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tpwreads's review against another edition
- 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
Fuck all the way off, Moshfegh (insert middle finger emoji here).
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Antisemitism, Grief, Abortion, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
m_kat's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Graphic: Drug use, Eating disorder, Suicide, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Abortion and Pregnancy
hollywatson's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
peppyb's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcohol
Minor: Abortion
book_hang_o_ver's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Addiction, Body shaming, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Abortion, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic friendship
mjtal's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Graphic: Addiction, Confinement, Drug abuse, Mental illness, Self harm, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Body shaming, Sexual assault, Suicide, Vomit, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Ableism, Cancer, Eating disorder, and Abortion
mimidelrey's review against another edition
- 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
3.75
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Dysphoria
Minor: Cancer, Vomit, and Medical content
littleseal's review against another edition
- 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;
Moderate: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Cancer, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Infidelity, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Toxic relationship, Xenophobia, Blood, Vomit, Islamophobia, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
gracenick3's review against another edition
- 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
4.75
Moderate: Animal death, Cancer, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Infidelity, Mental illness, Sexual content, Grief, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol
Minor: Abortion
lesyeux_'s review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.75
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Alcohol