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A review by befoooremoonrise
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
5.0
This book is like a forbidden fruit. One knows that we shouldn't spend a year sleeping, but the temptation is powerful. One full year of resting and cleaning the mind of all the problems that haunt us. And then, as the protagonist, one comes reinvigorated, like a phoenix that raises of its ashes. The extreme privilege from which our protagonist benefits allows her to neglect every single aspect of her life: her friendship, her health, her job, her figure, etc. Only a few people would be able to live this kind of life without having to face hard repercussions.
The protagonist is so fascinating: a rich, beautiful and successful woman, who is deeply traumatized and still suffers the consequences of the neglect and death of her parents. Instead of facing life, like any person would, she decides to sleep and everything goes right, or at least, it looks like that.
Reva is the other prominent character, a girl suffering from various eating disorders and extreme insecurities. She is the most tragic character of the book, despite having a successful career and being pretty, she tries desperately to fit in with the elite, buying knock-off brand pieces and trying to be always in style. We get a grasp of her life before NY and we know that she wasn't always like this, before moving to the big coty she was alternative, but then decided to be like the others. And then she met the protagonist and all the pressure she put on herself grow. She cultivated that friendship, despite the lack of live from the other part and her deteriorating mental health. The protagonist only acknowledging her as an equal once she was dying hit like a punch in the stomach.
This novel is a very interesting deep-dive in the mind of a character so privileged that her understanding of reality is so out of touch that her bad decisions looks appealing and enviable. The study of this character shows us a very interesting analysis of a blair waldorf type, if she lacked the will of being constantly the best.
The protagonist is so fascinating: a rich, beautiful and successful woman, who is deeply traumatized and still suffers the consequences of the neglect and death of her parents. Instead of facing life, like any person would, she decides to sleep and everything goes right, or at least, it looks like that.
Reva is the other prominent character, a girl suffering from various eating disorders and extreme insecurities. She is the most tragic character of the book, despite having a successful career and being pretty, she tries desperately to fit in with the elite, buying knock-off brand pieces and trying to be always in style. We get a grasp of her life before NY and we know that she wasn't always like this, before moving to the big coty she was alternative, but then decided to be like the others. And then she met the protagonist and all the pressure she put on herself grow. She cultivated that friendship, despite the lack of live from the other part and her deteriorating mental health. The protagonist only acknowledging her as an equal once she was dying hit like a punch in the stomach.
This novel is a very interesting deep-dive in the mind of a character so privileged that her understanding of reality is so out of touch that her bad decisions looks appealing and enviable. The study of this character shows us a very interesting analysis of a blair waldorf type, if she lacked the will of being constantly the best.