Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Meu ano de descanso e relaxamento

Reviews tagging 'Suicide'

Meu ano de descanso e relaxamento by Ottessa Moshfegh

461 reviews

todrick_the_tree's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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ams5x9's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

2.5

This was hard to get through…The main character is pretty miserable. The last 1% of the book had the smallest redemption/semblance of humanity. And holy depression (pills) and drug use, Batman! This book had more normal, everyday villains than any other book that comes to mind. An interesting look into the mind of a brain I’m very glad not to inhabit.

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onebook_more's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense 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

4.0

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sarahesterman's review against another edition

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challenging dark 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

3.75

I knew My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh was going to be pretty fucking weird going into it. You see, I did my due diligence, read some reviews, and planned accordingly.

Given that, I can tell you straight out that if you have depression or suicidal ideation: Take care of yourself and proceed (with the book and this review) with caution.

The tl;dr is that the (very unlikable) narrator, who is privileged and slender and blonde and WASPy and hot—and tells the reader those things repeatedly—is supremely depressed but doesn’t have the words for that. It’s 2000, to be fair. (We’ve made great strides in de-stigmatizing mental health in the last 24 years, though we still have a ways to go.) Anyway, she gets it in her mind that all she needs is one solid year of sleep and then she’ll wake up a new person. Like continuous sleep. So she finds the world’s most irresponsible psychiatrist to get herself some drugs, and she tries to make it happen.

Everybody is awful in this book—save for Reva, the unnamed narrator’s “best friend” (in quotes because she’s never treated well). Like no doubt Reva makes some poor choices, none of which made her unsympathetic to me.

But the other characters we see suck. Dr. Tuttle is several lawsuits waiting to happen and is easily the worst person in this book, given how easily she hands out drugs to her clients. The narrator’s ex-boyfriend, Trevor, treats her poorly and SAs her (though the book doesn’t call it that). And Ping Xi, an artist she ends up associating with, is… something.

When I picked up this book, I was looking for weird lit fic. I got it. While some things didn’t work for me—the ending was dissatisfying and the SA scene with Trevor honestly didn’t need to be there—the book did make me feel something. Namely, it made me feel relief that my depression has never been so bad I wanted to literally sleep a year away.

Let’s be friends on threads and bookstagram.

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shrewdbard's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective sad slow-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

4.0

I loved this. It scratched an itch that I associate with Invisible Monster and You Too Can Have a Body Like Mine - not in plot content, necessarily, but in the sardonic tone, the tongue-in-cheek quips, the just-left-of-realism.

Every time she spent time with Reva I found myself crying because she clearly loved her a lot, but was too miserable to just express it. It was touching that,

while in a fugue state, she was driven to showing compassion and love for Reva, even forcing herself to go to her funeral.

The narrator was spoiled and privileged and so bitter, but I couldn't hate her. Her nastiness just felt like a facade to me. There was something so real about the sleepiness and crankiness of depression, the never-ending grief even for those who treat you like shit, wanting nothing and yet still needing the basic human comforts of relationships and fun clothes and junk food.

9/11 hung over this book like such a specter. It was daring to keep it so short and to the final page. I had to read other people's thoughts and reviews to come to peace with this ending. Still reflecting, I think.

Also... I don't think this book is in support of rest fixing everything. Underneath it all, the narrator was desperate to live; that's why she spent her fugue states eating candy and going to clubs, IMing people and having fun. She only truly "reset" when she locked herself away, when she TRULY cut even her fugue state off from all life has to offer. And in a bizarre way, while Ping Xi is exploiting her, he's also protecting her; in the end, the art he makes of her warps her appearance and censors her personal stories.

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estheresr's review against another edition

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dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

Look…this just wasn’t for me. The main character is supposed to be unlovable and bitter, but, yikes. Interesting depictions of depression, grief, and drug addiction.
There’s something morbidly fascinating about the wealth and privilege of it all. You’re both repulsed and maybe a tiny bit jealous. However there’s very little in terms of plot, character development, or meaning. I could see a different reader really enjoying this, but the crux of the problem for me was she wasn’t even fun to hate.

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dmackreads's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

I didn’t find the humor in this and it was so unrealistic, yes I get it’s fiction, but come on. I kept waiting for there to be a point, some added plot, but there was none. I really thought I’d love this so I’m a little disappointed. I did enjoy the first half, but it just fell off for me.

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