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Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Ett år av vila och avkoppling by Alva Dahl, Ottessa Moshfegh

594 reviews

hurricaneherder's review against another edition

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challenging dark reflective sad 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

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squaeshy's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny inspiring sad tense slow-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

wow. i finished this book just thinking “what the fuck did i just sit through??”. it’s definitely a good read, very much a “it’s a girl thing, you wouldn’t get it” sorta book. 

spoilers ahead:
after everything we go through with the MC, to get a glimpse of her new life after clawing her way through it. the drugs didn’t help, until they did when reva took them and snapped the MC back to reality with her purpose of taking these drugs. the entire time, i thought she was just going to spiral and OD, but she made it through. Reva gave her purpose, even in death. just wow. a mindfuck story about grief, girlhood, abusive relations all around, and relatable crude comments.
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tpwreads's review against another edition

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

1.0

All I can muster to say after enduring this soulless afterbirth of a book is-

Fuck all the way off, Moshfegh (insert middle finger emoji here). 
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zoethecraftyreader's review against another edition

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Really not my cup of tea, felt like it was being grotesque at certain times for the sake of it rather than really adding anything to the narrative. 
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whoisthlsbooks's review against another edition

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

3.5

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book_hang_o_ver's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.75

Oof, this book.

As a mental health provider/ social worker- this book is fucked up. As a human who’s experienced grief, complex relationships, and death of a parent with whom you had a complicated relationship with…. I kind of get it? The desire to sleep for an extended period of time- with the goal of waking up refreshed, feeling new. The hope of restricting your life a bit. The unrealistic but tempting thought of slipping into a moment of life a year from now and seeing where you are after all the complicated growth is already behind you and previously explored. Granted- this takes it waaaaaay too far. 

This content and the story is MESSY, but the writing is very precise and intentional. I will absolutely pick up more of Ottessa Moshfegh’s work! Her writing propels you forward and it was difficult to put the book down. I wanted to know what happens next at the end of every page, because honestly I couldn’t guess where it was going next if I tried.

Devastating ending.
Of course Trevor survived- though I wish Reva did. She deserved better.
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ahalickyj's review against another edition

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

3.25

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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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azu's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
I didn't like this book. Almost DNF'ed it (and I should have) but I was curious of how worse it could get.  The characters are despicable. As someone who had to take meds to sleep or against my anxiety (sometimes with really, really bad after-effects), it made me sick to read all these descriptions of the mc eating pills after pills.
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mjtal's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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