What should I read if I like My Year of Rest and Relaxation?

My Year of Rest and Relaxation is a darkly humorous read that follows an unnamed narrator who attempts to sleep for a year in a twisted attempt at redemption. Written by author Ottessa Moshfegh, the book is dry and dreary, yet somehow laugh-out-loud funny.

Let’s just say that reading it for the first time is a whirlwind. Famously polarising, this book will leave you with strong feelings of all sorts: love, hate, discomfort and joy.

Though My Year of Rest and Relaxation was initially published in 2019, it’s making the rounds across social media in 2022, and watching it unfold couldn’t be any more entertaining. For those who have read the novel, seeing the initial reactions of other readers is like walking down memory lane. And for those who haven’t read it yet, we hope that the social acclaim inspires you to add it to your TBR list.

Want to get a general idea of what it’s like to pick up this book? Just check out some of these delightful Instagram posts by readers.

Instagram reviews for My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh 

‘I was really entertained reading this book! None of the characters were lovable in any way but that’s what made this book so good for me. I wanted to keep reading to see what crazy things the main character did in her sleep next 😂’ - @readingwith_mia

‘. . . I saw a little sign under Eileen by ottessa moshfegh that said “unhinged girlboss behavior” and it made me giggle. i have not read eileen but i have read my year of rest and relaxation and that book is also unhinged girlboss energy. i know there’s a lot of mixed opinions on this book but i loved it!’ - @pixellbug

‘words i will never be able to think of the same:infermiterol | whoopi goldberg | diet mountain dew | vcr | hibernation | reva | bodega | relaxation . . .  this story was not afraid of getting dark. it was full of funny remarks and savagery. i ate every word up and enjoyed the exploration of human attachments. the unnamed narrator completely checks out of society and in return hopes for existential clarity. . .  all in all, i selfishly never wanted her hibernation to end.’ - @notesfromliterature

‘. . . the satire in this was so great that it made me want to ~live laugh love~ than rest and relax! It tackles depression, emotional trauma, pretty privilege, and much more but it’s overall a commentary on the absurdity of a culture so stressful and alienating that being imprisoned in your room for a year and drowning in prescription medication is better than existing. . . This book will remain in my “favorite books of all time” for sure.’ - @songofcecily

Is your interest piqued? Start reading chapter one. 

Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.

Her third novel (Death in Her Hands) came out during lockdown; now comes Ottessa Moshfegh’s fourth, Lapvona (Penguin Press), written during lockdown.

Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and National Book Critics Circle Award, Moshfegh’s first book, Eileen, won the PEN/Hemingway Award For Debut Novel. Sales of her second, My Year of Rest and Relaxation, about a young woman who attempts to sleep her trauma away for a year, rose during the pandemic, as readers contended with their own isolation. It also spoke to Proenza Schouler, for whom she wrote a short story for the duo’s fall 2022 collection. She also contributed a story for Gagosian’s Picture Books series.

She is adapting her novella, McGlue, for Vice Films, for which she’ll be a producer; film rights to MYORAR were optioned by Margot Robbie’s production company and Atlas Films; and she and her husband, Luke Goebel, adapted the screenplay for Eileen, starring Anne Hathaway, and co-wrote Red, White and Water.

The Newton, Massachusetts-raised, Pasadena-based author played four instruments by age seven (her Iranian father is a violinist and Croatian mother is a violist); skipped 8th grade; got her MFA at Brown and was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford; lives in 1920s stone house called Casa de Pájaros (house of birds); consults a Vedic astrologer, has a mixed breed named Walter; wrote in a fictional letter to Donald Trump that she uses her middle name Charlotte at Starbucks; taught English and worked in a punk bar in Wuhan, China. Bad at: Painting. Good at: Consuming true crime shows, solitude.

…kept me up way too late:

Communionby Whitley Strieber. It’s “A True Story” accounting for the author’s encounters with aliens, and I love the way it’s written: frank, intelligent, self-aware, and very descriptive.

…I recommend over and over again:

A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. It has a bit of everything: the truth, the times, his adventures, his associates, his struggles. The first time I read it, I was in Paris on a high school trip. The last time I spent significant time in Paris I read A Life of Picasso I: The Prodigyby John Richardson. I’ve never recommended it until now. It’s fascinating.

...shaped my worldview:

Invisible Manby Ralph Ellison. Probably the most important American novel of the last century.

…I swear I'll finish one day:

The House of Mirthby Edith Wharton. I’ve read the first hundred pages a dozen times. It’s so good. I think it’s so good that it exhausts me, honestly. I’m just saying to myself, “Wow!” at the end of every paragraph. Maybe when I grow up, I’ll finish it…

...I read in one sitting, it was that good:

Waveby Sonali Deraniyagala. It’s a beautiful memoir about sudden and incomprehensible loss. It is also a survival story, and was very inspiring to me after I lost my brother.

…currently sits on my nightstand:

A few Audrey Hepburn biographies. The Barry Paris one is extremely detailed!

…made me laugh out loud:

Womenby Charles Bukowski. It completely flipped on its head my conception of what a novel is. It is so deft and hilarious, and is narrated by the most depraved and brilliant protagonist. It’s both a disgusting love letter to women and a grotesque self-portrait of a man who will never understand them.

...has the best opening line:

“I was a child murderer.” This is the opening line in Expensive People by Joyce Carol Oates. It goes on: “I don’t mean child-murderer, though that’s an idea. I mean child murderer, that is, a murderer who happens to be a child, or a child who happens to be a murderer. You can take your choice. When Aristotle notes that man is a rational animal one strains forward, cupping his ear, to hear which of those words is emphasized—rational animal, rational animal? Which am I? Child murderer, child murderer?” Amazing…

…helped me become a better writer:

Gary Lutz’s early short story collection, Stories in the Worst Way. I discovered Lutz when I was in high school. There is so much precision to the construction of each sentence. It really made me sit up and fall in love with grammar in a deeper way, to appreciate that it has such a deep and beautiful system of reason behind it.

…is a master class on dialogue:

Kristine McKenna’s books of interviews with the most interesting artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers in the last 50 years, Talk to Her and Book of Changes! She is probably one of the best interlocutors on the planet.

...I’ve re-read the most:

Aghora: At the Left Hand of God by Robert E. Svoboda. I’ve read this book so many times because I know I will never fully understand it, but I would like to. It details Aghori Vimalananda's stories and teachings, which are profoundly strange and very difficult for me to hold in my mind.

…sealed a friendship:

The Mars Roomby Rachel Kushner. Rachel is a genius with an enormous heart. I am honored to call her a friend.

...fills me with hope:

Drinking: A Love Storyby Caroline Knapp. I read this in my 20s when I first quit drinking. She wrote other books I love, but this one made the strongest impression on me. It may have been the first memoir I’d ever read.

...I’d want signed by the author:

West of Edenby Jean Stein. I had a signed copy of the book dedicated to me but lost it in one of my several moves across the country. Stein was a dear friend, and I had worked on the book a bit toward the end of her editing process. Stein passed away in 2017, and I really miss her.

Read Moshfegh’s Picks:

Communion

A Moveable Feast

Now 10% Off

A Life of Picasso

Now 36% Off

The House of Mirth

Wave

Audrey Hepburn

Expensive People

Now 17% Off

Stories in the Worst Way

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