Last night, I somehow found my self stumbling into a vortex of 9/11 videos, and one of them included an image that reminded me of the ending of “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”. I was THEN reminded of how much I actually dislike the ending of the book— specifically the final page or so (I read it on my phone, so I don’t really know how long it was in tangible terms). Do you find yourself completely unsatisfied with the ending of a novel, not because it necessarily felt “unfinished” but because the ending seemed odd?
Here’s a minor breakdown of my distaste for the ending of MYORAR: While the narrator seems to realize the beauty of being "awake" through the woman who may or may not be Reva—something she failed to do throughout most of the novel—the ending appears to trivialize both Reva as a character and, to some extent, 9/11. I don't mean to state that Moshfegh diminishes the significance of 9/11– because I really don’t care about that— but to me, its inclusion felt like a dramatic twist inserted in the final pages for shock value rather than character development. Although the narrative foreshadowed this event, the way it materialized within the context of the ending was not what I anticipated. It all just felt like “Yes, I am awake now. The experiment somewhat worked and also… 9/11!!!!!!” (insert Lois talking about 9/11). Did anyone actually enjoy the ending? I’d love to hear from people who ultimately liked it, as well! I thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book, and fell absolutely in love with this alienated narrator as a character.
Anyway, enough about that book, what are some others you felt had a rather oddly unexpected ending? Perhaps people can shed light on their interpretations of other novel endings in the comments! I think this type of discourse can be fun 🙂
by PinkToucan_