Struggling with the emotional aftermath of her parents’ death, an unnamed narrator experiments with various pills to help her sleep through an entire year, hoping she will wake up “revived.” Almost her whole life has been financed by her parent’s large inheritance, hence allowing her to go on this journey.
Written in first person, Ottessa Moshfegh writes in a transparent tone that portrays the narrator as an insightful, self-aware woman. Set in post-9/11 New York City, the narrator does not comment on the city and the environment. The story is primarily based on the reality and delusions the narrator creates in her head. The two characters that seem constant in the narrator’s life are Reva, her kind of friend, and Trevor, her sort of boyfriend. I found Reva annoying, but she was unapologetically the narrator’s friend despite the narrator pushing her away.
Reva, a status-obsessed mess herself, would still show up consistently at the narrator’s apartment to see how she was doing. The two of them seem to have a mutual understanding that while they don’t enjoy each other very much, they have the same level of tolerance for each other, which keeps their friendship afloat.
On the other hand, Trevor, her kind of boyfriend, is a highly degrading character in the narrator’s life. Trevor is ten years older than the narrator and exerts this power by age over her quite frequently. I found myself cringing at the narrator when she begged for Trevor’s attention, but it accurately represented girls wanting older men’s attention (daddy issues, if you will). Another character we see in spurts is Ping Xi, an artist the narrator works with at an art gallery. Ping is described as eccentric and tries too hard to be “edgy” and “modern.” We do not learn much about him throughout the book, but he is a consistent character.
The enabler of this master plan (sleeping an entire year) is the crazy shrink the narrator receives her prescriptions from.
At times, the book was a bit of a boring read. Because the narrator lives a life of repetition every day, reading the same daily schedule got a bit old. However, due to the sleeping pills, she would do all sorts of crazy, unpredictable things at times. This definitely added excitement to the story.
The descriptions in this novel are excellent. Moshfegh uses a short, simple sentence structure enhanced by sophisticated adjectives, making this a relatively easy read. The timeline of this novel is also relatively easy to follow, as it is inherently clear when the author recalls memories from the past.
The ending is not as satisfying as I’d like, but it brings the book full circle. Overall, this book is a great read, and I would recommend it to anyone.
