Book Content Warning: Substance Abuse, Sexual Content, Death, Injury, Illness, Strong Language.
When somebody asks me what my deepest desire is I immediately know. Eight to twelve hours of uninterrupted sleep on a king-sized bed with at least two pillows. In the getup and go mentality of life this desire goes unfulfilled daily. But a girl can dream, can’t she? However, our unnamed narrator in the acclaimed novel, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, has nothing but time on her hands. So, what does she decide to do. She decides to use any means necessary to spend the entire year of 2000 asleep without a care for working, the outside, her “friend” Reva, or her wellbeing. In fact, it is this lack of regard for anything besides sleeping that leads our narrator into some of the most bizarre and dangerous situations that litter this frustratingly engaging book written by Ottessa Moshfegh. While one can only dream of the time that our narrator has on her hands, it seems to clear that the events in this novel are anything but desirable, no matter the amount of sleep that comes as a result.
As we begin the first pages of My Year of Rest and Relaxation, it is clear that we are not dealing with any ordinary narrator. While most authors try to write a character that is agreeable and most readers don’t wish to scream at in frustration, Moshfegh makes the decision to have a selfish, privileged, irrational, and emotionally devoid young woman as the center of the story. Our narrator acknowledges all of the privileged positions she has within society and does not to hesitate to capitalize on them for her own benefit. However, the biggest aspect of her life that she takes advantage of is the wealth she has inherited through no means of her own. As a matter of fact, this wealth leads her to be able to quit her job, live in a well-decorated New York City apartment, buy whatever she wants whenever she needs, and still pay for the endless amount of prescription drugs that she abuses in order to sleep for a whole year. This very fact leads our narrator to an endless amount of trouble.
While our narrator takes advantage of the ill-equipped therapist she has found within the yellow pages, she begins experiencing incredibly strange events during her moments of consciousness. As a result of the hundreds of different pills she has been taking she wakes up after periods of unconsciousness to find she has sent vulnerable images to strangers on the internet, bought useless items from TV commercials, called her horrible, married ex-boyfriend, and has even left her apartment to walk down to the bodega and restock on coffee and VHS-tapes. At first these events seem to trouble our narrator to the point of her locking herself into her apartment and taping her electronics closed. However, as she does many times, she seems to get over her dangerous behavior and focus her attention on sleeping. So much so that she can’t even seem bothered to comfort her “friend” Reva when her mother dies. Just one of the many selfish occurrences that our narrator displays.
Though it may seem impossible, our narrator continues this behavior and abuse of medicine until she has successfully slept (in-and-out) for a whole year. It isn’t until the attacks of 9/11 happen that she realizes she needs to be grateful for being alive. One might say that the push she experienced shouldn’t have had to come to such extremes, but, at the end of the book, that is why we stay reading. To see what life-threatening, stupid thing she decides to do next.
A Playlist to Walk the Streets of New York in a Fur Coat, Oblivious of Course:
-Material Girl by Madonna
-Manic Monday by The Bangles
-Lovefool by The Cardigans
-Rich Girl by Hall & Oates
-Maneater by Hall & Oates
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