AUTHOR: Ottessa Moshfegh
PUBLISHER: Penguin Audio
PUB. YEAR: 2018
SETTING: NYC
FORMAT: - Audio Download- Publisher
FORMAT: - Audio Download- Publisher
RATING: 3.5/5 stars
What do we know about our unnamed narrator? She's 26, young, thin, pretty and a recent graduate of Columbia University in New York City. She works in a Chelsea art gallery and has a Wall Street boyfriend who was kind of a jerk. She also has a love/hate relationship with her best friend Reva.
With her wealthy parents, now decreased, our narrator, when caught sleeping on the job, decides to quit her job, deciding and take a break from it all. A year to be alone, away from all that is familiar to her so that she can just rest and relax. With the assistance with a nutty psychiatrist and her dead mother's personal stash of pills, everything from cough syrup, tranquilizers, pain pills and other psychotropic drugs, she takes a break from life. How does her story end? You'll just have to read or listen to this one to find out.
Extremely creative, well-written, cynical and engaging, this book was also oftentimes crude and a bit over the top. Maybe, I'm just getting too old to appreciate a story of this nature. The fact of the matter, I loved the dark nature of the author debut novel, Eileen, so I guess I was expecting to enjoy this book much more than I did.
I wasn't crazy about this one either. The crudeness just got to me after a while. I felt like I was too old as well.
ReplyDeleteGlad it wasn't just me!
DeleteIf you are too old for this, I am giving it a miss. I think I would also get annoyed at someone rich enough to take a year off to just sit and relax. :-)
ReplyDeleteExactly, like -- "poor me, my life sucks" LOL
DeleteI am so torn about reading this. I heard a podcast with her and she came across as extremely intelligent. Also sometimes I want to take time off from life, though I could not take all those drugs! So it sounds like she got to you in one way and put you off in another.
ReplyDeleteOMG - I only touched on all the drugs she got her hands on so she could forget it all and sleep.
DeleteI have been on the fence about reading this one. Still not sure. I think it would be hard for those of us that come from a different generation to think 'I'll just take a year and relax and medicate myself into sleep all the time'. I know people actually do this, maybe not on purpose, but still. I'm not a big fan of taking medication though.
ReplyDeleteMe either Kay, I try to make lemonade when life hands me lemons - usually works.
DeleteSometimes over the top misses!
ReplyDeleteThis was "over the top."
DeleteToo bad this one didn't live up to its promise. It sounded good in theory. ;-) What can go wrong taking so many mind-altering medications?! :-)
ReplyDeleteExactly, Carmen LOL
DeleteOn my TBR pile. I haven't read this author before.
ReplyDeleteStart with Eileen - so good.
DeleteYes, there is a good amount of "crude".
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your honest thoughts about this audio book, Diane. Eileen sounds like a better "fit" for me as well.
ReplyDeleteI loved Eileen so I'm looking forward to this one although sorry to hear this one didn't quite live up to it!
ReplyDelete