I was oddly bored by this one and didn't finish it. I was disappointed because it sounded like a fun and quick read.

Repetitive but never slow; bleak but never depressing; gross but never offputting— Ottessa Moshfegh's masterly second novel is an improvement on 2015's lopsided 'Eileen' and a return to the obvious brilliance of her lauded early stories.

'My Year of Rest and Relaxation' stages our nameless narratrix's plan to return to the world refreshed from an extended period of opioid-induced hibernation. Light on characters and plot, the novel moves with the unrestricted airiness of a good dream, sinking its teeth and fingers into another of Moshfegh's richly mapped interior worlds.

It's abrupt final chapter is among the most surprising, left-field, and impactful I've things read in recent fiction; I cannot name another living author who could have pulled it off like Moshfegh does. On reading it, I felt renewed, restored. As if having woken from a long sleep.

This review will appear on my blog on February 26, 2018. http://www.allisonesreads.com/

I am a fan of Ottessa Moshfegh. She cemented her place in my list of Books to Recommend as soon as I closed the cover on her astonishing novel Eileen. And reenforcements were added after I finished her superb short story collection Homesick for Another World. So when I read that she had a forthcoming novel, I knew I had to request it immediately. I was fortunate enough to be granted access to an advanced copy by the publisher.

We meet our unnamed narrator at a time in her life when she is tired. She's a young woman who, by all outward appearances, has everything one could want. It is the beginning of the 21st century and she's an Ivy League graduate, is physically beautiful, lives in a gorgeous apartment in a nice Manhattan neighborhood. She has an enviable job in an art gallery and a relationship with a Wall Street guy. Yet none of these things interests or fulfills her and none seem to be able to pull her away from her overpowering desire to sleep.

Sleeping, in fact, is the only thing that gives her any comfort. Having lost both of her parents, she is without family. She has one friend named Reva who is probably most accurately described as a frenemy and her on again off again boyfriend is actually a huge asshole who treats her exclusively with disrespect. Our narrator responds to the circumstances of her life by falling asleep and into a deep depressive state. Most of her days are spent going downstairs to her local bodega to get two cups of terrible coffee, then retreating to her apartment to watch VHS copies of movies while falling in and out of sleep. Her life carries on this way until her sleeping interferes with her job and she is fired. She decides that she will hibernate for a year and, thanks to an inheritance from her deceased parents has the means to do this with little interruption.

She finds a psychiatrist for the sole purpose of getting prescriptions to aid in her slumber. Dr. Tuttle is a complete quack, prescribing several medications in random dosages to the narrator with little to no supervision or therapy. One drug in particular, called Infermiterol, plunges our narrator into complete blackouts. She wakes from these blackouts with traces of evidence that she participates in truly bizarre activities. By experimenting with this drug, and getting increasing dosages from Dr. Tuttle, she pushes her limits and finally decides to fully sleep for a year.

What to say about this truly bizarre premise? Nothing I write about it will do it justice. This novel is an experience. And it isn't a wholly pleasant or entertaining one but definitely one worth having. The unnamed narrator is someone I have begun thinking of as a Moshfegh heroine. Oddball, damaged, living on the fringes (internally, if not in practice in this case), and completely captivating. Moshfegh continues to write stories that are unique and that always leave me with the feeling of having read nothing like it before. And this novel left me at many times feeling as though I had taken a drug right alongside the narrator. The writing is evocative and drags you right down with her, each time she takes one pill after another and experiences her life in half awake segments. I was a little confused by the ending of the book. And I'd love to have a discussion about it if anyone reads it.

A word about the cover. In the archives of cover art as it relates to the content, this cover is one of the best I've seen in a very long while. Since I had an advanced copy, there is always the possibility that it is not the final cover. I truly hope that is not the case here.

I recommend this to fans of odd characters, immersive, innovative storytelling, and anyone looking for something unlike anything they've read before.

Self-indulgent drivel aimed at wealthy neurotic women. A waste of time.

After reading Eileen and Homesick for another World I couldn't wait for Moshfegh's next work. In this novel the protagonist decides to medically hibernate for a year. Throughout this year we find out more about the character and her history. Bla bla bla... This book will exhaust you. It's a surreal exploration of depression, art, friendship, and love.

When I finished this I was like, "What did I just read? Is this a memoir?" It’s being called a black comedy, but there is nothing funny here. Weird, quirky, existential — some readers will find it all too relatable. Love the author’s writing style and went on a Otessa Moshfegh reading binge directly afterwards.

What an odd book. I will say that this book is not for everyone but I found it entertaining and intriguing, perhaps in a voyeuristic way. The main character/narrator is depressed, although she wouldn't put it that way, after suffering big losses in her life. She decides to take a year off from reality and life via lots and lots of pills in the hopes of being reborn. It's narrated in the first person so the reader is exposed to her inner thoughts, many of which are vulgar or mean but also often hilarious, snarky, sad, and spot-on. Nothing happens really in the book and yet I found it compelling and insightful and wholly absorbing. She is not likeable but it's also not hard to find some compassion with someone struggling so completely with life and living. An interesting character study and some really great writing.

I wasn’t sure when I started My Year I’d Rest and Relaxation. I ended up getting sucked in about 30 pages in and I couldn’t put it down. It was so unique and the writing was captivating. I had never read anything by this author before, but I absolutely will in the future. Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity!

Read in prepub. Due out July 2018. Loved the premise: a depressed twenty-something decides that she is going to medicate herself so completely that she will spend the better part of a year in either sleep or a perpetual twilight state. She manages to find a loopy psychiatrist to make this happen, and the narrative describes the protagonist's thoughts as she sleeps (and sleep-walks, sleep-eats, and sleep-parties) through her days and nights. Moshfegh manages to put the reader into a dreamlike state of their own by lulling them with descriptions of the narrator's monotonous days. People with quirky (but believable) characters, I'm not sure what to make of the ending, but I'm still thinking about it. Recommend.

I am a strong believer that your age and experiences will dictate how this book is rated. While I can understand the desire to hibernate from the world for awhile, I do feel that you need to pick yourself up and live. Moshfegh writes well even if I did not enjoy this book.

Like her previous books, My Year of Rest and Relaxation is chock full of spot-on description and pop culture allusions reminiscent of Don DeLillo's White Noise. But, the same scene gets played out a few too many times (narrator adds another psychoactive drug to her daily regimen, washes it down with alcohol, and we watch what happens), and the book get tiresome after 100 pages. I rushed through the last two thirds so that I could be done.