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A review by miss_ipkiss_reads
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
challenging
dark
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I blinked and finished this in a single sitting. Moshfegh brought her signature crude and darkly funny tone to this outrageous story which started out as satire then deviated from what I was anticipating.
Our nameless narrator wants to enter a year of hibernation in hopes of erasing herself and reawakening a new person. To achieve this, she consumes every prescription drug she can get her hands on and spends her few waking moments sat in-front of her VCR or in a blacked-out haze. As our narrator dips in and out of reality, the world around her moves forward towards one of the darkest events in New York’s history. The narrator’s own traumatic past has been eating away at her bit by bit, acting as the catalyst for this hibernation experiment which creates a character that is at their most damaged and disillusioned.
I wanna start by saying I loved how Moshfegh got me to feel for the narrator while highlighting that her nihilistic approach is only made possible by her status. This is the Moshfegh hallmark: writing anti-heroes that find humour in dark depravity but still make you feel a sense of shared humanity.
The narrator is aware that her position in society is what affords her this chance to run away from her trauma instead of dealing with it head on. She doesn’t worry about money while living in New York, collects unemployment despite not needing it, has access to psychiatric help, all the while aligning with the thin white blonde beauty standard of the early 2000s. Despite the narrator’s nihilism and desire to disengage completely, the world continues to embrace her with open arms, labelling her year of rest and relaxing an elaborate performance piece.
The final page has me conflicted. I'd hoped to see a different ending, one that would force the narrator to engage with the systems that afforded her a rebirth. All I can come to is this idea that everyone, regardless of societal echelon or character flaws, deserves to move through this world awake and alive.
Our nameless narrator wants to enter a year of hibernation in hopes of erasing herself and reawakening a new person. To achieve this, she consumes every prescription drug she can get her hands on and spends her few waking moments sat in-front of her VCR or in a blacked-out haze. As our narrator dips in and out of reality, the world around her moves forward towards one of the darkest events in New York’s history. The narrator’s own traumatic past has been eating away at her bit by bit, acting as the catalyst for this hibernation experiment which creates a character that is at their most damaged and disillusioned.
I wanna start by saying I loved how Moshfegh got me to feel for the narrator while highlighting that her nihilistic approach is only made possible by her status. This is the Moshfegh hallmark: writing anti-heroes that find humour in dark depravity but still make you feel a sense of shared humanity.
The narrator is aware that her position in society is what affords her this chance to run away from her trauma instead of dealing with it head on. She doesn’t worry about money while living in New York, collects unemployment despite not needing it, has access to psychiatric help, all the while aligning with the thin white blonde beauty standard of the early 2000s. Despite the narrator’s nihilism and desire to disengage completely, the world continues to embrace her with open arms, labelling her year of rest and relaxing an elaborate performance piece.
The final page has me conflicted. I'd hoped to see a different ending, one that would force the narrator to engage with the systems that afforded her a rebirth. All I can come to is this idea that everyone, regardless of societal echelon or character flaws, deserves to move through this world awake and alive.