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My Year of Rest and Relaxation
by Ottessa Moshfegh
MY YEAR OF REST AND RELAXATION BY OTTESSA MOSHFEGH
How much can one sleep in a day? 10 hrs.? 12 hrs. maximum? In this era of chatting, social media and browsing through the net, we often find people huddled on a bed or sofa with their devices. It is enough to make us lethargic and remain inert. Makes me recall Newton’s First Law of Motion which states ‘If a body is at a state of rest or in motion, it will remain at rest or keep moving unless it is acted upon by an external force.’
This book is about an unnamed narrator who takes a year off to sleep. She is depressed due to the death of her parents, and she resorts to taking innumerable sleeping pills, due to which the book sounded like a pharmacopoeia, although it doesn’t talk about the side effects or precautions that go with the medication. Although her parents were the detached kind, who didn’t bother much about their child, the narrator is saddened at the sudden, one-after-another death of her parents.
“Those outings to the mall were the few times we had any fun together. My father was joyless, too, at home. He was dull and quiet.”- from the book
Sometimes not having parents who have fun with the child or have a balanced equation with or a nonchalance towards them, can result in children who grow up to be adults who are depressed, unsociable and introverted. Bonding with children is so important. They are humanised by parental hugs and words of wisdom
Although I know a few terms relating to sleep, I made a conscious effort to look up the exact meanings of the terms somniac, narcoleptic, and somnophile.
The narrator keeps taking these sleeping pills prescribed by a psychiatrist ( I felt the psychiatrist needed a psychiatrist herself). She chooses a not-so-involved psychiatrist so that she wouldn’t question her much and would keep prescribing medications. Suddenly after a year, she stops all the medicines.
How could she just stop the medications? How come there were no side effects? After so much sleeping, she didn't develop muscular atrophy? Withdrawal symptoms? Well, it’s a book and the author can use the force of her pen to change the state of inertia.
The protagonist or the narrator is quite a detestable character, a narcissist, and a misanthropist. She has rich parents who leave a lot of wealth, and she feels that she doesn’t need to work. She has a bulimic friend and a caustic boyfriend, both of whom are not very involved with her.
The writer is brilliant and a protean thinker. It is not easy to write so much about sleeping. If you are looking for a light positive read, then this is not your cuppa. This book is depressing with a bitter protagonist and at the same time a well-written oeuvre.
How much can one sleep in a day? 10 hrs.? 12 hrs. maximum? In this era of chatting, social media and browsing through the net, we often find people huddled on a bed or sofa with their devices. It is enough to make us lethargic and remain inert. Makes me recall Newton’s First Law of Motion which states ‘If a body is at a state of rest or in motion, it will remain at rest or keep moving unless it is acted upon by an external force.’
This book is about an unnamed narrator who takes a year off to sleep. She is depressed due to the death of her parents, and she resorts to taking innumerable sleeping pills, due to which the book sounded like a pharmacopoeia, although it doesn’t talk about the side effects or precautions that go with the medication. Although her parents were the detached kind, who didn’t bother much about their child, the narrator is saddened at the sudden, one-after-another death of her parents.
“Those outings to the mall were the few times we had any fun together. My father was joyless, too, at home. He was dull and quiet.”- from the book
Sometimes not having parents who have fun with the child or have a balanced equation with or a nonchalance towards them, can result in children who grow up to be adults who are depressed, unsociable and introverted. Bonding with children is so important. They are humanised by parental hugs and words of wisdom
Although I know a few terms relating to sleep, I made a conscious effort to look up the exact meanings of the terms somniac, narcoleptic, and somnophile.
The narrator keeps taking these sleeping pills prescribed by a psychiatrist ( I felt the psychiatrist needed a psychiatrist herself). She chooses a not-so-involved psychiatrist so that she wouldn’t question her much and would keep prescribing medications. Suddenly after a year, she stops all the medicines.
How could she just stop the medications? How come there were no side effects? After so much sleeping, she didn't develop muscular atrophy? Withdrawal symptoms? Well, it’s a book and the author can use the force of her pen to change the state of inertia.
The protagonist or the narrator is quite a detestable character, a narcissist, and a misanthropist. She has rich parents who leave a lot of wealth, and she feels that she doesn’t need to work. She has a bulimic friend and a caustic boyfriend, both of whom are not very involved with her.
The writer is brilliant and a protean thinker. It is not easy to write so much about sleeping. If you are looking for a light positive read, then this is not your cuppa. This book is depressing with a bitter protagonist and at the same time a well-written oeuvre.