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

dark reflective 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

3.0

UPDATE: I may have conflicting feelings at the time I reviewed this book but over time this is one of the rare books that I still think about long after I finished.
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"I got sloppy and lazy at work, grayer, emptier, less there. This pleased me, but having to do things became very problematic."

I went into the book only knowing that it's about a girl who wants to sleep for a year and came out of it disliking this unnamed narrator who really only sleeps and be an asshole to the only person who cares about her, no matter how superficial their friendship is.

I don't mind that this is 100% character driven. And I, too, like to sleep to escape my problems. I'm usually interested in dislikeable characters, but I draw the line when she gaslights other people to stay by threatening suicide.

TW: minor homophobic and racist remarks, and fatphobia. Granted, it's set in early 2000s, but still.

-Pooping in the middle of the office after getting fired because she neglected her job and excused it because she saw an art that triggered her maternal trauma. Wtf was THAT
-By the pace she gulps down the sleeping pills, I really thought she would die by the end of the book. The ending is strangely poetic and good though.
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