“My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh

A book about a woman living all alone reviewed by a woman living all alone

By: Nina Afremov

“My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Ottessa Moshfegh is a 2018 novel that takes readers to New York City before 9/11. We follow an unnamed narrator, a young, rich, and beautiful Columbia graduate who is living off her dead parents’ inheritance. She walks us through the motions of growing dissatisfied with life as well as the reality of her addiction to a cocktail of psychotropic drugs that she uses to sleep her days away, all in an attempt to rebirth herself. Alas, each time she wakes up from her drug-induced blackout, she is still in love with a dirty older banker named Trevor who treats her like garbage and is still bombarded by her “best friend” Reva, a Long Island native who both loves and envies her. Worst of all, though, she can’t see the beauty in things anymore.

This book, in my humble opinion, is a modern day “Catcher in the Rye.” In both books, we experience the suffocation of family trauma, the frustration of existing around a bunch of two-faced “phonies,” and the anguish of mental illness. This is also combined with the fact that both narrators have a tendency to be insufferable. However, that’s what makes both of these books so satisfying—the brutal honesty. And sometimes, we need isolation and self-reflection more than the empty comfort that others provide, a lesson I’ve had to come to terms with recently.

However, this book does leave me with a few qualms. I wouldn’t say this is a book that romanticizes drug abuse, but I think it certainly walks a fine line. I think that this could be a dangerous message for some people, so anyone considering reading this novel should keep that in mind. Secondly, the part of the book in which she begins to experience positive change is quite brief, which I felt was unsatisfying.

In the end, though, “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” was a page turner. Though I didn’t know her name, I felt the protagonist to be almost an extension of myself; I felt her pain, experienced her triumphs, and wished her nothing but the peace she was seeking. Lastly, the fact that the entire timeline is a slow build up to 9/11 had me sitting on the edge of my seat. We know it’s happening soon, but we have no idea how it’ll affect our protagonist. Several weeks after I’ve finished this book, I’m still trying to make sense of the profound ending. If you’re curious about the journey of another twenty-something and want an escape from your own, I recommend this book. It puts things into perspective and has helped me to embrace the more difficult parts of this uncertain era.