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A review by casualskimreader
My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
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? Yes
4.25
This book is funny and dark and it lived up to the tiktok hype. I will be discussing some of the heavier topics present in this book, triggering themes as well as spoilers.
Aspects that I liked about this book:
- The unreliable narrator. She’s funny, self-centred, jarring, and she’s for sure mentally ill. My friend with BPD said that the content of the book is a bit triggering.
- The structure. I loved that the book seemed to be divided into 8 parts with a whole bunch of chapters of various lengths that were dependent on flashbacks, present reality as well as the thoughts of the narrator. The passages that had sad memories interspersed with the narrator talking about clothes or drugs or how annoying Reva was or her admiration for Whoopi Goldberg help emphasis her unique voice as well as emphasising how she has not dealt with her trauma. Her life is fractured and broken. The structure underlines that her life doesn’t flow as well as her logic (with her grand plan to sleep an entire year on drugs). Towards the end of the book her passages become more succinct as she manages to control her sleep better and when she has her black outs they seem more chaotic. I appreciate that time was spent on explaining Reva’s mom’s funeral and that seems to be the section of the book that’s the most tense and present to read. She’s so distant from death and what’s happening but she talks about her parents death so casually. It’s quite jarring to see her casually talk about trauma she hasn’t fully processed as well as her inner thoughts when it comes to Reva. But that’s for later…
-Commentary on the art world and 2000s culture. Even though I was born in the 2000s many aspects of life such as Sex in the City and tabloids were something I didn’t personally consume due to my age and disinterest. It was great to see the narrator talk about life as it was in the 2000s. I remember using and watching VSH tapes and then transitioning to DVDs and I also remember some of the fashion that was present then. Reading about the narrator describing New York (as someone who is not American and definitely not a NYC inhabitant) really immersed me into her world of art, fakeness, diet culture and the sleepwalking culture of the late 90’s.
I found that the narrators discussion of art culture and the art world particularly fascinating. The juxtaposition of the narrator’s belief that she needed to have talent to succeed and being presented with an art world where cum paintings and stuffed dogs are seen as art and valuable makes the reader question if talent is what you need to succeed in the art world. The description of hipster men on page 32 is absolutely spot on: insecure, self important and misogynistic men. The narrator does not hold back about how she despised the art world and felt inadequate in it. When describing the gallery and other artists, it’s clear that it is a world of money, insincerity, class and pressure and makes on consider if you’d want to be a part of that world anyway.
- Character dynamics. Personally, I found that each character kind of tackled some heavy topics and their purpose was not to be loveable but to see the mundaneness and issues they all had.
3 characters that stood out to me were Dr Tuttle, Trevor, and Reva.
Dr Tuttle and her character I feel represent medical negligence as well as (on a small scale) Big Pharma. It is clear that the narrator lies to Dr Tuttle to get ahold of more intense drugs (she even admits that) but Dr Tuttle has no problem with using her patient as a walking Guinea pig. Dr Tuttle never asks about the narrator’s trauma and attempts to work through it with her. Although therapy takes time, Dr Tuttle seems to only encourage medicinal intervention and advises how to avoid insurance companies which is very suspicious. She even forgets the minimal information that the narrator does give her (such as her orphan status) and doesn’t notice the narrator’s awful state (she seems to have a seizure of some kind). She gives the narrator drugs that are still going through test trials and encourages drug mixing. Overall, Dr Tuttle is commentary on how the medical system (of America) fails patients and contributes to health issues as well as addiction (maybe a comment on the opioid crisis but I digress).
Trevor is a vessel through which Moshfegh characterises the unhealthy dynamic of relationships between older men and young women. Trevor uses the narrator as a tool to make himself feel better. He never tends to her needs, asks about her interests or engages with her outside of his own needs and interests. For example, when the narrator goes to visit her parents home after they have died, he is not willing to help her with her trauma and be supportive. He is more concerned about getting the car messy and having sex with someone who is emotionally raw rather than assisting in working through her trauma that she clearly hasn’t processed. Trevor also drops the narrator when things with “respectable women” fall through. She is a confident side chick for him to use when he is bored as he is aware that she has deeper feelings for him than he has for her. This is aided in the fact that the narrator sees it as a point of pride to have a relationship with an older man when she’s surrounded by equally misogynistic and selfish men of her age. Overall, the men in this book seem emotionally distant, emotionally abusive. This is also seen with Reva’s affair with her married boss. She directs anger at the wife rather than the man that impregnated her and moved her so that he could avoid her rather than confront the status of their relationship. It sheds light on how young women are emotionally abused by these older manipulative men that use them as they see fit and these women develop dependency on these men because it’s all they’ve ever known.
Finally, the dynamic between the narrator and Reva is definitely the most complex and interesting of the book. Reva and the narrator are fundamentally different people and this brings about interesting thought processes and interactions between them.
</spoilers>
Aspects that I liked about this book:
- The unreliable narrator. She’s funny, self-centred, jarring, and she’s for sure mentally ill. My friend with BPD said that the content of the book is a bit triggering.
- The structure. I loved that the book seemed to be divided into 8 parts with a whole bunch of chapters of various lengths that were dependent on flashbacks, present reality as well as the thoughts of the narrator.
-Commentary on the art world and 2000s culture. Even though I was born in the 2000s many aspects of life such as Sex in the City and tabloids were something I didn’t personally consume due to my age and disinterest. It was great to see the narrator talk about life as it was in the 2000s. I remember using and watching VSH tapes and then transitioning to DVDs and I also remember some of the fashion that was present then. Reading about the narrator describing New York (as someone who is not American and definitely not a NYC inhabitant) really immersed me into her world of art, fakeness, diet culture and the sleepwalking culture of the late 90’s.
I found that the narrators discussion of art culture and the art world particularly fascinating.
- Character dynamics. Personally, I found that each character kind of tackled some heavy topics and their purpose was not to be loveable but to see the mundaneness and issues they all had.
3 characters that stood out to me were Dr Tuttle, Trevor, and Reva.
Trevor is a vessel through which Moshfegh characterises the unhealthy dynamic of relationships between older men and young women. Trevor uses the narrator as a tool to make himself feel better. He never tends to her needs, asks about her interests or engages with her outside of his own needs and interests. For example, when the narrator goes to visit her parents home after they have died, he is not willing to help her with her trauma and be supportive. He is more concerned about getting the car messy and having sex with someone who is emotionally raw rather than assisting in working through her trauma that she clearly hasn’t processed. Trevor also drops the narrator when things with “respectable women” fall through. She is a confident side chick for him to use when he is bored as he is aware that she has deeper feelings for him than he has for her. This is aided in the fact that the narrator sees it as a point of pride to have a relationship with an older man when she’s surrounded by equally misogynistic and selfish men of her age. Overall, the men in this book seem emotionally distant, emotionally abusive. This is also seen with Reva’s affair with her married boss. She directs anger at the wife rather than the man that impregnated her and moved her so that he could avoid her rather than confront the status of their relationship. It sheds light on how young women are emotionally abused by these older manipulative men that use them as they see fit and these women develop dependency on these men because it’s all they’ve ever known.
Finally, the dynamic between the narrator and Reva is definitely the most complex and interesting of the book. Reva and the narrator are fundamentally different people and this brings about interesting thought processes and interactions between them.
</spoilers>