This novel’s premise — a woman decides she needs a year off her life to sleep — doesn’t exactly sound thrilling.

Still, I started Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” with high expectations — it’s one of the most requested books this summer.

One hour of reading turned to two turned to three. This book isn’t just buzzy and maniacally entertaining — it’s a mean-spirited, tenderhearted masterpiece.

A small cast of characters — a needy best friend, god-awful banker bro ex-boyfriend and a criminally neglect kooky psychiatrist — orbit the novel’s unnamed anti-heroine.

The action is mostly confined to the couch of her Upper East Side apartment, where the narrator attempts to blot herself out of existence on a pharmacopeia of Ambiens, Haldols, Seconals and lithium.

She lives a secret second life in her blackout states, ordering lingerie, designer jeans and making appointments for spa visits.

“It seemed that while I was sleeping some superficial part of me was taking aim at a life of beauty and sex appeal,” she writes.

At some point the drugs don’t work — and she’s out of the heavy stuff. “Two Benadryl was a joke. Like blowing a snot rocket at a forest fire. Like trying to tame a lion by sending it a postcard.”

I finished the book in two unsettling nights. Reading about her pursuit of everlasting sleep easily came before my need to get the requisite eight hours.

Comments
anonymous profile image
Powered by RoundtableBuilt on infrastructure designed for real-time media. Learn more at RTB.io.© Roundtable 2026. By using this site you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy