Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

211 reviews

sarasantams's review against another edition

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dark sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0


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ursolovelypjm's review against another edition

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dark emotional hopeful sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book was such a beautiful surprise, and I am left wandering how it was always advertised to me (even if subconsciously) as a funny and weird story, of a woman trying to sleep for a full year.

Instead of a “year of rest and relaxation” the main character has to remember her hurtful past, her relationship with her parents (and her subsequent relationships with love and friendship), her past memories and present thoughts, herself as she was and the version she wants to become by the end of her hibernation period. However, this book reflects so deeply about avoidance, letting go of the past, embracing emotions regardless of them being good or bad. This woman, whose privilege felt like a curse, thinking sleeping forever and going numb would stop her from feeling anything about the irrelevant, out of our control, infinite world she lived in, being met with pure darkness, realized all she ever wanted to do was to live. 

To see things, to feel things, and to face the unpredictable yet constant challenges. Bravely. And wide awake.

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littleseal's review against another edition

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- My dumbass thinking Infermiterol was really a medication (I am a therapist that knows some medications but clearly was "tricked" to think this was, lol)
- There is something so interesting about the writing that it was hard to put down sometimes
- I knew, <i>knew</i> what the ending was going to be;
The book was set in 2000, and knew it'd go into 2001 and it would relate back to 9/11

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ktc97's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I had previously read another Moshfegh and didn’t love it, but was so pleasantly surprised by this one. I feel like Moshfegh’s strengths shine through when her dark writing is accompanied by some relief. This one had a ton of hilarious satire and a compassionate message at the end. 

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leepkris's review against another edition

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dark emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I am not sure why so many people rated this book well because honestly, it was a hard read. I stuck with it because of the high ratings but I wanted to stop so many times through. If you are mentally we’ll maybe you can find this book decent but if you have any bit of depression, I suggest not reading this book because it really put me in a negative mental state. 

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leafyjosie's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75


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palomajoplin's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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decrown's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny reflective medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I struggled to rate this. A great book with a terrible protagonist. I hated almost every single thing she said and thought and did but I also couldn’t stop reading. Leans on shock value a bit much at times. 

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torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

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dark funny reflective medium-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

5.0


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teh_niarr's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0


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