My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Ottessa Moshfegh 2018

Devastation Rating

Emotionally Ruined
depression New York 2001 self-destruction

Our Take

The unnamed narrator is beautiful, rich, and determined to sleep for a year. Moshfegh writes this project of self-erasure without pity or condemnation — just the flat affect of someone who cannot find a reason to remain conscious. The novel is a portrait of depression so accurate it reads as satire.

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