Review of My Year of Rest and Relaxation (No Spoilers)

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is one of the few books that I wouldn’t have ever read if I’ve seen it by itself on a bookshelf, not because it’s terrible, but because it’s so different from what I normally chose to read, however, despite that I truly did enjoy it very much. As frustrating as MYORR could be it really is a beautiful book. Taking place in the grandeur of New York City, it follows an unnamed narrator who tries to sleep away her life and fade away from reality, her only connection to the real world left, is her best friend Reva. The novel follows the narrator’s struggles and thoughts with the world around her and how she essentially self destructs and then learns how to piece herself back together and find a way to fall in love with life again. It’s one of those few marvelous books about a very realistic and beautiful story of misery, triumph, and change, and what makes it one of a kind is how much it leaves you questioning your own habits and thoughts afterwards, ultimately leaving you with a want to never waste another minute of your life. 

Ottesa Moshfegh’s writing style is one of the few styles that you can differentiate from other writers, she often takes to allusions and descriptions of gruesome and more morbid details to express what can’t be said right out, because of this she leaves a lot of what is to be said right in between the lines. In my opinion I personally love that, because it makes the reader dig more, and the novel as a whole much more memorable since it leaves the reader to fit the puzzle pieces together. However, what I don’t like about MYORR is the reading quality, at times it can be very anticlimactic and frustrating to read due to how disgustingly cruel the narrator could be, because of this I often found myself wanting to put it down and not continue reading. Luckily I did continue reading and that very much I don’t regret since the ending and how everything is chosen to be resolved was so beautiful and captivating. The other thing about the novel that I didn’t really appreciate was the characters, as realistic as they may have been which is a great aspect, I didn’t like how they were presented, because from the narrator’s point of view, everything seems terrible. So it was very clear how terrible these characters would be displayed, so I felt as though everyone was eventually going to hate certain characters from time to time due to what the readers are handed with, and I didn’t really appreciate that, because it’s more difficult to read a book when you hate every character including the narrator. 

Another way to describe MYORR, is convenient, the reason I say this is because unlike other novels, this one is versatile for things like in-depth analysis and close readings due to what and how much is left to be read in between the lines, so for students and class this is a perfect choice (even though it has some very sexually explicit scenes) because a lot can be done with it. Overall MYORR is a great novel and I’m very glad I read it, not only did I enjoy it but it left me with many new thoughts that I don’t think I would’ve made on my own unless I had seen Moshfegh and the narrator’s perspective. I would like to clarify though, that this book almost has its own niche for a certain type of reader and I don’t believe that some people who do actually enjoy to read would like it or even finish reading it, just because it is very different from what most people do choose to read and at times it just isn’t a exciting novel and only moment where it does become great is the ending. However, if you can push through a novel when it gets anticlimactic, morbid, and infuriating, or just love literature and a feel good story, then you should read MYORR because of how triumphant the ending is, I would even go as far to say, that this is by far the most triumphant and greatest endings in literature and in much of anything that I’ve read up to this point, because it was just that beautiful and Moshfegh’s style is truly a one of a kind amongst modern American literature.

“I had no big plan to become a curator, no great scheme to my way up the ladder. I was just trying to past the time. I thought if I did normal things – held down a job, for example – I could starve off the part of me that hated everything.”

Ottesa Moshfegh, My Year of Rest and Relaxation