My Year of Rest and Relaxation: A Novel

A novel about a young woman who attempts to escape the world through an extended period of drug-induced sleep, guided by an incompetent psychiatrist and her prescriptions. Our narrator is a recent Columbia graduate living on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, supported by her inheritance. She works at an art gallery and has the outward markers of success, yet she struggles with a deep sense of emptiness. This alienation stems not from any single cause—not her parents' death, her boyfriend's treatment, or her difficult friendship with her best friend Reva—but from something more fundamental. Set in New York City in the year 2000, the novel follows a year in which the narrator uses a combination of medications to withdraw from the world. Through this story, Moshfegh explores how alienation from society might be both reasonable and necessary. The narrative balances dark humor with tenderness, offering both merciless and compassionate perspectives on her protagonist's retreat.