A review by sakisreads
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

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

3.5

✨ Thrifted ✨

This book requires quite a few trigger warnings, which I’ll put as content warnings.

I don’t really know how to feel about this book. I was recommended it by someone years ago, but never got around to it until now.

The unnamed main character has a LOT of trauma and is clearly unforgiving of that (and of others around her as a result). Her frenemy Reva is also going through a lot and comes to the main character for some kind of solace, although she never seems to find it. 
The language is incredibly descriptive so I could imagine EVERYTHING that was going on, which I appreciated most of the time (except for when it was triggering) 🥺

I really burst out laughing when the artist Ping Xi appeared with his ‘splattered paintings, à la Jackson Pollock, made from his own ejaculate’ 😂

I’m not sure I would recommend this, but maybe once I know what the deeper meaning of it is I can appreciate it more and come back to review it in a different light ✨
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