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Reviews tagging 'Confinement'
Mein Jahr der Ruhe und Entspannung by Anke Caroline Burger, Ottessa Moshfegh
192 reviews
mollyharrisxx's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Abortion
literaryash's review against another edition
4.0
We love unhinged women.
Lonely and depressed main character is numb and tired of her life. (Ditto, Same!) Her parents leaves here with inheritance money, she had an easy job because she is prertty and skinny, and is educated. She turns to medication and sleeping (hibernating black outs) for a year to rest and regain her senses.
I really like best friend, even if the main character wasn't a good friend to her. But what happene to her when she took the pill? Ping xi friend was cool too. Who else would willingly stop by at your place for six months, bring you food, clean, and keep all your document safe, even if they are making art about you. Also The therapist as an interesting choice. I would have like to see any repercussions about her medical practice? Shes like handing out drugs just like that. Maybe it's a commentary that psychiatrists commonly do this and dont really get to know their patients..
Lonely and depressed main character is numb and tired of her life. (Ditto, Same!) Her parents leaves here with inheritance money, she had an easy job because she is prertty and skinny, and is educated. She turns to medication and sleeping (hibernating black outs) for a year to rest and regain her senses.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, and Dysphoria
Moderate: Infidelity and Toxic friendship
Minor: Fatphobia and Abortion
melusinedln's review against another edition
challenging
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
While this wasn’t a masterpiece of a book, it was still very nice to read (even though a bit boring sometimes). The ending made it all worth it, even though you can guess it very easily in the first pages of the book.
I appreciated the narrator’s evolution, from her initial unreliability and selfishness to her acceptance of her parent’s death allowing her to improve as a person, only to have to deal with yet another grief at the end of the book.
I also appreciated the writing style. It kept the « boring » parts nice to read.
It was pretty relaxing and nice to, for once, read a book where essentially nothing happens diegetically. This book reminds us that the story isn’t the only element that makes a book good in the sense that you do not need a complex plotline and such things to make your readers feel intense emotions, convey a message etc.
I appreciated the narrator’s evolution, from her initial unreliability and selfishness to her acceptance of her parent’s death allowing her to improve as a person, only to have to deal with yet another grief at the end of the book.
I also appreciated the writing style. It kept the « boring » parts nice to read.
It was pretty relaxing and nice to, for once, read a book where essentially nothing happens diegetically. This book reminds us that the story isn’t the only element that makes a book good in the sense that you do not need a complex plotline and such things to make your readers feel intense emotions, convey a message etc.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body shaming, Confinement, Drug use, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Cursing, Misogyny, and Violence
megmei's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- 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
4.0
I knew going into this book that it had divided a great deal of its readers. What I didn’t expect was for it to leave such a strong impression on me, and that I might consider myself a new fan of Moshfegh’s work.
Briefly, the plot of My Year of Rest and Relaxation (MYORAR, for short) can be most easily described as ‘Sleeping Beauty for the modern misanthrope’. I was immediately addicted to the stark contrast of New York at the turn of the millenium, full of potential, evoking the imagery of the Sex and the City, but against the backdrop of the narrator’s crumbling mental health. From the start, she knows she’s beautiful, white, blonde, and most importantly skinny, and yet she is not even remotely moved by it. On one hand you want to hate her, especially if you are nothing like her, but on the other hand, there is something reflected in her descent into absurd solipsism that just resonates with the experience of being a 20-something year old woman stuck in a life she hates, in a world that she feels is just vapid and meaningless.
I think where a lot of people get stuck with this is that they expect something weird and trippy when really this is just a very microscopic view into a voice that I think a lot of us have in our heads, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. We all have something mean, inexecusable and selfish in us. It’s natural, we are only human. What is interesting about this, is that the narrator allows herself almost reverently to succumb to all of her laziest instincts during a time of mental distress, to truly throw herself into this idea of sleeping through her own character development, hoping to fix these awful parts of herself. Perhaps this is exposing myself a little bit here for identifying so strongly with that, but if I could fix everything wrong with my brain by doing what the narrator does, I would. And then it is all written captivatingly by Mosfegh. I liken my experience a little bit to watching a car crash that I just couldn’t look away from: I was hooked, waiting to know how this would go wrong for her.
I was surprised at how this novel also deals quite deeply with the dissolution of a friendship that is steeped in the kind of toxicity that comes from two people who are just terrible for each other.
Reva and the narrator’s relationship feels like the kind of ‘frenemy’ trope that was just rampant in the early 2000s media (Serena and Blair?). Constantly competing, and yet neither really understanding why, or why they continue the friendship. Perhaps this resonated so deeply with me because as I enter my 30s, I’ve recently experienced a similar phenomenon in my own life. This probably isn’t rare. You enter your late 20s, and realise you are no longer the same people you were. Suddenly a friendship that spans decades leaves both parties sorely unsatisfied, and in some respects, deeply unhappy.
Reva is only ever portrayed through the eyes of the narrator, and she flickers between frank dislike, to moments where she is almost convincing herself that this friendship is worth it, in the moments where she seeks comfort in the banal, even if it she knows it doesn’t serve either of them. Reva is an important foil to the narrator, as she is living her life at almost a frenetic energy, going through the trials and tribulations of life head on, while the main character avoids it. She is constantly entering and leaving scenes going from one event to another, doing sit ups, etc. She is clearly competing with the narrator, consciously or not, and is similarly dismissive of the narrators struggles by constantly insisting that she’s beautiful, rich, lucky. Both are clearly dealing with their own struggles, one more outwardly than the other, and both are quite sad in their existences. I found it strangely cathartic to read these two battle each other through this friendship in a way that was so uncomfortable and sad, and yet deeply familiar and reassuring.
Mosfegh manages to find moments of levity in this tale, somehow, even if it’s tongue in cheek, or outright strange. The narrator’s obsession with Whoopi Goldberg, for example, was just such a specific character choice that despite it’s absurdity, it made sense. The interludes with the few men in this story also act as punctuation marks that create much more tension than I was expecting from a book about sleeping for year. The ending had me looking out of a window like Robert Pattinson in complete shock (iykyk). But the poignantly brief mention of it brought the rest of the year in MYORAR into sharp clarity and highlighted that the minutiae of our private suffering is so easily outshone in a moment of wild tragedy.
Maybe MYORAR just hits better and closer to home if you’ve experienced the deeply monotonous greyness of depression, and the desperately unempowered desire to change despite it all. I think you have to be a bit mentally unwell for this to really resonate with you. Take that as you will, but I personally was delighted by this book and I can’t wait to try more of Mosfegh’s writing.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Vomit, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
Minor: Sexism and Abortion
obliteraturebygaytorayd's review against another edition
challenging
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
I’d like to add a well-thought review, but I think I’ll go take a nap instead. Heard somewhere that it’s good for you. If, by some coincidence, I awake less irritable and cynical with an appreciation for birds, benches, and existential bliss, that’s an enjoyable side effect.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Cancer, Confinement, Eating disorder, Self harm, Vomit, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, and Excrement
milk's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Cancer, Confinement, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Sexual content, Vomit, and Classism
Minor: Animal death, Sexual assault, Abortion, and Sexual harassment
nefarious_rat's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Classism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Forced institutionalization and Abortion
features 9/11. towards the end. no terrorism tag but thought that would be relevant as a warningholasisoymaca's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
"Reva parecía no sentir necesidad de ocultarme su envidia. Desde el comienzo de nuestra amistad, si le contaba que había pasado algo bueno, se quejaba diciendo «no es justo» tantas veces que se convirtió en una especie de muletilla que soltaba como si nada, con voz apagada. Era su reacción automática a mis buenas notas, a un color de barra de labios nuevo, al último polo, a mi corte de pelo caro. «No es justo.» Yo formaba una cruz con los dedos y la alzaba entre las dos, como para protegerme de su envidia y de su ira. <i>Una vez le pregunté si sus celos tenían algo que ver con ser judía, si creía que las cosas eran más fáciles para mí por ser blanca, anglosajona y protestante."
Mi año de descanso y relajación trata sobre una mujer, la narradora, que está tan deprimida que tiene como objetivo hibernar un año entero con pastillas, con la esperanza de "despertar" de aquel mal sueño siendo otra persona, una que pueda entender el sentido de la vida y apreciarlo.
La verdad es que odié este libro. Inevitablemente me recuerda mucho a Esther Greenwood de "La campana de cristal": una mujer blanca deprimida que es asquerosamente cruel con los demás y es consciente de ello. Sin embargo, creo que Esther Greenwood como personaje me parece mucho más interesante al estar basado en la propia historia de Sylvia Plath.
En Mi año de descanso y relajación la cosa es completamente diferente: la narradora me parece un personaje problemático y plano, no sólo por hacer que su personalidad sea ser cruel, sino también porque realmente no sabemos mucho de ella y sus gustos. Habla de su historia personal con tanta frialdad y superficialidad que resulta muy difícil rescatar algún gesto de humanidad de su parte. Los personajes secundarios me parecieron más interesantes que ella: Reva, Trevor, o incluso la Doctora Tuttle tenían personalidades mucho más marcadas que ella.
Incluso la historia es bastante plana también. Se repite una y otra vez la misma secuencia: la narradora es cruel, mientras suma pastillas a su "hibernación". Los momentos que me llamaron la atención son sus recuerdos, cuando habla sobre sus padres, sus estudios, su viejo trabajo o incluso de su relación con Reva.
Tampoco puedo decir que todo haya sido malo. La autora logra mostrar una faceta de la depresión bastante cruel (y real también, vamos a decirlo) y la forma en que la vida de las personas puede cambiar. Al mismo tiempo, me gusta la construcción que hizo de la relación que tiene la narradora con sus padres, pues así podemos entender sus traumas y, un poco, el por qué de sus actitudes y decisiones. Si bien por momentos lo cuenta con mucha frialdad, por otros momentos parece ser que los sentimientos cargados en esos recuerdos son lo único que humaniza un poco a la protagonista.
Por otro lado, leí el libro bastante rápido. La pluma es ligera, y te da una perspectiva de Nueva York en sí bastante estrafalaria e interesante, con sus personajes y la escena artística.
Pero quitando eso, no puedo rescatar más nada.
Me molesta que se haya romantizado tanto este libro bajo la categoría de "sad girl book" (tampoco lo entiendo, sorry not sorry) donde la personalidad de la narradora (una mujer blanca, adinerada y privilegiada) se basa en compararse constantemente con los demás para resaltarse a sí misma y a su propia depresión; al tiempo que utiliza a las personas que están a su alrededor en su búsqueda del sentido de la vida, sobre todo a su mejor amiga, a quien constantemente le adjudica características del estereotipo de "chica judía" para resaltar su propia belleza, sus propias preocupaciones, sus propios problemas.
Quizás todo lo que estoy criticando era la excepcionalidad del libro.
Supongo que no logré captarlo. De todas formas, la experiencia de leer algo de lo que habla todo el mundo es interesante para poder entender (y profundizar) los debates en torno a estos libros problemáticos.
Mi año de descanso y relajación trata sobre una mujer, la narradora, que está tan deprimida que tiene como objetivo hibernar un año entero con pastillas, con la esperanza de "despertar" de aquel mal sueño siendo otra persona, una que pueda entender el sentido de la vida y apreciarlo.
La verdad es que odié este libro. Inevitablemente me recuerda mucho a Esther Greenwood de "La campana de cristal": una mujer blanca deprimida que es asquerosamente cruel con los demás y es consciente de ello. Sin embargo, creo que Esther Greenwood como personaje me parece mucho más interesante al estar basado en la propia historia de Sylvia Plath.
En Mi año de descanso y relajación la cosa es completamente diferente: la narradora me parece un personaje problemático y plano, no sólo por hacer que su personalidad sea ser cruel, sino también porque realmente no sabemos mucho de ella y sus gustos. Habla de su historia personal con tanta frialdad y superficialidad que resulta muy difícil rescatar algún gesto de humanidad de su parte. Los personajes secundarios me parecieron más interesantes que ella: Reva, Trevor, o incluso la Doctora Tuttle tenían personalidades mucho más marcadas que ella.
Incluso la historia es bastante plana también. Se repite una y otra vez la misma secuencia: la narradora es cruel, mientras suma pastillas a su "hibernación". Los momentos que me llamaron la atención son sus recuerdos, cuando habla sobre sus padres, sus estudios, su viejo trabajo o incluso de su relación con Reva.
Tampoco puedo decir que todo haya sido malo. La autora logra mostrar una faceta de la depresión bastante cruel (y real también, vamos a decirlo) y la forma en que la vida de las personas puede cambiar. Al mismo tiempo, me gusta la construcción que hizo de la relación que tiene la narradora con sus padres, pues así podemos entender sus traumas y, un poco, el por qué de sus actitudes y decisiones. Si bien por momentos lo cuenta con mucha frialdad, por otros momentos parece ser que los sentimientos cargados en esos recuerdos son lo único que humaniza un poco a la protagonista.
Por otro lado, leí el libro bastante rápido. La pluma es ligera, y te da una perspectiva de Nueva York en sí bastante estrafalaria e interesante, con sus personajes y la escena artística.
Pero quitando eso, no puedo rescatar más nada.
Me molesta que se haya romantizado tanto este libro bajo la categoría de "sad girl book" (tampoco lo entiendo, sorry not sorry) donde la personalidad de la narradora (una mujer blanca, adinerada y privilegiada) se basa en compararse constantemente con los demás para resaltarse a sí misma y a su propia depresión; al tiempo que utiliza a las personas que están a su alrededor en su búsqueda del sentido de la vida, sobre todo a su mejor amiga, a quien constantemente le adjudica características del estereotipo de "chica judía" para resaltar su propia belleza, sus propias preocupaciones, sus propios problemas.
Quizás todo lo que estoy criticando era la excepcionalidad del libro.
Supongo que no logré captarlo. De todas formas, la experiencia de leer algo de lo que habla todo el mundo es interesante para poder entender (y profundizar) los debates en torno a estos libros problemáticos.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical content
imds's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Mental illness, Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Vomit, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment
rionstorm's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.25
This book sucks so bad... she was clearly trying to be ironic and failed... literally everything about it is irritating... the casual racism, the repetitiveness, her constantly talking about how pretty she is, how every character is cartoonish and one dimensional, the incredibly silly (and distasteful) ending... awful
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Bullying, Confinement, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Alcoholism, Cancer, Racism, Terminal illness, and Vomit
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Abortion, and Pregnancy