
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Harriett Gilbert is joined by one of the boldest writers of her generation, Ottessa Moshfegh, to delve into her second novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. This twisted Sleeping Beauty story is told from the perspective of an unnamed protagonist, a twentysomething art school graduate who, after the death of her parents, quits her gallery job to heal her pain by drugging herself into a year-long hibernation. Her only ties to the waking world are the bodega which she routinely slouches to for coffee, the most unscrupulous psychiatrist in New York, and her best friend, and object of contempt, Reva. We love this book because it’s a hypnotic, wickedly humorous character study of a woman who is broken, toxic, yet utterly fascinating. Even if you don’t take her to your heart, this character will linger in your mind every time you have a long lie in bed.
Image: Ottessa Moshfegh (Credit: Jake Belcher)
By BBC World Service4.6
356356 ratings
Harriett Gilbert is joined by one of the boldest writers of her generation, Ottessa Moshfegh, to delve into her second novel My Year of Rest and Relaxation. This twisted Sleeping Beauty story is told from the perspective of an unnamed protagonist, a twentysomething art school graduate who, after the death of her parents, quits her gallery job to heal her pain by drugging herself into a year-long hibernation. Her only ties to the waking world are the bodega which she routinely slouches to for coffee, the most unscrupulous psychiatrist in New York, and her best friend, and object of contempt, Reva. We love this book because it’s a hypnotic, wickedly humorous character study of a woman who is broken, toxic, yet utterly fascinating. Even if you don’t take her to your heart, this character will linger in your mind every time you have a long lie in bed.
Image: Ottessa Moshfegh (Credit: Jake Belcher)

7,617 Listeners

153 Listeners

1,046 Listeners

5,479 Listeners

1,796 Listeners

1,885 Listeners

298 Listeners

1,767 Listeners

1,041 Listeners

2,088 Listeners

1,987 Listeners

486 Listeners

579 Listeners

129 Listeners

134 Listeners

234 Listeners

83 Listeners

48 Listeners

36 Listeners

17 Listeners

3,145 Listeners

1,640 Listeners

94 Listeners

6 Listeners

41 Listeners