatable. Her crazy experiment is probably something we have all wished we could do at some point. I know I have. At parts, I found myself desperately rooting for her experiment to work, for her to be able to pull herself out of her despair and then other times you really couldn’t ignore what a truly terrible person she was, terrible friend she was. This struck a chord thinking about how mental health affects your relationships, your inability to show up or want to show up for people, it makes you irritable and mean, only willing to do the bare minimum despite how much you hate it or how much you love them. The complex nature of the human condition
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness and Drug abuse
Moderate: Eating disorder, Toxic friendship, Animal death, Grief, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, and Death of parent
Minor: Vomit, Toxic relationship, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Suicide, Abortion, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness