My Year of Rest and Relaxation
It's early 2000 on New York City's Upper East Side, and the alienation of Moshfegh's unnamed young protagonist from others is nearly complete when she initiates her yearlong siesta, during which time she experiences limited personal interactions. Her parents have died; her relationships with her bulimic best friend Reva, an ex-boyfriend, and her drug-pushing psychiatrist are unwholesome. As her pill-popping intensifies, so does her isolation and determination to leave behind the world's travails. She is also beset by dangerous blackouts induced by a powerful medication.
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A wealthy young Columbia graduate decides she will spend a year asleep in her Upper East Side apartment, with the help of a sloppy psychiatrist and a friend named Reva who keeps showing up. The year is 2000.
Yes, in a deadpan dark sense. Ottessa Moshfegh's voice is acerbic, and the protagonist's privileged disengagement is satirical. Many readers find it bleakly funny; others find the protagonist insufferable.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation was written by Ottessa Moshfegh, published in 2018 by Penguin.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is 289 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, My Year of Rest and Relaxation takes most readers 4 to 6 hours to finish.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a standalone novel by Ottessa Moshfegh, not part of a series.
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.
