What readers say
I avoided this book for so long, but once I picked it up I knew from page one that I would be obsessed. The idea I had in my head of this book for the longest time was “lazy girl sleeps for a year”. I didn’t understand HOW this could be a good book, let alone such a popular one. It didn’t make any sense to me. The book is much more than that- it explores depression in a realistic way, likely by someone who has had these feelings on her own. She doesn’t want to die per se, she just wants to sink into eternal bliss and forget the life of vanity and pointlessness in which she came from. The book explores her blackout, pill-induced comatose states and memory lapses- walks to the local bodega, waking up in hot sweats unsure of what day it is. Her parents are dead; she has no one important in her life besides her college roommate, Reva, who shows up unannounced throughout to spend time with the narrator. She is the narrator’s one tie with the outside world, with reality. She keeps her grounded, keeps her from jumping out her own bedroom window. She comes over to watch VHS tapes with her, to puke up the takeout that they order, to complain about her own life. The narrator doesn’t mind. The sleep is induced by prescription pills. Prescriptions stacked on top of one another. Samples given out like candy. Sleeping pills prescribed by an extremely sketchy psychiatrist who can barely remember any details about what the narrator is going through. Slight critique on the healthcare system, the ease of prescription handouts. About halfway through the novel, I saw the direction the ending was going in. I didn’t want it to be true, but I knew exactly where we were going to end up. Yet at the end, I still cried. I had goosebumps a few times throughout. The writing style is so blunt, so genuine, so emotional despite its numbness. This was my first read by Moshfegh and I am a victim to the excitement and obsession. It will not be my last. This book will hold a special place in my heart.