My Year of Rest and Relaxation
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My Year of Rest and Relaxation
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Narrated by:
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Julia Whelan
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Written by:
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Ottessa Moshfegh
About this listen
Named a Best Book of the Year by The Washington Post, Time, NPR, Amazon,Vice, Bustle, The New York Times, The Guardian, Kirkus Reviews, Entertainment Weekly, The AV Club, & Audible
A New York Times Bestseller
“One of the most compelling protagonists modern fiction has offered in years: a loopy, quietly furious pillhead whose Ambien ramblings and Xanaxed b*tcheries somehow wend their way through sad and funny and strange toward something genuinely profound.”—Entertainment Weekly
“Darkly hilarious . . . [Moshfegh’s] the kind of provocateur who makes you laugh out loud while drawing blood.”—Vogue
From one of our boldest, most celebrated new literary voices, a novel about a young woman's efforts to duck the ills of the world by embarking on an extended hibernation with the help of one of the worst psychiatrists in the annals of literature and the battery of medicines she prescribes.
Our narrator should be happy, shouldn't she? She's young, thin, pretty, a recent Columbia graduate, works an easy job at a hip art gallery, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan paid for, like the rest of her needs, by her inheritance. But there is a dark and vacuous hole in her heart, and it isn't just the loss of her parents, or the way her Wall Street boyfriend treats her, or her sadomasochistic relationship with her best friend, Reva. It's the year 2000 in a city aglitter with wealth and possibility; what could be so terribly wrong?
My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a powerful answer to that question. Through the story of a year spent under the influence of a truly mad combination of drugs designed to heal our heroine from her alienation from this world, Moshfegh shows us how reasonable, even necessary, alienation can be. Both tender and blackly funny, merciless and compassionate, it is a showcase for the gifts of one of our major writers working at the height of her powers.
©2018 Ottessa Moshfegh (P)2018 Penguin AudioWhat the critics say
“I don't think I'm ever going to get over Ottessa Moshfegh's My Year of Rest and Relaxation.”—Parul Sehgal, The New York Times
“Ottessa Moshfegh is easily the most interesting contemporary American writer on the subject of being alive when being alive feels terrible. She has a freaky and pure way of accessing existential alienation, as if her mind were tapped directly into the sap of some gnarled, secret tree. . . . Watching Moshfegh turn her withering attention to the gleaming absurdities of pre-9/11 New York City, an environment where everyone except the narrator seems beset with delusional optimism, horrifically carefree, feels like eating bright, slick candy—candy that might also poison you.”—Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker
“Darkly comic and ultimately profound new novel. . . . Moshfegh’s extraordinary prose soars as it captures her character’s re-engagement.”—Vendela Vida, New York Times Book Review
What listeners say about My Year of Rest and Relaxation
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jenn
- 2019-11-27
amazing book
loved it and the person reading it! very dark, but smart and witty and very engaging.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 2023-10-23
Wow! I am blown away.
My daughter read the book obsessively, raved about it. So I decided to lean in and see what the book was about. I feel like I want to paint, write and expand. Essentially, I am inspired. Highly recommend this listen. As always Julia’s voice is a dream to listen to. I want to listen to more books by Ottessa.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- t. campbell
- 2018-12-11
Narcotic Commentary on America before 9/11
I recommend this book for the millenial questioning the world we are inheriting and the priorities we place on the identities we think we are conveying through dissociative social media.
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3 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 2019-01-11
Good listen
This was a good one. Great narration. Interesting story and characters. Worth a listen. Highly enjoyable.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anetta Jewell
- 2025-01-19
Depression: for dummies
This book laid out the mindset of deep depression thoughtfully and realistically. As a listener, I felt I was embarking on this year long journey with Ottessa. She illustrates the pain, numbness and solitude of depression so vividly you can’t help but transport to her little new york apartment and imagine yourself as the protagonist in her elaborate drug riddled haze.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Sadie otero
- 2024-02-23
the imagery
i really liked this book, you can picture a lot of what’s going on in the book
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amy
- 2022-12-28
Loved it
Loved it. Perfectly paints depression in melancholy and darkly funny manner. But not everyone’s cup of tea.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Tegan
- 2024-08-02
So over the top with drama it's comedic
This book answers the question "What if a wealthy woman faced a regular hardship?"
I laughed many times at the over-dramatic descriptions and exaggerations. I was surprised to learn that the book was not listed as a comedy. Does the year of rest and relaxation prompt any personal growth for the main character or will she reflect on it with a grin in later life as though she had accomplished something so profound? Her description of the art community reads as satirical and over the top but I think they would really enjoy this book and see it as "important" and "moving".
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Kiana I.
- 2020-10-25
Original!
The characters were very well developed and though it was somewhat repetitive at times I found it uplifting and interesting.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Payton
- 2022-11-06
If Bojack Horseman was a Woman
Like a train wreck you can’t look away from. Sometimes it’s fun to watch and unlike able character self destruct. Definitely more character focussed than plot focussed, but I love that!! Thoroughly enjoyed
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