The whole time I was reading this I thought "this is so awful, someone help her" but also "god, I wish I could completely detach myself from the world like that" also the absolute anxiety of knowing that certain event is coming, and what will happen when it does...

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I actually relate to this dichotomy of feelings

@drillbit8280

11 ай бұрын

Literally as soon as Reva said she was getting transferred to a Towers I was like “ohh noooo”

For me, it's mostly a book about grief. The main character is grieving her parents and that, for me, explains her journey.

@bajabl

6 ай бұрын

Also she was raised in a toxic household that caused her to become…a cynical bitch

This Book had me thinking (a lot) about how our generation cannot come up with another form of rebellion other than "rest", wich is subversive in its own. I can only think in our actual obsession with productivity, and the absolute availability of our bodies to the system . I really loved it, and I reiterate what I said in your Instagram post: the naps I took while reading this book were fire 🔥 😍! Love your channel!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

God that’s such a good interpretation! Thank you for offering it!

@Feyzedbyme125

Жыл бұрын

lol ppppp

@nina_ana333

9 ай бұрын

The naps were so good.😩 I even felt like I drifted into the same world she enters when she takes the pills.

I love the irony of her drinking coffee on the few days that shes awake. For me, this book is simple. Its a book about the intersection of capitalist and feminine alienation. People say she was throwing her life away, but she already was, and so are we. The social milieu has stripped life of its value, so throwing it away becomes both meaningful and inconsequential.

it’s also interesting that she is giving up the last of her golden/peak years (as a woman, her peak years in society are late teens to late twenties) to sleep. she’s rich, conventionally attractive, and so on. yet she chose to sleep over living through the most fruitful time of her life. maybe an interesting comment on aging as a female in this society, and how the protagonist is rebelling against that :) we see the implications of her rebellion through reva, who is consistently bewildered by protagonist’s lack of desire to make the most of her financial/pretty privilege.

@nina_ana333

9 ай бұрын

​@kirtipatel2018couldn't have phrased it better 💯

@pootboy5547

5 ай бұрын

your 20's are your peak years, tho-- be it man, woman, or any pronoun in between. if you're expecting a YTGURL POWER fist tattoo to shield you from the standard homo sapien life cycle of the prior 300,000 years, let alone a ripping case of depression, you're playing yourself. Based on interviews of the author, I suspect she'd be as annoyed by that self-serving Kardashian-level "feminist" interpretation as I am.

I loved this book and also found it comforting. For me, I read it when I was experiencing mild burn out/depression. It told me it's okay to waste time and I emphasised with the main character, detach from the world and literally do nothing. Though maybe I wouldn't recommend choosing an enabling therapist to get access to crazy amounts of drugs... and there is a lot to say about the character's privilege and narcissism. But despite those criticisms of the book, I think it shows that even if you have everything you could ever need, doesn't mean you haven't had a hard life. Mental illness is indiscriminate. Dr Tuttle is interesting and maybe speaks to US drug medicine culture and attitudes to mental health. But also the protagonist chooses her because she is a bad therapist. In some ways DR tuttle is an extension of the main character. Instead of delving into the past of the character's problems to figure out where her lethargy for life has come from, Dr Tuttle allows her to avoid them. But then again, though the main characters ways of treating her problems with drugs and sleep are questionable, she is successful in achieving her rebirth by the end.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I really like your interpretation of Dr Tuttle, and I certainly empathise with the recent burnout/depression as well. Solidarity!

@user-lt6ve9ns4d

Жыл бұрын

I think the protags privilege and narcissism is a virtue of the book. She's not meant to be likeable

@bajabl

6 ай бұрын

She isn’t successful. The ending of her admiring Reva following shows she’s having suicidal ideation and her depression isn’t actually gone.

Something I enjoyed about this book is the focus on art. I enjoyed how the narrator used their art history background and how that influenced the writing of the book. When she would describe things she has seen it felt like she was describing a work of art. I felt that she was trying to make her life imitate art. The fact that she was described as beautiful made me think of the beautiful muses we see in art. A painting is even on the cover of the book which makes me believe that the book is meant to be seen with an art lens.

This video is brilliant, I agree with every single thing you said. "Her behavior excuses mine" is literally what I was thinking while reading the book, and it's so comforting to know that even when my life gets bad and I feel I could be coping better, it's never as bad as hers

Being a recovering addict that had a drug of choice in tranquilizers and hypnotics (ambien especially) this book was very evocative of my mindset, and what I was trying to accomplish during that period in my life. Using rest and relaxation as a stopgap, or a buffer to cope with ever increasing amounts of anxiety and not being aware or shirt how to handle a situation is a really impactful way to express what the author was trying to say, at least for me. And I’m aware that my personal life experiences heavily influenced the way that I digested the book.

I absolutely love this review. You talk so beautifully and eloquently about such an array of subjects. Thank you, Willow, for this lovely video. ❤️

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I’m really really glad you enjoyed it, thank you for watching 💜

I loved this when I read it. I felt comforted because I actually spent almost a year in a similar way during a breakdown. Without the financial backing though. Mine was funded by statutory sick pay and an overdraft. Yet I was living alone in a city apartment I couldn't afford, signed off work with depression. I couldn't access the kind I drugs she did but I was prescribed sleeping tablets and bought nytol, id cycle these and sleep through days at a time. I allowed people to come to my flat and Id sit there and not really engage. My experience was vastly different but similar enough that I felt seen. My experience wasn't a choice, it just happened and became that way. I then read this about 2 years later.

@gracedifford

Жыл бұрын

Another thing that struck me was that I myself was accused of being selfish during this time. And I definitely was in the sense that I was all consumed by own state of mind. I hear a lot of criticism of the way she treats people. I find it an interesting look at how we love to talk about supporting people with mental health issues - except when they start showing the symptoms. I might be forgetting a lot about the details as its been a while since I read it - but this is what have stuck with me

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Wow I’m so sorry you went through that. I went through a breakdown recently that I only recognised after the fact and they are horrible things to go through. I’m so sorry you spent a year that way but I can empathise with some of the things you describe here.

@gracedifford

Жыл бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks thanks Willow! I think it's quite common to only realise it's a breakdown afterwards. I think when you're in it, it's too hard to decipher and confidently say, ‘this is what this is’. For me anyway. Sorry you've had that experience too and hope things are better now x

I think the book was about overconsumption and how coming into the 21st century marked the beginning of overconsumption that would only get worse and worse over time. The overconsumption of art as entertainment rather than art, the overconsumption of drugs, psuedoscience, information, everything really began at the same point the main character wanted to take a break from the world. I think that's also why the book blew up during the pandemic cause all we could really do was sleep and watch TV and watch our lives slowly tick away when so many people just wished they could sleep it all away and wake up to a better world. A world where everything isn't being thrown in our face and we actually feel like have conscious deliberate choices with everything we do.

@bethstratton3391

Жыл бұрын

I like the view of overconsumption you address regards this book and the idea about needing to make choices consciously.

@blipblopbip

Жыл бұрын

@@bethstratton3391 thank you

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE LATTER HALF I really got the impression throughout the book that this story is about the effects of modern feminine standards on women's lives and mental health. The constant comparisons and differentiations between the lives of the protagonist and Reva, between the protagonist and her mother, the relationship with a man who shows no real interest in the protagonist besides her existing as a woman, and her desperation for any sense that somebody understands her at a level deeper than that alongside her perceived inability to present the world with anything beyond her beauty. Through her difficult relationship with Reva specifically, I, as a man, really felt a level of understanding of the effects that expectations have on women in a way that I'm rarely let in on in popular media. Through Reva's struggles, we see somebody desperately trying to ignore the nature of their individual experience, trying to meet beauty standards she can't possibly meet, trying to fit in in places she clearly doesn't have a real intrinsic interest in, and finding only constant discomfort and suffering despite her constant efforts to be what society says she should be. The protagonist's response to the same standards, which she naturally meets with little effort, is complete resignation from what she intuitively understands is meaningless, but cannot escape. With no effort, she is seen as beautiful, as worthy of a place in social circles, and yet she's still miserable and uncomfortable. I think that we can see her disdain at the facade women are forced into through her idolization of Whoopi Goldberg, a woman whose "presence [makes] the show completely absurd," and who is proof that nothing is sacred. The protagonist knows that in order to find peace, she needs to escape expectation, and that that cannot be done while existing in the world, even passively. Upon awakening from her experiment, she's able to see things through a lens of appreciation, and to not force the world's expectations onto herself, symbolically giving up her late parents' role in her life by giving up their home and everything left in it. She's finally able to accept Reva for her flaws, despite an understanding that Reva might not be as accepting of her. She's allowed herself to view the world with empathy rather than judgement. The final, short, heart wrenching chapter, despite the tragedy of it, shows her growth into what she has wanted to become through the year of sleep. She is overcome with awe seeing Reva jump from the world trade center, "not because Reva and [her] had been friends, or because [she'll] never see her again, but because she is beautiful... a human being, diving into the unknown, and she is awake."

I felt it was a commentary on the 90s and the end of the “sleepwalking” many people were doing as 9/11 happened. The fact that anyone could do nothing for a full year with seemingly no lasting issues with her health. At first I thought it was simply undiagnosed depression (and to a degree, it might be) but reflecting about it, I think it’s more. Being indifferent to others suffering, being unafraid of mixing as many drugs as possible, and the boldness of her words to people around her. All the characters are in their own world. They don’t hear each other or consider anyone else’s feelings. 9/11 was the horrific wake up call for so many.

When I read this about a year ago I had kind of a similar reaction. It was always the book that i picked up when my brain started playing “your most embarrassing and traumatizing moments in 4K on loop” and it brought me a lot of comfort in similar ways that non other book could bring me. That being said, i love how you can word your thoughts on books, excellent review :)

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Haha what a way to put it, I love that!

THIS. You’re brilliant! I hadn’t been able to put into words how this book made me feel until you’re review! Fantastic as usual! 👏🏻

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Aw thank you! Glad you agree and that I did a good job!

I’m so happy I came across this video. I’m currently re-listening to the audiobook (Julia Whelan does a fantastic job narrating) and also find the book so comforting. I think that the protagonist choosing to sleep for an entire year is almost like her taking a gap year from life, and getting to experience that gap with her feels really intimate and unique. Although she’s easily irritated and pessimistic throughout most of the book, she actually holds a lot of optimism in thinking that she’s going to feel better/“reborn” after her year-long project is complete. I also LOVE the ending because I love the idea it took a tragedy like 9/11 to “shake” the protagonist back to life. Thank you for publishing such a relatable book review!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I’m glad that you feel similarly comforted by this book. I was surprised by my own reaction but it’s nice to find empathy in other people’s reading experiences!

@bajabl

6 ай бұрын

The ending was meant to represent suicidal ideation. That’s why she was admiring reva because she wants to “dive into the unknown” too. So no she wasn’t successful at the end, she most likely committed or fell back into depression eventually

I have about 50 pages of "Lapvona" left, and I am absolutely loving it. It is my first Ottessa Moshfegh experience, and it makes me want to go back and read everything she's written. I have seen some fuss about her online, particularly about an interview she gave when "Eileen" was on the shortlist for the Booker--- people talking about her coming off as arrogant, etc. I have also seen interviews where she addresses this and says flat-out that her comments do come off as arrogant, and that, at times, she does feel like she's arrogant. And she is very self-confident about being a good writer, though I find that refreshing, really. The interviews I have watched with her have only sort of increased my fascination with her, how she is unafraid about creating unappealing characters, using grotesque imagery, and being frank, yet oddly understated about bodies and bodily functions. I am looking forward to discovering more of her work. Thanks for this review!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I get the impression that she’s just having fun with interviews and being kind of “meta” about them, and maybe nobody knows the real her. I go back and forth on her so much and that’s probably what she wants!

I had a good experience reading Lapvona, it was like adult Disney medieval times and was a nice contrast to much else I’ve been reading. But I’m more excited by this and can’t wait to dive in, especially after your excellent preview.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Haha what a brilliant want to describe Lapvona!

@bookofdust

Жыл бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks I mean Villem is the the King from Shrek and Marek is Quasimodo, and I’m sure there’s a handful of other equivalents as well, but being anti Disney I’m not going to spend time teasing them out. And then the gross out humor is again the adult version of similar kid humor taken up a notch, especially the scatological.

just finished this book and ran to KZread to see if I was dumb for being unsure what the takeaway was supposed to be. this video was so validating and insightful, appreciate your unpretentious POV on how to think about it!

Yes! This brought me so much comfort but was so hard to articulate just why. I found the main character to be somewhat endearing but couldn’t tell you why I thought it reminded me a little of The Bell Jar (one of my favourite books) but I’m wrong. I just find that they both give me comfort in the same way

I’m glad I’m not the only one who finds this book oddly comforting

you got the dope vintage version!!! love that for you! you are making me wanna re read this book like NOW. i absolutely love this one, it is absolutely cathartic and comforting and i feel like i haven’t really heard anybody explain it with those adjectives besides me whenever i talk to my partner about it. i still be thinking abt this one 3 years after i’ve read it and THATS the Ottessa Moshfegh impact.

I love this book and I wanted to say i love how well spoken you are. The way you talk about a book you enjoy is honestly so enjoyable.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Thank you so much :)

Have been looking forward to your thoughts on this one, glad to hear that it was a liberating read. The edition you've got here is lovely, what fabulous cover art, wow. I think this will be my first Ottessa Moshfegh book to read.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Yeah I was very excited to read this after being asked to by so many people, and it didn’t disappoint!

@jyuanc

Жыл бұрын

@Aditya Gole it's the vintage heroines édition of the book!

I loved this book, and didn’t expect it to be so sad! Lol in terms of the message/moral of the book, I took it as a story about familial grief.

I knew you’d love it! Loved the review, I know you’ll love Eileen too. I loved that last page, I’m still haunted by the imagery of the shoeless woman falling and her describing her as ‘totally awake’ I believe. Absolutely loved it

I have been on the fence about this book but your thoughts really solidify me wanting to read it! It really sounds like something I could relate too, thank youu :)

This is a book that I've wanted to read for forever and just keep putting it off. This video might just be the thing I needed to convince me to pick it up! Thanks for the wonderfully thorough review as always!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Oh that’s great news!

I'm so pleased to have recently discovered your channel. You pinpointed so eloquently all the things I love about this book. I read it during the early stages of the first of many extended lockdowns and found much comfort in following the protagonist's quest for drug-induced hibernation. I've read many reviews where readers despised her, but I was drawn to her character, much like Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar (another favourite book of mine). I'm really looking forward to reading more of Moshfegh's work.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I can’t stand the tired and boring attitude of people hating unlikeable female protagonists. It’s exhausting lol, I should do a video on it one day. I’m glad you loved this as much as I did!

Need to read this book! I can also relate to the concept and I appreciate that you speak about your experience so openly. Love your reviews! Xx

Thank you so much for this! I just finished college and decided to take a rest and it feels like this is a perfect book for me!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I really hope you enjoy the book!

I am professionally involved in psychiatry and the figure of the doctor in this book shocked me completely, I knew some of the drugs that appear in the book, some are invented, but the concept of packing such an amount of pills into a person is completely alien to me. Later I read a book about the opiate crisis in the US and I began to understand that they probably really have a problem there, if you have money and you run into a mad doctor, the effects can be strange and even dangerous. A wonderful book, nothing has made such an impression on me for a long time. Great video :)

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

This is valuable insight, thank you!

Absolutely adored this review!❤ I’m subscribing right now!!!!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Amazing review, helpful to organise my thoughts around the book. Subscribed!

I really enjoyed this one! Loved hearing your thoughts, Will.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Aw thank you so much Maya!

Enjoyed your review! I totally get the comforting element of the book. She’s a creature of (laughably bad) habits. Btw your hair is glorious.

thats a great cover, never seen it before

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I think it was part of a series that Vintage put out. Not all of them are winners but this one is!

Somehow you've managed to make me want to read this book-I've heard so many good reviews about this book through the years and I had never been remotely interested in picking it up until your review.

The tiniest quibble - not even that. A mere thought. She doesn't throw a year away in spite of her privilege, but, in part, because of it. At one point in the book she thinks something like "thank god I don't have children", and I think here Moshfegh is reminding us of all the things that have to go right to allow a person to embark on such an endeavor. That's the thought I had anyway. Does being childless count as a privilege? I have had a year of rest and relaxation but I couldn't write a book about it. All I remember is my dark room with the light from the street bordering my curtains, and crying a lot. And then I suppose I had a second year in lockdown but I don't think it counts if it's involuntary.

Enjoyed this book, and this video. Also I love how high-quality the literary analysis and reflections in this comments section are ... so many interesting perspectives! Thanks for building this community of readers.

@WillowTalksBooks

8 ай бұрын

I love my audience :)

Yes yes yes!! I loved this book so much. ❤

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Yay!

Fantastic review, Willow. So glad that you finally read My Year of Rest and Relaxation! It was my favorite read of 2021. And Lapvona was wonderful as well. Excited to hear your thoughts about Eileen. In so far as deeper messages in the book, I don’t know. I found a lot of deeper meaning in Lapvona, very fable-like. But in MYORAR, it’s almost as if the meaning is that there’s no meaning. Life doesn’t always need a reason. Maybe that’s the meaning? Definitely interesting to think about. And yes, I found this book oddly comforting as well. Thanks for another wonderful review, Willow! Hugs 💚

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Sounds like we had a lot of similar reactions and feelings! Nice :)

Best review of this book I've heard. Even though I loved Moshfegh's Eileen, I wasn't sure if I was going to read this one or not, but after hearing your review I'm definitely going to give it a shot!

Whoa, i just started reading the book (am halfway through it) and you upload a video on it just as i am reading, what a coincidence! I was discussing with a friend about this book, and we talked about the perfect timing of its release. It's a book that heavily portrays stagnation, solutide, apathy and, in a way, indulgence. Her choice to allow herself to do nothing, "waste her life away", as you put it, wasn't negative in essence, but something that could almost be hopeful. She would always convey her experience as something necessary, mandatory even, in order for her to find plenitude and feel better in the future. Now, considering the pandemic we just got out of (did we?), this book couldn't be more relevant. Every single person, purposefully or not, had to go through the same experience as our protagonist. We were seclused, isolated, apathetic and lost. Within that time away, however, many of us found a purpose. We made breakthroughs, internally and externally. We reflected. We coped. And we just couldn't, no matter what, go through it without believing we wouldn't come out of it eventually. Despite it all, we had hope. I think that's partially why i find this book so compelling and instigating, despite not much happening. I cant help but atribute new meaning to it considering what we all collectivelly went through. We identify with the narrator in the most meta way possible, because we were her, not because of her trauma, or way of thinking, but because of her context. I have so much thoughts on this book but i would rather just listen the video again, you really put most of it into words for me! Sorry for any mistakes, english isn't my first language 😅 (On that, something my foreign brain mistook is that it wasn't until about 80 pages in that i realised Dr. Tuttle's name was not Dr. Turtle. I almost wish i didn't notice, that was really funny to me.)

I love this channel, it’s about sooo much more than book reviews 💛

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Wow that’s really sweet of you to say! I ho early haven’t been that introspective about what I do, but maybe I should be. Thanks!

i love how you talk

I hadn’t been that keen on My Year of Rest and Relaxation, but by golly now I want to read it.

I just finished reading this book and wanted to see what reveiwers have to say about this book. Watched several reviews and felt they didn't do justice. This one was very satisfying and touched on most of the aspects of the book. Great job. Thanks!

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Aw that’s very flattering, thank you! I’m good at my job :)

Ive been reading through the works O. M. most recently and have been torn between this and Lapvona. So I've settled on this one first while I gear up for the seemingly startling Lapvona. Thank you for the push over the fence. I think I needed it!👍

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I really hope you enjoy it as much as I did! And I’ll be interested to see what you glean from it :)

@azhairving

Жыл бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks I adored this reading. For me it was an almost poetic play on the blue pill, red pill ideal. Most directly about loss and, grief. How do we manage these wounds. How do we live despite them?! The final scene for me was her thousand words. I thought Eileen was my favorite before this reading, but, it's definitely MYORAR. Resonated like hell!

I found the book oddly comforting and I loved it

I read this book in one day and I believe that was due to her writing style. I liked the drug industry critic and I also the “never rest” way of living in the US. BUT I still don’t like to recommend it to anyone suffering any of these issues because I think it can be dangerous by “normalizing” her choice. It’s not a healthy way of rest of course, the way she deals with emotions, with her best friend. But it’s literature and as such it should be free.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Oh yes this is literature, and a kind of satire I think, so it’s definitely not billed as a solution to anything. But certainly a worthwhile reading experience

I love this book ❤

Keep on the great work. I'm sorry people left distasteful comments at you previews video but the world is not a eutopia, and probably never be one. I. Know this s**t can and is hurtful,but for your own good been and for all of us that enjoy, admire and dear to say love you as a person of courage and individuality try not to give comments that are meant to hurt out of your system. It's not constructive. Not an easy thing to do for sure but I have all hope to you. Have a nice day and thank you for your content!

You have made me reconsider this book totally. I think my down fall was listening to it on audio. I know this sounds one dimensional but on audio it felt so laboured. I must re visit it as weirdly it has stuck with me and I need to get a physical copy. Great review Willow. 😍

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks so much for enjoying the video! The one downside of audiobooks is the risk of not clicking with the narrator. I hope you enjoy it more on a second read :)

i just finished this book and also find it immensely comforting….it’s not odd for me though, because i’m the mc’s age now and much of the content was painfully relatable.

*SPOILERS* The ending... The nameless protagonist and her 3 month infermitoral *sp hibernation did quite feel like a rebirth. Quite artistic too, because her artistry is quite as shocking as Ping Xi's exhibition. How she feels at a painting and feels everything! That was quite impactful to read. Her reset, when she decides that she is ready to get to just change and then changed was beautiful to read. Because I guess that was the positive twist to it.

Thank you for this Review! I am reading the Book Right now- it kind of send me spiraling (it is very depressing?) but I loved your take on it! I think I have been so caught up in this hibernation / isolation theme that I barely even thought about the psychiatrist… maybe strange, but I never expected more care from her?

Omg.. i'm just surfing on yt and totally stuck on your channel... im looking up the books what u review... where have u been from my life?! This books are amazing!!! And your voice is so nice, my anxiety calmed down so much just from listening. Thank you for your hard work, your channel is a totally comfort-zone for me. After some videos finally i can start my work. :) Have a nice day!!!

@WillowTalksBooks

8 ай бұрын

Wow! I’m so glad my videos have such a positive effect! 💜

I was so excited to get my hands on this book, but as soon as i got through the first chapter i was so disappointed. I hated the MC and how the author chose to introduce her, she was the product of so many abusing people and she herself was abusing her best friend and the very only person who gave an F about her. I also found the book lacking some elements that would have given me more reasons to empathize with the MC just because she had a bad relationship with her parents doesn’t mean she gets to be an A$$ to others. I also wished there were more conversations between her and Dr Tottle or maybe Tottle’s POV herself regarding this very unique “insomnia” patient.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Some people are arseholes, and they’re often my favourite protagonists :)

so true bestie

I like your cover much better than the one I have. When I reviewed it I also couldn't recall if the protagonist's name was ever given. I didn't realize how culturally specific our abundance of pills is. I myself have a cocktail of meds for depression/anxiety/HRT that I gotta take every day. I tried so many different depression & anxiety meds and none of them sufficed on their own, so the doc was like "what if you tried all three of these simultaneously?" and surprisingly that worked! I'm much more stable now. While I expected the ending to be slightly different, I loved the ending we got. With a morbid sense of humor I made an allusion to Drag Race contestant Morgan McMichaels. If you know, you know 😜

Have you ever read “My Struggle” by Knausgard? I haven’t yet but I’d be curious to hear your review of it. I’m almost done with this book and love your take on it. It’s so unlike anything I’ve ever read.

I recently finished her catalog and Eileen is my favorite with this one close behind.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

That’s good to know; I’ll get to Eileen soon!

This book was so trippy like actually

@WillowTalksBooks

9 ай бұрын

Such a crazy anime

Sounds like a good book. I'm reading the book The Silent Patient and it's good so far.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Cool

Hi Willow! I recently found your channel and love your reviews so much. I always thought this book was a satire on American individualism and narcissism. The main character is an excessively vile person almost to the point of it being comical, at least to me. While I didn’t feel the same as you, I enjoyed hearing your interpretation. Anyway keep up the amazing work, I never miss an upload from you, you’re awesome

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

That’s a very enticing interpretation! You’ve honestly made me want to go back and read it with that in mind, thank you!

I remember finishing the audiobook at 3am eating two bagles back to back. I've permanently associated bagels with the books now.

I don't know the point of this book either but when I lost my father this was the only thing my brain was capable of ingesting for two weeks.

Maybeeee i do Wanna read this

6:12 was put so perfectly! I was thinking this the whole time, she’s not inherently a bad person she’s just been through a hell of a lot, and is a victim of her circumstances. I kept seeing people online saying they didn’t like the book because they didn’t like the protagonist and I think that’s kind of the point, that’s why she does that 180 at the end after her moment of rest is put to an end

@WillowTalksBooks

9 ай бұрын

People seem to be very afraid of unlikeable protagonists and it’s so childish. Wuthering Heights has been hated for decades for the same reason 🙄

@Sophie_Pea

9 ай бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks couldn’t agree more, you don’t HAVE to like a main character for them to be a well written one

@WillowTalksBooks

9 ай бұрын

Absolutely!

This book is so interesting I can’t stop thinking about it. The protagonist is so narcissistic and self absorbed that every situation is about her for example when her best friends mom dies. While she’s so godlike obsessed with herself she hates herself so much that she doesn’t care at all about her life which is so contradicting yet so relatable. I think she is also trying to criticize society and stopping being part of it is her own rebellion.

@piahuttebrauker7927

Жыл бұрын

And she treats herself like shit bc that’s what she learned as love. Nobody ever cared for her (parents, boyfriend and even reva that always checks on her and seems to care but never really takes action to help her) .So she interprets that as how she’s supposed to treat herself.

I read this book last October within a week remember feeling disoriented because I somehow got sucked into the book, even though the narrator was pretty horrible. I kept thinking, "when is it going to get better??" And looking back, that seems interesting. When reading books with characters as unhinged as this, we always hope they'll come out of a better place in the end. Seeing someone go through trauma and manage to turn their live around, maybe that's the catharsis many of us seek from fiction as a means of escapism. Honestly, I felt kind of disappointed when I finished the book, probably because I heard a lot of hype about it and thus subconsciously had high expectations. I thought I just didn't "get" the book, but in the last few weeks I've found myself thinking about it a lot (especially when in a rough place mentally). I listened to a few interviews with the author thinking that would help solidify my thoughts. What was her intent? Initially I thought it was just written for shock value, but maybe you're on to something, Willow. I didn't realize how differently this book may be viewed by non-Americans. Admittedly, I'm someone who also struggles with mental illness and was shocked to hear what dose of medication you're on. I think by American standards it seems kind of low, but I think that proves your point exactly! However I think that's a conversation for another day, so I'll move on to something else I've always wondered about. Towards the later half of the book, the protagonist starts taking a drug that causes her to black out and have no control of her actions. It seems like her subconsciousness is taking over, getting her into situations that her waking self wouldn't dream of doing. In fact, some of those things are in direct opposition to her hibernation plan, so it begs the question: which actions are sabotaging her life? The more I think about this book, the more fascinating it becomes to me. It's quite rare for me to re-consume a piece of media, but I think this is one of those books that demands a closer reading. I loved hearing your thoughts on it, and I'll definitely keep them in mind when I do reread it!

I don’t enjoy reading, but I’m really interested in giving this book a try

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

ok

Great review! To me, this story is about exactly what it isn’t about. The point IS that you will never have a magical solution, a “drug” that can make you disappear and reappear a new, better person that doesn’t have to carry the burden of the past. You have to actually LIVE life in order to heal, to grow, to change, and eventually… to move on.

I finished this book in two days can you recommend more books that’s a five star? Thank you willow that’s also my daughters name

I’m not done with the video but I want to add mid way that the psychiatrist isn’t the only person who surprises me, it’s also the fact that the pharmacist doesn’t say anything. I worked as a pharmacy cashier and from my understanding, the pharmacist and pharmacy techs, despite the pay and education gaps, basically do the same work. The difference is the pharmacist went to school for years to be able to 1. Counsel patients and give medical advice and 2. Identify when drugs are being given out carelessly, taken incorrectly, in a manner that can harm the patient. The fact that all those drugs went past insurance people, pharmacy technicians, and then the pharmacist (like a last line of defense) is absolutely wild to me

i read this book twice which is very rare for me but i feel like maybe its making a point abt depression is this life sucking state of mind that drains the color out of everyday but also, it never slips my mind that for this to be her lowest point in life, she still has it hell of a lot better than most ppl suffering from depression but not having the same means to have a year of rest and relaxation. maybe because rest and relaxation is intrinsically tied to money and race and privilege.

@backhandedhandies

11 ай бұрын

like i feel like money and what it means for your social class and standing as a person is a constant conversation in the book. i feel like she goes into these long lists of things she buys or even the indepth description of reva’s childhood home and apartment that is so “middle class” to the mc. it shows how as much as shes trying to let go of reality, one thing she doesnt ever let go of is money.

Thank you of the recommendation! This made me pick up the novel, and I am so glad I did. I agree that there are several possible ways to read it. I couldn't help but see a potential geo-political meaning. The impending events of 9/11 are a low background hum throughout the novel. And then that is the moment the character identifies with coming out of hibernation. I wonder if the rest and relaxation period was pre-9/11 America, self-absorbed and numbed out to the suffering of foreign countries. The ways the main character interacts with foreigners is telling in this regard to, where they supply coffee or food or are the subject of exploitative art, but never more than that. Perhaps 9/11 is America's jolt awake from its self-induced stupor. Thanks again for a great review!

I loved this anime

@WillowTalksBooks

9 ай бұрын

Fun but little-known fact: this is, in fact, a book

❤️‍🔥

One thing I don’t think you mention, it’s bloody funny.

Also in escitalopram! Drugs besties! Jk, also antidepressants helped me a Huge lot. I think the point is: we all have wanted to just sleep forever, however, are the consequences actually helpful?? For me, the book was just a permission to actually rest and process my traumas. I think it was beautiful.

This book is proof that each reader is in fact the writer of a literary text. Some people's reviews made me think that they were reading a different book than I was... Moshfegh's descriptions are honest, right-on, disturbing, hilarious, critical, satirical...I believe her book is about some people's sleepwalking existence, inability to feel, disassociation from their bodies, their beliefs, their lives. It's also about, as you mentioned, childhood trauma and despicable relationships. It's about consumerism - both in the sense of the obsession with material goods and people's "consuming" of each other. Destructive interaction. (Some readers can't handle anything more disturbing than the comedic pap they get on TV and think that the purpose of reading is to "identify with" characters. That's why they put down any book with an unpleasant narrator or character. They get disoriented if the author doesn't tell them or show them whom they're supposed to like, who is the "good guy". But life isn't like that....) I was hooked on this book and also read it really fast because I enjoyed the descriptions so much. Some of her caricatures are downright Dickensian, but from a modern female perspective. I love the way she notices the ugly details, the ones we're not supposed to see or at least talk about publicly.

Oh cute, we're med twins! This book sounds horribly like me, a deep seated avoidance of hard things and hibernation masquerading as self care....

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Yay, med twins! This is definitely the kind of novel that could be a harsh mirror for some people, yeah!

I literally just bought this from a used book store.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Wow good timing

Interesting. This is my most hated book. I thought it was a failed attempt at trolling literary fiction. As someone who used hypersomnia to escape my issues in high school I thought I'd find some relatability or sth here. I at first thought it was dark humour. But it was just disgusting and aimless. And most offensively, I was bored. The narrator's racism also rubbed me the wrong way. I preferred Luster, maybe because I'm a black woman. And that one had an actual arc for the character and spoke to the unmoored existence that many millennials face. Edie's ennui and self destruction is almost relatable.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

I have to admit I didn’t notice the racism in this book and that’s a complete failing on my part, I’m sorry. I also do sympathise with your feelings. While I enjoy Moshfegh’s books, they also read like she’s trolling the reader with things that seem deep and literary but actually aren’t at all. So with her, more than any other writer I can think of, I have to apply the “death of the author” and just pull from the text whatever it is I feel. As for Luster, I absolutely adored that book. It’s a little masterpiece that I still think about often.

@thefriesofLockeLamora

Жыл бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks there were comments the narrator made about Reva and the Egyptians. I also had no patience for all the shit motifs and the anachronisms. Don't get me started about the ending either. I loved Luster because of how Edie feels like an exaggerated satirical caricature but if you let the book sit with you you can see yourself, the ugliest parts of yourself, in her. It's why I'm torn about reading Milk Fed. It's been compared to both but I hated MYoRaR and I loved Luster.

Hi why did u delete ur TERFs video?

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

For the sake of my mental health. I was expecting backlash and abuse but there’s a difference between preparing for it and actually handling it. My mental health isn’t currently up for the challenge, unfortunately.

@hello2059

Жыл бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks I hope that you will get better and I understand ur decision you should always make your mental health a priority. I didn’t agree with your video and tried my best to explain myself with logical and biological arguments without being disrespectful or mean. I’m sorry that people hated on you because you guys share different opinions. People should always debate and try to understand everybody’s opinions in a healthy and peaceful atmosphere. Have a nice day and don’t forget to take care of yourself

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the biology lesson. vm.tiktok.com/ZMN7CeAsT/

What were the things that you've read which annoyed you about Ottessa ? I've watched just one book-signing vid of her so far and found her to have a holocaust survivor's soul with a droll sense of humor trapped in the body of a millenial brat. (not annoying, tho, at least not to me).

Having had enough medical conditions to have to deal with the profit-making machine the US medical system has become…this review intrigues me

Honestly, the book is about Reva, not the MC.

@WillowTalksBooks

8 ай бұрын

Oh ok

@gaybeastgirl

8 ай бұрын

@@WillowTalksBooks oh no I'm not correcting, judging or anything, is just how I interpreted the book, Reva is the actual main character to me

I personally found the protagonist so unlikeable, My Year of Rest and Relaxation was a chore to read, I originally picked up the book because I was intrigued by the prospect of someone being able to try to sleep for a year. But she's also this awful person you kind of pity but find easy to hate.

@WillowTalksBooks

Жыл бұрын

An unlikeable protagonist does not a bad book make

I didn't like the book so much, honestly... This shit was expensive af...i feel guilty I wasted my money and time...

@WillowTalksBooks

20 күн бұрын

Okay

One of the most boring books ever. It just got famous through tik tok.Its prefect for attention seeking, fake depressed lana del ray fanatics that binge watch gossip girl.

@WillowTalksBooks

9 ай бұрын

Wooooooaaaahh that’s a whole lot of cynical in one comment. It could also be all of the insightful things that clever people have mentioned in other comments 🤷🏻‍♀️

This will be long and I doubt you’ll have time to read it, but I just want to get my thoughts down while I have thoughts. It’s 11 months since you posted this and obviously have moved on. So thanks in advance for the opportunity. Two days ago (Aug 4, 2023), I found your wonderful channel as I had just finished the entire oeuvre of Ottessa Moshfegh. I searched all over from online reviews, to interviews with her, to review channels like yours. (Yours is the best). I wanted to know what others thought about this amazing author. I am a voracious consumer of literary fiction and I was astounded by the idea I had never heard of Moshfegh until my public library app suggested “Eileen” based on other books I’ve borrowed. I only listen to book these days. The recorded version of “Eileen” has a cover (yes I judge books by their covers) that evokes the look of a thriller/detective novel, which I’m not into. I’m 70 years old with a degree in English Lit/Creative writing and had a lifetime of reading printed books, but as one ages, the ability to a. stay focused on the printed page becomes shorter and shorter as the vision degrades and b. the ability to hold a book up with arthritic wrists doesn’t improve either. Now I can listen to books averaging 3-4/week which I can do while I am involved in any other tasks but sleeping or showering. The part of the brain listening to books has nothing to do with the part of the brain pulling weeds or vacuuming. Further, the best book narrators are trained actors and make novels come alive in a way I could never do within my own mind as I didn’t hear dialogue with regional accents and these actors have an innate ability to convey character in lovely sophisticated ways. I’m grateful for all the help because aging sucks. Despite the look of the cover, I started with “Eileen” after reading reviews that encouraged readers to ignore the bad reviews about “unlikeable characters”-after all are Hamlet or Ahab or Daisy effing Buchanan and Raskolnikov likeable-how is likeablity even factor in choosing a book? After Eileen I went on to listen to everything she’s written. It was my Two Weeks of Marvel and Mania with Moshfegh. I was utterly astonished by the breadth of her work. Your reviews are very smartly presented and I always enjoy hearing perspectives I hadn’t thought about revealed, which you do very well. I hadn’t considered the idea that our protagonist wanted to throw away her life-biologically and environmentally-I took her at her word that she wanted to reboot all of her cells, especially the ones in her mind that gave her so much pain. I should have realized that her first-person tale was one long suicide letter as I did I constantly wonder how she did not OD. She certainly put a lot of effort into over-dosing. You ask us what our thoughts are, so: Dr Tuttle’s “scenes” are hilarious. She’s an extreme exaggeration of psychiatry and nothing she does or says remotely reflects the field in 2000 or 2023. I am rather surprised you didn’t mention how funny her sections were. I could see Lisa Kudrow playing her in the movie version. While Tuttle is a nut job, I actually believe that she herself is sincere in wanting to help her patients…she’s just insane herself and incompetent. For Moshfegh to have a narrative where our protagonist has access to so many drugs, she had to set the novel in the early part of the 21C because there is no way in hell she could get access to all of those drugs now. And she had to create this Dr Tuttle who actually answers her own phone at 11pm and is so credulous that she believes everything her patient tells her. Such a scenario is hilarious to an American who was an adult in 2000 and who has been involved with the mental health system either as a patient or a family member of a patient. It’s farcical in the sense that there are elements of truth, but also highly-exaggerated, so that the whole deal becomes quite funny. While it was once true that here in the States, you could get prescribed a crazy number or and combination of psychotropic meds, you had to have multiple doctors willing to do that, which cannot happen now thanks to many regulations. The reason you were not familiar with some of the names of the drugs is because some of them are fictional, especially the one that she uses to sleep for three days straight while also acting out with a REM disorder. Also pharmacies (I believe she mentions Rite-Aid), are all linked now, not just intra-chains like CVS and Walgreens, but between chains. You cannot get a script for a sleeping aid like Ambien at CVS and then get another one filled at the Rite-Aid. They’re all on to you. You could at one time, but not now, the systems are too sophicated to pull that crap off. More on the time period: You did touch on the pop culture aspects of setting things two decades earlier and discussing VCRs, videotapes, Walkmans, etc making it historically interesting. Our highly unreliable narrator knows everything about certain movies, especially ones starring Whoopie G, as she watches them over and over and over again like a child. My son demanded to watch Mary Poppins twice a day for 18 months in a row when he was 18 months old. Babies are like that-they are comforted by the familiar. Our protagonist is an uncomforted baby - she wants that world in those movies as they are predictable and comforting and asks nothing of her. Therefore, the movies she references are also mostly sweet romances popular in the 90s when she herself was coming of age. The broken narrator had to be her in 2000 for all of this to work. And there’s much more to think about with starting her re-boot project in September, 2000 in New York City that we know will end in September 2001. Without ever being explicit, Moshfegh has her “waking up” with all new re-charged cells to the world of NYC in 9/11/01 and, further, tragically and ironically, getting her wish to no longer be friends with Reva who was newly employed in an office in one of the towers. I have read quite a few books using September 11th as the context, but this was absolutely the smartest, most subtle one I ever encountered. What a world to wake up in, what a world to have been born in, what a world we now exist in as 9/11 changed America completely for the worst because it made us all want to sleep through life and look what happens when you sleep through life…you get this awful awful culture we have to endure. Ok, Bao, I’m going to go through all of your reviews to find my next listen!!!! You are fantastic.

can’t WAIT for your thoughts on mcglue 🫢