Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Meu ano de descanso e relaxamento by Ottessa Moshfegh

127 reviews

takemeapart's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

*drum roll* she’s depressed… and she’s racist! (side-eyeing all the white girls who rave about relating to this character).. morality aside i enjoyed the 
very chaotic read… i too would like to sleep for a year.. justice for Reva. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism

jwagstrom's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Despite none of the characters being likable, I still enjoyed the process of reading this book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Racism and Vomit

Minor: Abortion

lauralintunen's review against another edition

dark funny medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

Moderate: Fatphobia, Sexism, Sexual content, and Vomit

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Confinement, Racism, Suicide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism

aelsaj711's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, and Racism

samspur's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.0

I have lots of conflicting thoughts about this book. It somehow had me comparing my feelings after watching the movie Saltburn - I just saw an amazing spectacle, but I feel desolate and bereft and I want to continue to stay here and feel that.

But oh my, this girl perfected the act of girl rot. It as almost to the point where she didn't need to learn any lessons, she just transformed. This made cheering for someone when they refused to be an underdog in their own rock bottom difficult. 

This book shows a very real depiction of depression and how it affects those around you. There was also her opposite, Reva - whom she hated to love or loved to hate (hard to say). Reva seemed to deal with grief differently, but maybe just as problematically.

I wish I understood the historic event in the end. Why did the story lead Reva there?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Mental illness, Racism, Self harm, and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Abortion, and Toxic friendship

puttingwingsonwords's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Moderate: Addiction, Body shaming, Death, Racism, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Grief, Alcohol, and Classism

Minor: Ableism, Excrement, Antisemitism, and Abortion

bookish_once's review against another edition

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

3.0

American Psycho + The Bell Jar = The Girlfailure Bible™

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Racism and Suicidal thoughts

gin_and_panic's review against another edition

dark reflective sad medium-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Sexual content

Moderate: Mental illness

Minor: Ableism, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Racism, and Classism

beatrizdizon_'s review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad 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

5.0

Ottessa Moshfegh has a hand in concretizing on pages the feeling of emptiness. That incomprehensible, unfathomable, undecipherable feeling. This book consumed me (like MC did with those pills). But honestly, though, the blurb says it all. Don’t expect butterflies and rainbows going into this book. Don’t expect rest and relaxation afterward. Don’t expect a cathartic moment. With every rotting woman is another rotting woman next to her (me). It can never be me though! The pathological people pleaser (Swift 2023) in me cannot handle losing that much control and man did she lose control.

There’s so much to say about MYORAR. The social commentary it touches but it’s not in your face, so it doesn’t sound pretentious. The way our narrator adhered to the very things she criticized. How telling her toxic relationships are, especially with men, about her experiences.

So, I took my time considering if I liked that we readers can predict what will happen to Reva, and I settled on the notion that I do. Maybe it became predictable the moment she had that change, but what matters more is how the narrator reacted in the last chapter which arguably is not predictable. Reva is a star though. Something about her demise juxtaposed with MC’s plan b is poetic in a way.

Moshfegh makes me want to go all “you just don’t get it” type of insufferable. Now my friends and I can be miserable and insufferable together. As if we’re not already doing that. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Medical content, and Alcohol

Moderate: Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Infidelity, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Confinement, Death, Racism, Self harm, Blood, Abortion, Pregnancy, and Classism

anna_brabazon's review against another edition

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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcoholism, Cancer, Homophobia, Racism, Abortion, and Classism