Book Review: My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh

My Review

I’m still trying to figure out what it says about me and my mental state, but My Year of Rest and Relaxation was easily my favourite book of 2023. The consensus about this book is that you either love it or hate it, and I’m one of those who love it (which is probably concerning). 

The book follows an unnamed 20-something woman in the year 2000, in New York City, who decides to sleep away a year of her life with the aid of a concoction of sedatives given to her by a comedically negligent psychiatrist. After the loss of her parents, the protagonist is drowning in grief and depression, even though she does not want to admit it. She wants nothing more than to sleep, but her year of ‘rest and relaxation’ is regularly interrupted. Most frequently by her college roommate turned “best friend,” Reva, whose unabashed envy of the narrator’s wealth and appearance, accompanied by her unannounced visits, makes her the centre of the narrator’s disdain.

Moshfegh perfectly conveyed that life is painful, and this was a very accurate depiction of depression; in every word, you feel the narrator’s lethargy and her reluctance to continue functioning in her daily life. The characters are purposefully unlikeable, but in a way that you still sympathise with and relate to them. I appreciated the different layers of the characters and enjoyed that they were flawed and raw, which helped me to truly understand them. I especially liked how Reva was written. For example, while I knew that the main character was unjustified in her disliking of Reva, Moshfegh had me hating Reva throughout the entire book regardless, as she was written in a way that made her seem insufferable even though her struggles were genuine most of the time.

My only complaint is that I found the ending to be rushed. It did highlight the small growth in the narrator’s emotions, but I feel that there could have been more introspection before the book ended in that way.

This book sent me into a spiral, making me question every aspect of my life in the best way possible. Simply put, I loved this book and have been wishing I could read it again, like I’d never seen it before, from the moment I closed the book. It was addicting, and I read the book in one sitting. If you love books about 20-something-year-old women with no moral compass or direction in their lives, then this is the perfect book for you. 

Anyway, I’m going to sleep now. I’m sure the main character would approve.

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