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My Year of Rest and Relaxation

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My Year of Rest and Relaxation

Written by: Ottessa Moshfegh
Narrated by: Julia Whelan
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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 Audio
Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Women's Fiction Comedy Funny Heartfelt Entertainment

What 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

All stars
Most relevant
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.

Depression: for dummies

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loved it and the person reading it! very dark, but smart and witty and very engaging.

amazing book

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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.

Wow! I am blown away.

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i really liked this book, you can picture a lot of what’s going on in the book

the imagery

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The characters were very well developed and though it was somewhat repetitive at times I found it uplifting and interesting.

Original!

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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

If Bojack Horseman was a Woman

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I never imagined a downer addicted rich trust fund off-duty model-esque main character could be this profoundly bitchy, but also deeply entertaining. she does NOTHING. but, i could read this writing all day. cutting, dry humour and overall voice/tone keeps you engaged the whole novel - and the narrator is fantastic!

An Escapist Must Read

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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.

Narcotic Commentary on America before 9/11

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This was a good one. Great narration. Interesting story and characters. Worth a listen. Highly enjoyable.

Good listen

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Fantastic amazing hilariously awesome and unbelievable. So entertaining. This narrator also never disappoints, one of my faves. I finished this book way too fast cause I couldn’t stop listening. 10/10

I’m so sad it’s over

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