Interesting as a character study, but hated the ending. Felt rushed and completely out of place because no other information in the story would have led you to that conclusion- and I say this as a New Yorker. It felt hastily picked 

So I had some time to think this book through. I gotta say, it really helped me to understand the themes in this book.

The biggest thing I eventually saw was the motif of Superficiality. 

Everyone around our narrator seems to be perfectly content with living in their own superficial and absurd realities:

Ping Xi comes on a painting, calls it art, and people flock to pay millions. 

Reva obsesses over her looks and others, hates her humble background, and basically wishes to be as rich and pretty as our protagonist.

However to our protagonist, beauty does not equal meaning. For example, the protagonists’ mother was characterized as beautiful. Yet she made nothing meaningful of her life and ended up dying with barely anyone recognizing.

Death is inevitable: why pretend to immortalize a momentarily beautiful grape in a painting when you know that it’s somewhere shriveled up and in the trash anyways?

The extreme narcissism and superficiality of beauty our narrator has been constantly surrounded by since birth impedes her ability to see the beauty in nuance or the simple things. 

Her year of rest led to her finding that meaning in the nuances of everyday life - You can put meaning to whatever you please. And in expunging those superficial lens that she was so accustomed to, she was finally allowed to finally see the meaning of life in itself.

Because the beauty of life truly lies in the little things: The ability to meet up and get coffee with a friend you haven’t seen in a while, seeing a cute squirrel on the sidewalk, hearing the sound of the ice cream truck.

Another thing: every time she read the news you would hear the most serious things happening like a war or a death followed effortlessly by the news of something unimportant but viral happening - both reported with the same cadence. Subtle, but I think shows the superficiality of people around her and even herself so much more.

The book was an addicting read and I absolutely love Moshfegh’s writing style. It was witty, gritty, and hilarious at so many points. How she is able to make a book about someone sleeping so enjoyable is beyond me.

However fun it was of a read, I was really wished to see more of her transformation following the year of rest. We’re told by her that the sleep was profound but I’m not shown how. Therefore the ending for me fell flat. 

I liked the story and laughed so hard at certain points, but it didn’t wow me. The disappointment with the ending and the lack of depth in the protagonist’s transformation dulled the impact of the story for me, hence the rating.

Nonetheless it was an enjoyable read.

this book made me feel. were they enjoyable feelings? no. sometimes my stomach was twisted and i felt deeply uncomfortable. sometimes i absolutely hated the narrator. okay, i hated her a lot. and… i could relate to her. i know what it’s like to wish to press pause on life. i also know what it’s like to feel a renewed hope for life. this book deeply reminded me of my mother and the way she self medicated herself out of life. i thought the lack of consequences from stopping her substance use to be unbelievable, but then again, i don’t think believability is what the story is based on. i do think her character development was worth the read, though. i probably will never re-read, and i don’t recommend this as a light or easy or fun read. i listened to the book, and i do think that enhanced the experience. julia whelan is the best narrator of all time, and i think she made me push through the times i wanted to quit. 

Maybe I am not educated enough or have not been through a similar situation but I did not enjoy this book, while well written the plot can be summarized to this: beautiful rich woman with no personality, no job, no ambitions, decides to take every pharmaceutical known to man to sleep for a whole year. She is rude and terrible to the only person in her life checking to see if she is alive. Many pages are dedicated to just listing medications. Nothing happens. When things start to happen she just wants to go to sleep. Also surprise 9/11 somehow is involved. And Whoopi Goldberg deserves an apology. 

I wish someone had told me how depressing this book would be. 

maybe a 4 🌟