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. 

Wow, I really don’t know where to begin with this one. I was attracted to the premise because I do think that engaging in rest is an act of rebellion in our capitalistic society, so I was curious to see what this would look like for the main character as she sought healing. While trauma and poor mental health can lead to maladaptive behaviors, I found myself very frustrated with the main character, her shitty behaviors, and complete apathy (and maybe actual hatred??) for every person she interacted with. As a very relational person, I struggled to relate and empathize with her. I also struggled on this front when it came to the MC’s privilege— you’re telling me that you have the financial means necessary to completely take off work for a year and still have plenty of financial stability and you choose to spend that *entire* year drugging yourself to sleep? I feel that there are other (more effective) ways to grow and heal as a person, but that’s just me… I’m a big fan of sleep (nap queen, truly), but I fail to see how abusing sleep medications so you can sleep literally all the time is healing and allows a fresh start. And in those waking moments, the focus is on “I’m still beautiful despite how others would look in my situation” and “Ew, how gross that other people are experiencing feelings and grief”. All of this paired with a “redemption/growth arc” that consisted of the MC finding beauty and meaning as she repeatedly watches a news clip of a woman jumping out of the Twin Towers on 9/11 just felt icky. Overall, I appreciate the nuance when it comes to depicting the human experience, but… this just wasn’t it for me. 

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

good but i hated it 

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

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. 

This was an unusual read, i really enjoyed it. 
I was furious at times, but i sympathised with her deeply.