Marta answers “I wonder if this is an allegory about...”

Jamie asked this question about My Year of Rest and Relaxation:

I wonder if this is an allegory about commercialism, secularism, and addiction? The novel ends with 9/11 and one of the characters is alluded to a woman who jumped from the twin towers. The suggestion of the narrator's awakening to a new reality based more on frugality, giving up dvds, videos etc. hints at alternative way of viewing the world.

Marta This is one of those rare books that is very open to interpretation. On the surface nothing happens, but there are so many undercurrents. There could …moreThis is one of those rare books that is very open to interpretation. On the surface nothing happens, but there are so many undercurrents. There could be allegories to many things. I did notice the allegory to the numbingness of consumerism, but I thought there was also an allegory equating sleep and death - something very common in art.

@Hayes - I thought the last scene with the woman jumping out of the window alluded to that - sleep and death, and weather there was a new life after that. Also, perhaps to the awakening of a country by a tragedy.

I think this will turn out to be a much studied book, as readers can see so much into it.(less)

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maggie I hadn't thought of your interpretation of 'the awakening of a country by a tragedy'. I didn't think much of the book because it seemed emotionally su ...more
Oct 26, 2021 03:19AM

Tim Popko I agree - the consumerism and the privilege associated with the author's lifestyle (her having the inheritance afforded to her so she doesn't have to ...more
Apr 17, 2022 01:33PM

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My Year of Rest and Relaxation

by Ottessa Moshfegh

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