Moshfegh wrote this before writing and publishing [b:My Year of Rest and Relaxation|44279110|My Year of Rest and Relaxation|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1597676656l/44279110._SY75_.jpg|55508660] and then put it away, so it is not an advance from that novel but rather, as she has said, an earlier exercise undertaken to deal with her loneliness, from a time even before [b:Eileen|23453099|Eileen|Ottessa Moshfegh|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1479545528l/23453099._SX50_.jpg|43014905] had thrust her into the spotlight. Which makes it a bit of a curiosity now, while we still wait to see what she's going to write next.

It opens like a thriller, but quickly becomes more typically Moshfeghian. Vesta Gul is dealing with loneliness after being widowed and moving to a remote cabin in the woods, and rather than contacting the police after picking up what appears to be evidence of a murder, prints out a character writing outline from the internet and imaginatively creates characters and scenarios with its help, rather as one imagines Moshfegh doing, so all rather meta. As per course with Moshfegh, there is a heaping of misanthropy and disgust with bodies,

You could imagine the deaths of these dull heifers roaming the Save-Rite, these sad mothers with nothing to do but eat and fold laundry with tiny, stubby fingers sticking out of their huge bloated hands. Their lives must feel like such ineffectual blither blather. Did they even think things to themselves? Why did they look so idiotic, like domesticated animals, chewing their cud until the slaughter, half asleep?

but mostly its following the course of a mind losing touch with reality. We also get backstory on the narrator's marriage and come to appreciate the effect her emotionally abusive husband had on her life, which, along with her affection for her dog Charlie, work to make her a more sympathetic character.

As readers we pick up pretty quickly that Vesta's mind is going off into the woods itself, and by the final tense scene, a fine metaphor for allowing a dangerous predator into your life under the illusion that he's a loving companion, it's clear she's off her rocker entirely. It's a good conclusion to what is a meandering lesser Moshfegh.

There is one passage near the end of the book I'd be curious to know what emotion Moshfegh wrote it with; beginning in her typical style and mood, it veers off into most untypical hopefulness, and sentimentality. Surely she wrote it ironically? As in, you'd have to be insane to look at the universe this way? Probably.

I'd been so pretty once. And now I was ruined, an old lady with a mouth full of dirt. Enraged, I flipped myself over and looked up at the sky, catching my breath and then losing it again at the audacity of all those stars glittering above me, blinking and shimmering without shame.

( )

Much more understated than My Year Of Rest And Relaxation, but some similar themes of people someone detached from reality attempting to impose control. Also, obviously, a strange mystery story. Really enjoyed it — entrancing. But probably not everyone's cup of tea.

Wow. I don't even know what to say. This story was different than anything else I've ever read. Very original and creative, but also depressing, nightmarish, and at times poignant. Beautifully written and also hauntingly urgent. I was compelled to keep turning pages because I was as obsessed as the main character was with figuring out the mystery. I surely won't forget this character. ( )

DNF at 25% because life is too fucking short.

This has to be one of the worst books I’ve read in years. The narrative is mostly a stream of consciousness mental ramblings of a confused mind. The story is boring, tedious, and highly repetitive.

The story begins with the narrator, Vesta, finding a note in the woods. She thinks a woman named Magda has been murdered, and without any clues, believes she can solve the murder. She makes up names of possible suspects that do not exist and follows clues she comes up with in her mind. Of course she never solves the murder, if in fact, there ever was one.

The ending is absolutely horrible. Don’t waste your time with this book. ( )