My Year Of Rest And Relaxation

Ottessa Moshfegh

Jonathan Cape €21

The unnamed narrator in Moshfegh’s sly new novel is a modern-day sleeping beauty, intent on slumbering her life away – or at least snoozing her way to equanimity. Armed with a stash of prescription pills, she takes to her bed, intending to crash out for a year in order to avoid dealing with her passive-aggressive best friend, her manipulative older boyfriend, her feelings towards her late parents, and the hollowness that pervades her life. But her subconscious stubbornly refuses to co-operate, resulting in a strange, compelling tale of existential angst.