Status
Available
Genres
Publication
New York : Penguin Press, 2018.
Description
"From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a shocking and tender novel about a young woman's efforts to sustain a state of deep hibernation over the course of a year on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong? My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers"--… (more)
Media reviews
"A beautiful 24-year-old gallery assistant wants nothing more than to sleep — not for a rejuvenating eight hours, but 'full-time,' like a hibernating bear or an aspiring narcoleptic. Her goal is to sleep, not perchance to dream, but to 'drown out my thoughts and judgments, since the constant
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barrage made it hard not to hate everyone and everything.'" Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member ASKelmore
Best for:
People looking for a well-written, fairly quick read of no consequence, whose characters are all unappealing, especially the protagonist.
In a nutshell:
Orphaned rich woman (no name given, which I didn’t realize until I went to write this review) decides the way she wants to deal with her
Worth quoting:
‘It’s not about the men,’ she said. ‘Women are so judgmental. They’re always comparing.’
‘But why do you care? It’s not a contest.’
‘Yes, it is. You just can’t see it because you’ve always been the winner.’
Why I chose it:
I have picked this book up in shops probably a half-dozen times. Now that it’s in paperback I finally decided to get it. I’m glad, if only because my curiosity is well-sated.
Review:
This was a quick read, for sure. But I did not enjoy it. When I finished it, I wondered what I’d missed. Was this satire - a mocking of all those sort-of coming-of-age books written by white men about young white men? No? It’s just a character study? Huh.
Author Moshfegh is talented, for sure. The book is easy to read, the scenes evocative and well-thought-out. I have a strong picture in my mind of every place described, and a real feeling about each place. But the overall idea of the book, the main concept, the plot, just didn’t work for me at all. As it moved along I sort of got a bit of why the protagonist was doing what she was doing. I think?
Was she depressed? Probably. But was that what was fueling her desire to sleep? Or was she just ill-equipped for the world? Honestly? I didn’t care. Was I supposed to care? Unclear. Like I said, I might have missed something, but maybe not. Maybe it just wasn’t my thing. Entertainment Weekly said “One of the most compelling protagonists modern fiction has offered in years” and just … no. I disagree.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Toss it
People looking for a well-written, fairly quick read of no consequence, whose characters are all unappealing, especially the protagonist.
In a nutshell:
Orphaned rich woman (no name given, which I didn’t realize until I went to write this review) decides the way she wants to deal with her
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life is by sleeping. So she find a doctor who is willing to prescribe her all manner of sleeping pills.Worth quoting:
‘It’s not about the men,’ she said. ‘Women are so judgmental. They’re always comparing.’
‘But why do you care? It’s not a contest.’
‘Yes, it is. You just can’t see it because you’ve always been the winner.’
Why I chose it:
I have picked this book up in shops probably a half-dozen times. Now that it’s in paperback I finally decided to get it. I’m glad, if only because my curiosity is well-sated.
Review:
This was a quick read, for sure. But I did not enjoy it. When I finished it, I wondered what I’d missed. Was this satire - a mocking of all those sort-of coming-of-age books written by white men about young white men? No? It’s just a character study? Huh.
Author Moshfegh is talented, for sure. The book is easy to read, the scenes evocative and well-thought-out. I have a strong picture in my mind of every place described, and a real feeling about each place. But the overall idea of the book, the main concept, the plot, just didn’t work for me at all. As it moved along I sort of got a bit of why the protagonist was doing what she was doing. I think?
Was she depressed? Probably. But was that what was fueling her desire to sleep? Or was she just ill-equipped for the world? Honestly? I didn’t care. Was I supposed to care? Unclear. Like I said, I might have missed something, but maybe not. Maybe it just wasn’t my thing. Entertainment Weekly said “One of the most compelling protagonists modern fiction has offered in years” and just … no. I disagree.
Keep it / Pass to a Friend / Donate it / Toss it:
Toss it
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LibraryThing member Smiler69
In the beginning I liked this book a whole lot, despite its deeply unlikeable characters, and then I progressively lost interest and ended feeling, as I often do when I end up not relating to a book at all, that I am decidedly not the right audience for this one for all kinds of reasons which I may
More later about a twenty something woman who chooses pill popping and permanent sleep for a year as a life fixer, seen through the eyes of a forty something reader, who happens to be a woman who has been on permanent leave from work and still struggles with after effects of a spectacular burnout from a thriving career after twelve years, partially due to overworking on a grand manic scale and mental illness, and who long resisted taking her meds because never much liked the idea of popping pills to begin with and always had a deeply disliked self obsessed overprivileged bitches only concerned with their own looks and sex.
Plenty of good bits in there and I did at first take it as a case study in a radically different approach to finding mental health and kept telling myself that I was enjoying this book from that perspective, and that worked up to a point, but it was awfully repetitive what with the constant and rather random pill popping and the endless cruel putting down of the alcoholic, bullimic fawning Jewish friend and the endless references to her own tall blonde WASPish model good looks. I guess it’s all supposed to be a good joke, the narcissism and all, but Gag Me With a Spoon, won’t you?! I hear Moshfegh’s short stories are awfully good though. Looking forward to those.
Maybe that just about sums it up after all. I’ll decide when I’ve simmered down and read myself again whether this constitutes my official review, but it probably does. Because I’ll be damned when the day comes I have to convince myself ever again I like something just because it’s the popular thing right now, eh?!
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or may not opt to delve into further later, but essentially to do with the fact that deeply narcissistic characters rarely do much for me, with the occasional exception. More later about a twenty something woman who chooses pill popping and permanent sleep for a year as a life fixer, seen through the eyes of a forty something reader, who happens to be a woman who has been on permanent leave from work and still struggles with after effects of a spectacular burnout from a thriving career after twelve years, partially due to overworking on a grand manic scale and mental illness, and who long resisted taking her meds because never much liked the idea of popping pills to begin with and always had a deeply disliked self obsessed overprivileged bitches only concerned with their own looks and sex.
Plenty of good bits in there and I did at first take it as a case study in a radically different approach to finding mental health and kept telling myself that I was enjoying this book from that perspective, and that worked up to a point, but it was awfully repetitive what with the constant and rather random pill popping and the endless cruel putting down of the alcoholic, bullimic fawning Jewish friend and the endless references to her own tall blonde WASPish model good looks. I guess it’s all supposed to be a good joke, the narcissism and all, but Gag Me With a Spoon, won’t you?! I hear Moshfegh’s short stories are awfully good though. Looking forward to those.
Maybe that just about sums it up after all. I’ll decide when I’ve simmered down and read myself again whether this constitutes my official review, but it probably does. Because I’ll be damned when the day comes I have to convince myself ever again I like something just because it’s the popular thing right now, eh?!
Show Less
LibraryThing member kayanelson
This wasn't the book for me. What happened in this book. She took pills and more pills and zoned out for a year. And then after that year not much happened either. Waste of my time.
LibraryThing member DKnight0918
I suffered through it.
LibraryThing member jonerthon
My only fiction title of Q2, but man did I pick an intense one. The unnamed protagonist is an attractive early 20s woman in NYC, with a Columbia degree and enough inherited money for an Upper East Side condo and anything else she desires. Yet the plot slowly reveals how unhappy and almost alone she
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is in the world, a product of aloof parents and a college boyfriend who mostly treated her as a side piece. She copes with a plan to go all-in on medicating herself, via a crooked psychiatrist, with plans to be unconscious or at least unaware for days at a time. In the process she actively excludes her single true friend from what could be a more therapeutic recovery. Heartbreaking, especially if you've known substance abuse in your or someone else's lives, but very very sharp and poignant. Show Less
LibraryThing member ouroborosangel
Weirdly enough, even though I quit this book half-way through, I am planning on seeking out other books by Ottessa Moshfegh because I actually quite enjoyed the writing style. If this book was about anything other than a depressed, beautiful, entitled, pill-popping young woman who cannot deal with
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life and allows herself to be abused emotionally and sexually by the worst man ever, I feel like I could really have loved it. Isn't anyone else tired of reading about bored, addicted women? I'm off to find a book with a kick-ass heroine. Anyone have suggestions? Show Less
LibraryThing member nancyjean19
What an interesting journey in the narrator's brain... Funny, sad, touching, frustrating. There were a few parts I thought were a bit too cartoonish or contrived, but I ended the book feeling a lot of compassion for a challenging person.
LibraryThing member brangwinn
As I continued to read this story, I just like the protagonist, wanted to take drugs to escape. Spending a year sleeping isn’t my idea of a good time. I couldn’t believe how the psychiatrist was so happy to add to the collection of pills. I give this book higher marks than you might expect
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because, this really was creative writing, being able to document a wasted year of a person’s life. It is the kind of book I am compelled to finish reading just to find out what happened to the main character. Show Less
LibraryThing member akblanchard
The unnamed female narrator of this strange, compulsively readable novel wants nothing more than to shut the world out through sleep. Her crackpot psychiatrist keepers her supplied with every narcoleptic drug known to humankind, including a (fictitious) one called Infermiterol, which causes her to
This fascinating book satirizes the art world, and explores with dark humor what is often left unsaid in familial and other relationships. Recommended for readers who don't need to like the characters to find a book worthwhile.
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do things she does not remember doing. But a person cannot sleep forever, can she?This fascinating book satirizes the art world, and explores with dark humor what is often left unsaid in familial and other relationships. Recommended for readers who don't need to like the characters to find a book worthwhile.
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LibraryThing member sophroniaborgia
Once again Ottessa Moshfegh has created a protagonist who is narcissistic, self-destructive, and often extremely unlikeable, and yet somehow relatable despite it all. Our unnamed narrator knows she's got major problems -- she's lost both of her parents, who never cared much for her anyway; she's
The appeal of her plan is obvious -- who hasn't longed to just take a few days off to rest when the world becomes overwhelming? And who hasn't wanted to be able to improve their life and become a totally new person without having to actually be conscious for any of the work or consequences involved? It's Moshfegh's genius that her novel recognizes the universal nature of these desires but also indicts the basic selfishness behind them. Of course we want to skip over the easy parts of being adults in the world, but it's just evidence of how craven and disgusting we all really are, just like the protagonist.
I was a bit conflicted about the ending of the book -- I thought it didn't quite work as Moshfegh intended -- but her writing is beautifully readable, even when describing emotions and experiences that most people would turn away from. Definitely an ambitious and mostly successful work!
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throwing herself into a debasing. exploitative sexual relationship; her only friend is a jealous college roommate she hasn't yet managed to offend enough to drive her away; and she's disgusted by the culture of turn-of-the-millennium New York City. So she comes up with a lunatic plan to sleep through an entire year of her life with the assistance of a truly staggering amount of pharmaceuticals supplied by the world's most irresponsible doctor, hoping to emerge having somehow changed into a new person.The appeal of her plan is obvious -- who hasn't longed to just take a few days off to rest when the world becomes overwhelming? And who hasn't wanted to be able to improve their life and become a totally new person without having to actually be conscious for any of the work or consequences involved? It's Moshfegh's genius that her novel recognizes the universal nature of these desires but also indicts the basic selfishness behind them. Of course we want to skip over the easy parts of being adults in the world, but it's just evidence of how craven and disgusting we all really are, just like the protagonist.
I was a bit conflicted about the ending of the book -- I thought it didn't quite work as Moshfegh intended -- but her writing is beautifully readable, even when describing emotions and experiences that most people would turn away from. Definitely an ambitious and mostly successful work!
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
This book was.... odd? But in a totally readable way. My Year of Rest and Relaxation is exactly what the title promises, a woman in her late twenties decides to medicate herself into hibernation for a year. Her parents are dead, she only has one "friend," she's quit her job, and she just can't
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stomach going about the drudgery of the every day. She's happiest while sleeping and she's willing to take an insane cocktail of prescribed drugs to chase that feeling of rest and relaxation. Skinny, pretty, and privileged; she knows she has it easy, but she wants a new life and she wants to sleep her way into the next chapter. At first I wondered how on earth an entire book could be written about drug induced quest for sleep; but rest assured, I couldn't put this book down. Literally. I started it at 8 this morning and am already done. Moshfegh is a writer to watch, I loved this even more than I loved her collection of short stories I read last year. Show Less
LibraryThing member sturlington
This was like a fictional recounting of a fantasy I have that I know can never be realized: to go to sleep for a long period and then wake up as a blank slate, to start over again from scratch. The unnamed narrator of this book is intensely unlikeable, but yet she is so relatable, at least for
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someone like me, who knows from depression. I thought this was much better than Eileen, Moshfegh's other novel that I have read, which also featured an unlikeable female lead. And I think it's very honest, which can make for hard reading. This is not a book for everyone, but I think if it does connect with you, it will connect with you hard. Show Less
LibraryThing member miss.mesmerized
Looking at her from the outside, she has everything one could wish for: she is blond, pretty, thin, a Columbia graduate, stylish without effort and she has a job at a gallery. Due to her inheritance, she can afford an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. But that’s just one side of the
Ottessa Moshfegh is a US-American writer who earned a degree in Creative Writing from Brown University and whose short stories were received with positive reviews. After her novella “McGLue”, her first novel “Eileen” was published in 2015 and made it on the shortlist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Having chosen a mostly unsympathetic protagonist for her former novel, I found it much easier so sympathise with her narrator in “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”.
The young woman who is portrayed is quite typical in a certain way. She is the modern New Yorker who takes part in the glittery art circus, is a part of a subculture of believes itself to be highly reflective and innovative. At a certain point, the superficiality becomes exhausting and the aimless tittle-tattle and prattle don’t provide any deeper insight.
“The art at Ducat was supposed to be subversive irreverent, shocking, but was all just canned counterculture crap, “punk, but with money”.
Also her relationship does not go beyond superficial sex and one-night-stands that lead to nothing. Added to this is the easy availability of all kinds of drugs, of therapists who themselves are too crazy to detect any serious illness in their clients and therefore just fill in any prescription they are asked for. Even though the plot starts in 2000, the characters are quite typical for the 1990s and they need a major event to wake them up and bring them back to real life.
The narrator tries to flee the world and takes more and more pills mixed with each other, as a result she is sleepwalking, even gets a new haircuts and orders masses of lingerie without knowing. Her radius is limited to her blog, her only human contacts are the Egyptians at the bodega at the corner where she buys coffee, the doorman of her apartment house and Reva, her best friend who still cares about her. Even though she is bothered by the things she does when she is not awake, she has become that addicted that she cannot let go anymore.
Even though the protagonist is highly depressive and seeing how badly she copes with her life is hard to endure in a way, the novel is also hilarious. I especially liked her meetings with her therapist since Dr. Tuttle is riotous in her eccentric ways and their dialogues are highly comical – despite the earnestness of their actual topics. Ottessa Moshfegh most certainly earns a place among to most relevant authors of today.
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medal, her relationship with Trevor has been all but healthy, her parents never showed any affection and thus losing them both when she was in college was a minor affair. What she is lacking is an aim in life, something that gives her a reason for being alive. She feels exhausted and just wants to sleep until everything is over. She slowly extends her time in bed, she even falls asleep at work and then, finally, she decides to hibernate. A crazy therapist provides her with medication that allows more and more hours of sleep at a time. She hopes that after a year of rest, she will awake as somebody new.Ottessa Moshfegh is a US-American writer who earned a degree in Creative Writing from Brown University and whose short stories were received with positive reviews. After her novella “McGLue”, her first novel “Eileen” was published in 2015 and made it on the shortlist for the 2016 Man Booker Prize. Having chosen a mostly unsympathetic protagonist for her former novel, I found it much easier so sympathise with her narrator in “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”.
The young woman who is portrayed is quite typical in a certain way. She is the modern New Yorker who takes part in the glittery art circus, is a part of a subculture of believes itself to be highly reflective and innovative. At a certain point, the superficiality becomes exhausting and the aimless tittle-tattle and prattle don’t provide any deeper insight.
“The art at Ducat was supposed to be subversive irreverent, shocking, but was all just canned counterculture crap, “punk, but with money”.
Also her relationship does not go beyond superficial sex and one-night-stands that lead to nothing. Added to this is the easy availability of all kinds of drugs, of therapists who themselves are too crazy to detect any serious illness in their clients and therefore just fill in any prescription they are asked for. Even though the plot starts in 2000, the characters are quite typical for the 1990s and they need a major event to wake them up and bring them back to real life.
The narrator tries to flee the world and takes more and more pills mixed with each other, as a result she is sleepwalking, even gets a new haircuts and orders masses of lingerie without knowing. Her radius is limited to her blog, her only human contacts are the Egyptians at the bodega at the corner where she buys coffee, the doorman of her apartment house and Reva, her best friend who still cares about her. Even though she is bothered by the things she does when she is not awake, she has become that addicted that she cannot let go anymore.
Even though the protagonist is highly depressive and seeing how badly she copes with her life is hard to endure in a way, the novel is also hilarious. I especially liked her meetings with her therapist since Dr. Tuttle is riotous in her eccentric ways and their dialogues are highly comical – despite the earnestness of their actual topics. Ottessa Moshfegh most certainly earns a place among to most relevant authors of today.
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
Ottessa Moshfegh's book was very hyped. I also have her previous novel which I will read next because I have it and it is not that long. However, I would not have gotten it after reading this book. Yes, Moshfegh is an excellent writer and very creative. Her characters were unique and her premise
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for the novel was potentially interesting. A 26 year old pretty art major graduate(works in a gallery)from Columbia who owns her apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan and also has enough money due to an inheritance from her deceased parents decides to take a year off. How so? By finding a willing psychiatrist that provides her with unlimited amounts of sleeping pills. The psychiatrist was a very funny character as was her only friend Reva. The young woman was the narrator who was nameless(everyone seems to have nameless first person narrators) wants to escape a world she doesn't feel comfortable in although to the outside observer she has everything. The book does a decent job getting into her past with having distant parents and especially an alcoholic classic bad mom. She sets up this premise but then the book really doesn't move because it just continues showing her doing drugs(of course the amount she took should have killed her). She really isn't a likable character which is okay but the story didn't hold me. However, on the positive side her creativity and prose were great. I will read "Eileen" which was up for the Booker Prize in 2015. Hopefully, I will enjoy that more. It is interesting to see how much the critics like this book but I did read Amazon 3 star reviews from people who had loved her previous books but were disappointed in this book. My review on "Eileen" will be up here soon. Show Less
LibraryThing member over.the.edge
My Year of Rest and Relaxation
By Ottessa Moshfegh
2018
Penguin
When a beautiful, Columbia graduated women living in Yorkville, Upper East Side NY, decides to take a year off to deal with her depression, living on her inheritance, it changes her life. But not her depression. Over medicated by her
" I felt myself float up and away, higher and higher into the ether until my body was just an anecdote, a symbol, a potrait hanging in another world."
" This was how I knew the sleep was having an effect: I was growing less and less attached to life. If I kept going, I thought, I'd disappear completely, then reappear in some new form. This was my hope. This was my dream."
One of my fave authors....this was a great character read, and was actually pretty humorous at times. Recommended!
By Ottessa Moshfegh
2018
Penguin
When a beautiful, Columbia graduated women living in Yorkville, Upper East Side NY, decides to take a year off to deal with her depression, living on her inheritance, it changes her life. But not her depression. Over medicated by her
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psychiatrist, Dr. Tuttle, she spends her time worked at the Ducet Fine Art Gallery in Soho (the art described here really stretches the imagination), sleeping, and watching her VHS tapes she buys almost daily at a local thrift shop. Soon she is trying to navigate through her life in a dream like state." I felt myself float up and away, higher and higher into the ether until my body was just an anecdote, a symbol, a potrait hanging in another world."
" This was how I knew the sleep was having an effect: I was growing less and less attached to life. If I kept going, I thought, I'd disappear completely, then reappear in some new form. This was my hope. This was my dream."
One of my fave authors....this was a great character read, and was actually pretty humorous at times. Recommended!
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LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Ottessa Moshfegh's characters are unpleasant people. They're morally flexible, utterly self-involved, make terrible decisions and often live in environments that reflect their personalities. Allowing a Moshfegh character into your life will invariably end in disappointment and legal difficulties.
In My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the protagonist is a well-off, pretty young blonde woman with a nice apartment in Manhattan. She finds an utterly incompetent psychiatrist willing to write her an ever increasing number of prescriptions for various sedative, anti-depressants and sleeping aids and sets out to enjoy a year of unconsciousness. It doesn't quite go the way she'd envisioned. Her only friend keeps showing up and she keeps needing new pharmaceuticals to stay asleep.
The character in this novel begin as shallow, unpleasant person and while she remains true to herself, Moshfegh forces her to develop and grow despite her intense desire to avoid everything. This is one of the best novels I've read this year.
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In My Year of Rest and Relaxation, the protagonist is a well-off, pretty young blonde woman with a nice apartment in Manhattan. She finds an utterly incompetent psychiatrist willing to write her an ever increasing number of prescriptions for various sedative, anti-depressants and sleeping aids and sets out to enjoy a year of unconsciousness. It doesn't quite go the way she'd envisioned. Her only friend keeps showing up and she keeps needing new pharmaceuticals to stay asleep.
The character in this novel begin as shallow, unpleasant person and while she remains true to herself, Moshfegh forces her to develop and grow despite her intense desire to avoid everything. This is one of the best novels I've read this year.
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LibraryThing member BALE
This book started out w/ a lot of potential then lost its heartbeat and didn't recover.
LibraryThing member chrisblocker
No doubt this book is a tough sell. Well what's it about? It's about a young woman, living in NYC in 2000, and she's depressed, so she takes a lot of drugs and sleeps a lot. Then what happens? She takes more drugs and sleeps even more. Then? Well, she takes more drugs, but has trouble sleeping.
So my love of Whoopi began with Star Trek: The Next Generation. For those who do not know, she played Guinan, the ship's bartender. Despite her secondary role, Guinan was my favorite character from that series. So already I was impressed with My Year of Rest and Relaxation for the unnamed narrator's fascination with Goldberg. But when I found out her obsession began with Guinan—oh, Ottessa, you have captured my heart. I digress...
And I still haven't sold you on this book, have I?
Okay, Moshfegh has a way of making a simple story semi-interesting. No, My Year... is certainly not riveting, but the beauty of the language and the inner workings of the narrator's mind are engaging. Perhaps this novel reached a point about two-thirds of the way through when it began to feel like the idea had run its course, but that final third wasn't a drag by any means. Part of why this book succeeds is, I think, because Moshfegh is in no way heavy-handed with the connections she makes to an apathetic people, a dying art scene, and a wake-up call. The few characters who revolve around our narrator's world are unlikable and played for humor, which worked, but didn't allow me to grow close to any of them. This leaves only the narrator who is over-privileged and despicable in her own ways, but at least she understands a love of Guinan. (Sometimes all you need is Whoopi.)
It's not easy to convince anyone to read a book about a woman who sleeps. And that's okay, because many readers probably won't love My Year of Rest and Relaxation. At times, it's slow, dry, and depressing. I think with all things Moshfegh writes, it either subtly grows on you, or it doesn't.
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Okay, let's jump past all the drugs and sleeping, what happens after all that? She wakes up, I guess. That's it? Well, there's also this whole obsession with Whoopi Goldberg. That's pretty interesting.So my love of Whoopi began with Star Trek: The Next Generation. For those who do not know, she played Guinan, the ship's bartender. Despite her secondary role, Guinan was my favorite character from that series. So already I was impressed with My Year of Rest and Relaxation for the unnamed narrator's fascination with Goldberg. But when I found out her obsession began with Guinan—oh, Ottessa, you have captured my heart. I digress...
And I still haven't sold you on this book, have I?
Okay, Moshfegh has a way of making a simple story semi-interesting. No, My Year... is certainly not riveting, but the beauty of the language and the inner workings of the narrator's mind are engaging. Perhaps this novel reached a point about two-thirds of the way through when it began to feel like the idea had run its course, but that final third wasn't a drag by any means. Part of why this book succeeds is, I think, because Moshfegh is in no way heavy-handed with the connections she makes to an apathetic people, a dying art scene, and a wake-up call. The few characters who revolve around our narrator's world are unlikable and played for humor, which worked, but didn't allow me to grow close to any of them. This leaves only the narrator who is over-privileged and despicable in her own ways, but at least she understands a love of Guinan. (Sometimes all you need is Whoopi.)
It's not easy to convince anyone to read a book about a woman who sleeps. And that's okay, because many readers probably won't love My Year of Rest and Relaxation. At times, it's slow, dry, and depressing. I think with all things Moshfegh writes, it either subtly grows on you, or it doesn't.
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LibraryThing member jnmegan
There are those who think a catnap in the afternoon is an extravagant indulgence, and then there is Otessa Moshfegh’s narrator in her newest novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation. In this book, the first-person account is voiced by an unnamed woman who decides that she will spend a whole year
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sleeping as much as possible. Young, orphaned, wealthy and spoiled, she states that her plan to hibernate is meant to “drown out any thoughts and judgements, since the constant barrage makes it hard not to hate everyone and everything.” Mosfegh’s character believes that her endeavor will result in a metamorphosis, an epiphany that will ultimately illuminate her higher purpose. She enlists the help of a psychiatrist (whose medical ethics are on the far side of malpractice) to prescribe her as many medications as possible to induce a state of nearly constant unconsciousness. As she experiments with an implausible quantity of drugs, she often wakes to discover that she has spent the time wandering in a fugue state. Her bouts of sleep are only interrupted by her trips for food, prescription refills, looping VCR tapes and unwelcome intrusions by her only friend, Reva. Reva is a friend from her college days-insecure, but loyal and loving-and therefore pitiful and worthy of the narrator’s disdain. The book focuses more on character development and themes of millennial ennui, entitlement and mindless consumerism than on driving action. Moshfegh has proven again that she is a remarkable writer with a talent for delicately portraying characters with few redeemable qualities. As the novel progresses, however, the reader might find compassion for this damaged woman despite her self-centeredness and arrogance. Truly unique and finely crafted, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is as difficult to categorize as it is to put down. Show Less
LibraryThing member ShannonRose4
We never learn her name but her privileged background can't keep her from experiencing remarkable loss. Her grief & depression (words she never uses) has sparked a very fitting and unique "project" that is seems like it would be a dream, but is it?
Moshfegh's telling is heartbreaking, maddening and
Moshfegh's telling is heartbreaking, maddening and
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laugh out loud funny; this beautifully odd novel is one you'll fall for and will keep you up late reading. Show Less
LibraryThing member alexrichman
Hilariously depressing or depressingly hilarious depending on your disposition. Bit conflicted about the millenium setting but there’s a lot to love about this book. Could be a Catcher in the Rye for the nihilist Twitter generation.
LibraryThing member RandyMetcalfe
Even when you are young and blonde and beautiful, financially comfortable, unencumbered by familial attachments or the complications friends carry, you can still feel a bit heavy. Life is like that, or gravity. One of them gets you down if the other doesn’t. Sometimes you just want to sleep it
The unnamed protagonist of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel has had some disappointments. Both of her parents died while she was an undergraduate studying art history. Her only friend, Reva, is intensely needy and unobservant. Her sometime boyfriend, Trevor, is emotionally distant and sexually unimaginative. Her waspishness practically guaranteed her a front of house position at a trendy Chelsea gallery. But it also ensured that she would lose said job in a fit of pique. The only thing that brings her any pleasure, if that’s the correct word, is empty chunks of unconsciousness, i.e. sleep. When she turns to Dr Tuttle, a somewhat unorthodox psychiatrist, she is prepared to tell her almost anything in order to obtain prescriptions for numerous and various medications to assist her goal of uninterrupted repose.
The writing here is both inventive and subtle, even though the events described are rarely either. There is a certain inexorableness to this. Perhaps any novel set in New York in the year 2000 will have that feel, as though it is leading up to something, or falling, falling endlessly. It’s an achievement to hold the readers attention throughout, despite the protagonist’s recurrent and lengthy bouts of forgetful sleep. I was impressed.
Recommended.
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all away. But getting there, getting to the point of real sleep, and staying there, that takes serious effort and planning and non-FDA-approved psycho-medications.The unnamed protagonist of Ottessa Moshfegh’s novel has had some disappointments. Both of her parents died while she was an undergraduate studying art history. Her only friend, Reva, is intensely needy and unobservant. Her sometime boyfriend, Trevor, is emotionally distant and sexually unimaginative. Her waspishness practically guaranteed her a front of house position at a trendy Chelsea gallery. But it also ensured that she would lose said job in a fit of pique. The only thing that brings her any pleasure, if that’s the correct word, is empty chunks of unconsciousness, i.e. sleep. When she turns to Dr Tuttle, a somewhat unorthodox psychiatrist, she is prepared to tell her almost anything in order to obtain prescriptions for numerous and various medications to assist her goal of uninterrupted repose.
The writing here is both inventive and subtle, even though the events described are rarely either. There is a certain inexorableness to this. Perhaps any novel set in New York in the year 2000 will have that feel, as though it is leading up to something, or falling, falling endlessly. It’s an achievement to hold the readers attention throughout, despite the protagonist’s recurrent and lengthy bouts of forgetful sleep. I was impressed.
Recommended.
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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
I loved this book. I didn't *like*the protagonist but I understood her and could see from her point of view. The superficial trappings- her looks, money, possessions- were just superficial. The author invested her with the wealth needed to retreat from the world the way she wanted to, but I think
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it's the way many of us would like to. But her feelings were real and raw and honest. The funny thing is she doesn't really get her year of rest. But something happens anyway. Show Less
LibraryThing member larryking1
Some years ago, I decided to reread The Catcher in the Rye; I suspected that my older self would find it overrated but I was surprised to find it far more applicable to middle age than to my reading it as a cavalier kid. After all, how would a school boy appreciate the depths of depression and
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grief that Holden Caulfield was enduring? So, imagine my surprise in finding an unlikely connection between young Holden and the unnamed narrator of this novel. She is a young, very pretty, and a rather wealthy Manhattanite, made rich by the death of her rich parents. She is also depressed to the point of being catatonic. And how does she cope? She hibernates into a cocoon of pharmaceuticals, her lunatic therapist (who gives her prescriptions), one bulimic friend, and the Egyptians staffing a nearby bodega, where she buys her coffee and sundries. Her looks get her a position of ennui inside a 'cutting edge' art gallery, her therapist is the most comical and worst in the entire world, and her 'bestie' has even more issues than she does. And, as the year passes, her acquired drug fueled routine takes on the bleakest comedic aspect imaginable, save for the overall tonality of torpor, depression, and futility. No mistake about it: the story herein is so morbid and dark that it eventually takes on a comedic sensibility that is overwhelming! So funny! (And also, a manual about better living through chemistry!) Show Less
LibraryThing member PDCRead
During her final year at Columbia University, where she majored in art history, our unnamed protagonist lost both her parents. The inheritance that they left her means that she is financially stable, but she is utterly emotionally exhausted. She is in an apartment on the Upper East Side of
Moshfegh has made this compelling read from what seems on the face of it a hollow premise of someone spending a year in a drug-filled sleep. Even though the two characters are not particularly likeable, I did feel that I had to admire the tenacity of the main character as she pursues the desire to alienate herself from the world rather than face the reality of her parent’s deaths and the swirl of modern life. Her friend, Reva, is as infuriating as she is funny, and she injects a necessary spark of humour into the plot. I liked this and I can’t really say why, but I think it is the writing that lifts this to a black comedic tragedy.
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Manhattan and struggles to hold a job down for any length of time. She is not treated particularly nicely by her boyfriend and has a best friend who she has a difficult relationship with. To try and fill the enormous hole in her life she turns to a psychiatrist, Dr Tuttle to help. This doctor is hoping to help her with her insomnia and is more than happy to keep prescribing all manner of stronger and stronger sleeping and anti-anxiety medications. Having been fired from her latest job in a gallery she decides to ramp up the drugs and see if she can spend the next year mostly sleeping in her apartment.Moshfegh has made this compelling read from what seems on the face of it a hollow premise of someone spending a year in a drug-filled sleep. Even though the two characters are not particularly likeable, I did feel that I had to admire the tenacity of the main character as she pursues the desire to alienate herself from the world rather than face the reality of her parent’s deaths and the swirl of modern life. Her friend, Reva, is as infuriating as she is funny, and she injects a necessary spark of humour into the plot. I liked this and I can’t really say why, but I think it is the writing that lifts this to a black comedic tragedy.
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Awards
Dublin Literary Award (Longlist — 2020)
Wellcome Trust Book Prize (Shortlist — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2018)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
The A.V. Club best books (2018)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2018)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Fiction — 2018)