My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Ratings319
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings319
Average rating3.8
It's early 2000 on New York City's Upper East Side, and the alienation of Moshfegh's unnamed young protagonist from others is nearly complete when she initiates her yearlong siesta, during which time she experiences limited personal interactions. Her parents have died; her relationships with her bulimic best friend Reva, an ex-boyfriend, and her drug-pushing psychiatrist are unwholesome. As her pill-popping intensifies, so does her isolation and determination to leave behind the world's travails. She is also beset by dangerous blackouts induced by a powerful medication.
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Reviews with the most likes.
A witty look into what depression coupled with privilege might look like. In parts this book reminded me of Catcher in the Rye, which definitely means it has potential to be a new classic.
What a strange story.
The more I think about it, the more I think I liked it, so I'll bump it up a star. It reminds me of something, but I'm not sure what. Maybe Chuck Palahniuk? Sort of?
9/10
A true-blue masterpiece. Engrossing, to the point that I felt a kinship with the unnamed protagonist, and nihilistic to the fact that I thought that Nietzsche developed his theory of anti-nihilism precisely because he anticipated such a piece of media being created.
The TL;DR version is that a woman convinces herself that she needs a year off - away from work, all responsibilities, and relationships. To that extent, she quits her job, stops talking to the little people she is already talking to, and stops focusing at all on anything other than the bare minimum to get by. Between her progressively deranged ramblings, her self-described best friend (who she simultaneously loves and hates) pops in to supply her with news from the outside world (and her own).
If that sounds like a dreary ride, I can assure you it's not. The protagonist's biting inner monologue is every bit as uncomfortable as it is darkly funny; her recollections of her childhood are part victimization and part acceptance to the point of hilarity, and every once in a while, the protagonist also offers some solemn ponderings on the state of the world which stops you in your tracks. My only qualm with the novel lies in the last quarter, which is pretty predictable but is still entirely absorbing.
Overall, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a fantastic collection of musings on the vagaries of consumerism and late-stage capitalism, with some plot sprinkled on as garnishing.
