Reviews with content warning for Abortion - My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Reviews tagging 'Abortion'

My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

736 reviews

scarlett22's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.25

The hype for this book has been so pervasive that I knew I would eventually end up reading it. Going into it, I had no idea what to expect but after finishing this novel I am left with next to nothing. The short length of the novel paired with the complete lack of plot left me feeling unsatisfied (which I must assume is the point). The main character is deeply flawed which seems to be the entire driving force of this book but when looking at it as "Reva's" story, this book becomes a lot more interesting for me. Reva is a quintessential product of her time. Her views on money, fashion, beauty, friendship are all seen by the main character as completely vapid. She is fully living, making her way through the motions of a "meaningful life". The main character (who is unnamed throughout the novel and remains a cryptic figure in its entirety) seems to keep Reva around because of her familiarity, stupidity and overall meaninglessness. Reva's lack of self worth keeps her stuck in this friendship that is giving her absolutely nothing in return. By no means is Reva a perfect person and the novel does not attempt to paint her in such a way. She is however the complete opposite of our protagonist. She cares so deeply about what others think that she allows for her whole life to be guided by actions to fit in. Our protagonist on the other hand is so checked out of society that she seems uncaring whether she lives or dies. This juxtaposition of character (explored through both of their journeys of grief and attempt to find meaning life) is what brings some meaning to this otherwise lacking novel. It reminded me deeply of The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (both novels I think are overhyped). The ending felt a bit forced and overall done for shock value rather than true commentary, which is ironic due to the way this book treats the art scene.

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aishareads1111's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

In reading this book, I got all the emotions. Some laughter, some confusion, and definitely sadness. I heavily related to the protagonist from her way of coping with life, to her lack of emotions and care throughout most of the book. It hit me hard at times. In spite of the emotional roller coaster, I really enjoyed it. Definitely going to re-read and annotate the heck out of it!

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lizvai's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense 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

After hearing a lot of bad reviews I really enjoyed this book. Obnoxious at times but otherwise I thought it was an interesting concept and really well written

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leavemejoy's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

quite the odd book. the unnamed narrator’s goal to essentially hibernate for an entire year is an intriguing concept for a novel. the “plot” itself is a bit boring and repetitive in the beginning, but it picks up towards the middle. slow, but well-paced. outlandish stories like this can easily turn me off, but there was a point to be made with all the chaos, so it worked. the narrator is as compelling as she is insufferable. i see why a lot of people like and don’t like this book; being a character driven narrative, it hinges on you finding her and her relationships enjoyable to read about. her unlikeable personality worked for me as there was a clear purpose to it, but i can see why it did not work for others. the relationship between the narrator and reva was the heart of the novel. i kept reading just to get to more scenes of them together. i liked picking up on the several ways they foil each other and how their dynamic portrays the novel’s more interesting themes.

some (glaring) issues that keep this from being a full 4 stars: the majority of the comedy fell flat for me, apart from two bits that i remember laughing at. the narrator’s tangents about whoopi goldberg were especially unfunny and a little uncomfortable to read at times. as this was advertised as a “dark comedy”, i was disappointed. i also HATED the psychiatrist (i don’t even remember her name). i understand her purpose and why she’s necessary, but her character and dialogue irritated me. lastly, the ending was surprisingly underwhelming given what happens and all the foreshadowing that leads up to it. perhaps this was the point, but my thoughts remain the same.

a cool idea executed somewhat successfully, and it was an enjoyable and entertaining read overall.

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soupygirly's review against another edition

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dark slow-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

2.5

I have never read something like this before. Annoyingly repetitive and boring but so captivating and beautifully written at the same time.

The last sentence left me stunned because I couldn’t believe that there was no other page coming after this. The narrator needs professional help and definitely not from Dr. Tuttle. I fear I didn’t exactly hate her though… in a way I kind of got her. Couldn’t really blame her somehow. For some things. The ending left me unsatisfied, as already predicted halfway through.

I’m undecided about recommending this book. The concept itself was intriguing, that’s why I picked it up in the first place, but it definitely could have been used better. After reading various reviews I came to the conclusion that it has the potential to change your life but it probably will not. Very overrated in my opinion.

Gonna take a nap now. ⋆⭒˚☾⋆.˚

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hanbu's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-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

2.75

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iitsmelbelle'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? Yes

3.5

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nhacco's review against another edition

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challenging dark slow-paced

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

1.75

I tried. I really did try to like this or to find in it something deep and layered. I tried to focus on the depression aspect of it, to connect and relate to the main character who is clearly depressed. But this book was really hard to get through. It’s short but it’s still too long. For the first half, it felt like the author just decided to see how many random stories that made no sense she could come up with, in order to impress you with how hot and thin and lacking in empathy the main character is. It’s really exhausting and zero percent interesting. If anything, it made me feel like her - bored and completely immune to feeling anything (while reading).
Then the second half is really just very long paragraphs of sentences and memories and imagery and thoughts the main character has, but it’s not the least bit interesting because this character is not interesting. Being edgy and mean and detached is not interesting. It felt mainly like the author just wanted an excuse to indulge her own thoughts and ideas, thinking they would be of any interest to anyone else.
And the story has no point. Just a

privileged girl that is bored with life so decides to give herself an addiction to sleeping pills to sleep for days at a time and black out and do things while out of it for months that she can’t remember (so we have no idea what happens) and then wakes up and feels like a normal person at last

. Extremely uninteresting and with no moral or point whatsoever. I thought this was going to be about a girl going on an eat pray love year lol

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ewicht830's review against another edition

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fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

2.75

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krosebooks's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Majority of the book is kinda a sleep haze. The writing style is uniquely weird like a dream that doesn’t make any sense. She transforms her self harm into a form of meditation, letting her subconscious do the work.

The ending is amazingly dark and beautiful.

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