“My Year of Rest and Relaxation” by Otessa Moshfegh is perhaps the novel that best describes what the French call l’ennui, that hideous combination of boredom and tiredness. Yet, there’s absolutely nothing boring or tiresome about it: the main character, as the narrator, takes us into these long and winding streams of consciousness while going in and out of unconsciousness if that makes any sense. The result is a surprisingly agile narrative where, I assure you, there will be no yawns.
Rest and Relaxation? Sleepless Beauty Turns Sour on Us All
In “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” a slim, rich, and beautiful history graduate from Columbia University decides to go on self-prescribed extreme sleep therapy for a year after both of her parents die, one of cancer and the other of suicide. Utterly dissatisfied, our nameless protagonist enacts a plan that includes a strange and gullible psychiatrist who would help her procure the necessary drugs, bill-paying automation, and, eventually, a Chinese artist who would help her with her basic necessities.
As much as she intends to cut herself from the world by way of sleeping, she’s often interrupted by her loquacious friend Reva, who openly manifests envy for her privilege and looks. Also, she sometimes hears from Trevor, an old boyfriend with whom she maintains an on-and-off, unromantic relationship. This dynamic continues until things get progressively stranger for almost everyone in the story. From this point forward, it’s spoiler territory.
Sleepwalking Was Never This Fun
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With this improbable plot, character, and themes such as self-imposed isolation, drug abuse, and alienation, you would probably think “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” is a bit “Kafkaesque.” It isn’t. Well, maybe a little bit; after all, the narrator is attempting a drug-induced metamorphosis where sleep is the chrysalis. But the thing is that, in a twisted yet heartfelt way, this book is as hilarious and witty as they get.
It is worth mentioning that “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” takes place in New York between 2000 and 2001—needless to say, a rather particular, consequential period. So, in some ways, the protagonist’s comments are a kind of postmortem observation of the mental landscapes people populated during that time. The bulimic, the egomaniac, the vane, the social climber, the brutally honest, and the cynic all seem to have interchangeable traits.
Making You Laugh is Serious Business
I hardly ever laugh out loud while reading. With “My Year of Rest and Relaxation,” it was surprising how often and how hard this book made me laugh. But not in a ha-ha kind of way, but in a much dryer, sometimes cringy sense. Who would come up with the idea of making monkey dolls entirely out of pubic hair other than someone from the art world? Well, I guess someone with a very wild and vivid imagination, like that of Otessa Moshfegh.
A Rewarding Read Through and Through
“My Year of Rest and Relaxation” is indeed a very unique book, a novel that is part satire with dark undertones and, weirdly, part confessional account. When it came out a few years ago, it was praised by the readers and the literary world, which is nothing but well deserved. So, if you’re already thinking about summer reads, by all means, consider this one. Come to think of it, if you feel embarrassed for laughing uncontrollably in public, perhaps you should not take “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” to the beach.
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