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A review by laurgrah
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
dark
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
So, I tried to read this a year ago, and I couldn't get past the first two chapters. I decided to give it a second chance and WOW.
This may reflect badly on me, but I found myself relating to our (unnamed ???!!!!) main character a little too much for comfort. In every other review I read, they mentioned how insufferable and unlikable she is, but honestly I loved her. I mean, obviously she's not charming or a good person at all, but I liked her. I would totally be friends with her just to watch how she lives her life. I understand why someone would hate this book if they didn't relate to the main character at all, but honestly, she is just the worst parts of me personified. I could see myself becoming her (or worse). She's so incredibly self-absorbed (like me), very depressed and wants to sleep all day (like me, sometimes), wastes as much time as she possibly can (the reason I read books), has a lot of money she doesn't deserve (like me), is almost smart (like me). But I think the that I both relate to most and at the same time am ashamed of the most is how much she doesn't care about Reva. If I let myself, I would treat Reva the exact same way our narrator does, and not really feel bad about it. If I indulged in all of my bad parts, I would become her. This is why the book is so liberating, it's like living out your secret fantasy of being a bad person.
I think the whole insufferable woman genre is very dependent on the reader. There are people who just eat up horrible main characters (like me), and people who have morals. I think to be able to tolerate these books, you have to understand that these books aren't supposed to make you feel good, and aren't supposed to be comfortable to read. I revel in the uncomfortableness and the sheer absurdity of it all. This book is truly absurd. What is also important is WHY I liked the main character in this novel. It wasn't because I found "redeeming qualities" in her, or I thought she is "secretly a good person", or that "I can fix her", but the reason I like her is because of how insufferable and horrible she is. Perhaps to get this book you have to be just as apathetic as our main character.
I think that the main problem with the way that people read this book is that they expect to get some nicely wrapped up moral of the story, but there is none. If there is really anything to gleam from this mostly pointless books is that in this world, rich white ladies with art history degrees from Columbia and a lot of money get their way. The point of the books is not to learn something, but to reflect on the world. (you have to come to your OWN moral based on the book and the world!!!) (anyway that was so pretentious please don't take me seriously)
On another note, I loved the tenderness of the character's backstory and childhood. The book wouldn't make sense without a bunch of childhood trauma explaining why she is the way she is.
A lot of criticism that this book gets is that it's surface level and "pretend deep", but I don't think it is either deep or surface level, I think it is merely observation and our main character's ideas. Why should readers expect a new Plato from this clearly fucked up girl doing drugs and sleeping all day?
THE ENDING (spoilers)
I was just shocked by the ending. I was expecting her to be writing from rehab or from the streets or something. I expected her experiment to fail. I think maybe the best part about this book is the fact that is she really got a year of rest and relaxation. By the end, she saw the world with new, clear eyes. She clearly gleaned the consequences of her actions while sleeping (losing Reva, losing the shitty boyfriend from the beginning of the story, losing her psychiatrist), but she still sees light and hope in the world. Truly astounding.
This is the most shocked I have been by the ending of a story in a long time. I had a 20 minute period of shock after reading the ending, but once I extracted some meaning out of it, I understood why it ended how it did. I can see, in hindsight, the book would be TRULY pointless if it ended with our main character suffering from the consequences of her actions. We all already know not to do drugs and that 9/11 was bad and that we shouldn't be mean to our friends. The book would be cheap and un-provoking if it ended like that.
About Reva dying in 9/11. Although it was expected and the story was clearly leading up to it, I didn't find it uncouth or offensive. It felt almost inevitable. I loved how she described Reva's death, as if it was beautiful. I'm sure there's a whole 2000-word essay I could write about the symbolism of 9/11 and Reva and the idea of beauty and bulimia and jealousy and Jewishness and mothers and the turn of the century blah blah blah, but i'll save it for now. It was sad that our main character didn't feel remorse or sadness for Reva, but not unexpected. It would be weird if the whole story was wrapped up in a perfect little bow--almost glorifying the drugs and her whole plan. Her uncaring attitude to the death of her frenemie reminded us that even though it ended well for our unnamed narrator, she still isn't a good person (no matter how much I loved reading about her)
Anyway 5/5 wow Ottessa this is a masterpiece please marry me <3
This may reflect badly on me, but I found myself relating to our (unnamed ???!!!!) main character a little too much for comfort. In every other review I read, they mentioned how insufferable and unlikable she is, but honestly I loved her. I mean, obviously she's not charming or a good person at all, but I liked her. I would totally be friends with her just to watch how she lives her life. I understand why someone would hate this book if they didn't relate to the main character at all, but honestly, she is just the worst parts of me personified. I could see myself becoming her (or worse). She's so incredibly self-absorbed (like me), very depressed and wants to sleep all day (like me, sometimes), wastes as much time as she possibly can (the reason I read books), has a lot of money she doesn't deserve (like me), is almost smart (like me). But I think the that I both relate to most and at the same time am ashamed of the most is how much she doesn't care about Reva. If I let myself, I would treat Reva the exact same way our narrator does, and not really feel bad about it. If I indulged in all of my bad parts, I would become her. This is why the book is so liberating, it's like living out your secret fantasy of being a bad person.
I think the whole insufferable woman genre is very dependent on the reader. There are people who just eat up horrible main characters (like me), and people who have morals. I think to be able to tolerate these books, you have to understand that these books aren't supposed to make you feel good, and aren't supposed to be comfortable to read. I revel in the uncomfortableness and the sheer absurdity of it all. This book is truly absurd. What is also important is WHY I liked the main character in this novel. It wasn't because I found "redeeming qualities" in her, or I thought she is "secretly a good person", or that "I can fix her", but the reason I like her is because of how insufferable and horrible she is. Perhaps to get this book you have to be just as apathetic as our main character.
I think that the main problem with the way that people read this book is that they expect to get some nicely wrapped up moral of the story, but there is none. If there is really anything to gleam from this mostly pointless books is that in this world, rich white ladies with art history degrees from Columbia and a lot of money get their way. The point of the books is not to learn something, but to reflect on the world. (you have to come to your OWN moral based on the book and the world!!!) (anyway that was so pretentious please don't take me seriously)
On another note, I loved the tenderness of the character's backstory and childhood. The book wouldn't make sense without a bunch of childhood trauma explaining why she is the way she is.
A lot of criticism that this book gets is that it's surface level and "pretend deep", but I don't think it is either deep or surface level, I think it is merely observation and our main character's ideas. Why should readers expect a new Plato from this clearly fucked up girl doing drugs and sleeping all day?
THE ENDING (spoilers)
I was just shocked by the ending. I was expecting her to be writing from rehab or from the streets or something. I expected her experiment to fail. I think maybe the best part about this book is the fact that is she really got a year of rest and relaxation. By the end, she saw the world with new, clear eyes. She clearly gleaned the consequences of her actions while sleeping (losing Reva, losing the shitty boyfriend from the beginning of the story, losing her psychiatrist), but she still sees light and hope in the world. Truly astounding.
This is the most shocked I have been by the ending of a story in a long time. I had a 20 minute period of shock after reading the ending, but once I extracted some meaning out of it, I understood why it ended how it did. I can see, in hindsight, the book would be TRULY pointless if it ended with our main character suffering from the consequences of her actions. We all already know not to do drugs and that 9/11 was bad and that we shouldn't be mean to our friends. The book would be cheap and un-provoking if it ended like that.
About Reva dying in 9/11. Although it was expected and the story was clearly leading up to it, I didn't find it uncouth or offensive. It felt almost inevitable. I loved how she described Reva's death, as if it was beautiful. I'm sure there's a whole 2000-word essay I could write about the symbolism of 9/11 and Reva and the idea of beauty and bulimia and jealousy and Jewishness and mothers and the turn of the century blah blah blah, but i'll save it for now. It was sad that our main character didn't feel remorse or sadness for Reva, but not unexpected. It would be weird if the whole story was wrapped up in a perfect little bow--almost glorifying the drugs and her whole plan. Her uncaring attitude to the death of her frenemie reminded us that even though it ended well for our unnamed narrator, she still isn't a good person (no matter how much I loved reading about her)
Anyway 5/5 wow Ottessa this is a masterpiece please marry me <3