Who Would Like This Book:
If you enjoy stories that are dark, unsettling, and laced with grotesque humor, "Lapvona" is right up your alley. Ottessa Moshfegh's writing immerses you in a bizarre medieval village where every character is uniquely flawed and unpredictable. The book is packed with strange twists, bleak atmosphere, and biting social and religious commentary. Fans of folk horror, psychological fiction, and tales that aren't afraid to get their hands dirty will find this a weirdly captivating read.
Who May Not Like This Book:
This book is definitely not for everyone. Many readers were put off by the unrelenting bleakness, graphic content, and an almost parade of unsympathetic, frequently repulsive characters. Some found the shock-factor gratuitous rather than meaningful, and Moshfegh's style in "Lapvona" has been called flat or even cartoonish. If you need a strong storyline, relatable protagonists, or stories that offer hope and redemption, you may want to steer clear.
About:
Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life's few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him as a baby, as she did so many of the village's children. Ina's gifts extend beyond childcare she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina's home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place. Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people's desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord's family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year's end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world, civility and savagery, will prove to be very thin indeed.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Lapvona contains high levels of disturbing content, including themes of abuse, cannibalism, and graphic violence.
From The Publisher:
An Instant New York Times Bestseller!
" Lapvona flips all the conventions of familial and parental relations, putting hatred where love should be or a negotiation where grief should be . . . Through a mix of witchery, deception, murder, abuse, grand delusion, ludicrous conversations, and cringeworthy moments of bodily disgust, Moshfegh creates a world that you definitely don't want to live in, but from which you can't look away." - The Atlantic
In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot of a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh's most exciting leap yet
Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life's few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby, as she did so many of the village's children. Ina's gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina's home in the woods outside of the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place.
Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people's desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord's family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year's end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world, will prove to be very thin indeed.
Ratings (84)
Incredible (19) | |
Loved It (24) | |
Liked It (19) | |
It Was OK (11) | |
Did Not Like (10) | |
Hated It (1) |
Reader Stats (238):
Read It (85) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (126) | |
Did Not Finish (8) | |
Not Interested (18) |
4 comment(s)
Finally got to read this. I've been eagerly awaiting it for months now. It's probably Moshfegh's best yet.
Village life in a town where humanity is shown at its bleakest. No one writes bleak, deprivation like Moshfegh. She writes about the dark side of man and the innermost urges that most people won't even whisper about. That is why I love her books so much. There's no facades.There's no sugar coated bullshit, although there is a lot of shit. And arses.
Okay, here is my take on this book. The disgust many feel for it is understandable and I felt that I would drop reading it after just around 10% of the book but I did not and for that I'm very glad.
The story indeed contains graphic content and details, many, many crude, violent and bizarre doings, has that specific atmosphere of repulsiveness about it. Buuuuuut! But even with all its savagery, the book can still be appreciated – if you can find it within yourself to do so. I believe this story is rich, complex and offers more.
It offers aspects of life, death, religion, change in dynamics of power, test of piety, magical realism, spirituality. It is a thought-provoking portrayal of humanity at its most inhumane through impulsive actions, distorted/new world views, twisted beliefs, village disasters, etc.
It offers great twists and just when you get used to something, it turns out that the truth differs from what you know already.
The characters are very well thought out, albeit with collectively strange personalities and activities, and are so very fitting for a setting such as this medieval, dark village. They all have their certain weirdness about them and are unique. Equally unique and interesting as they are fully morbid and strange.
I believe that it doesn't follow the standard structure of plots - the characters run around and go about their weird businesses - but at some points the absurdity of the situations at hand begin to seem comical, so there is some of that grotesque element too, which helps balance out the weirdness between the scenes.
Everyone in this book holds a religious view that contradicts another's, and I found that really entertaining to read.
"But a person should never judge someone else's faith. Nobody knows the truth."
While I found a few parts to be somewhat abrupt, I consider the book ingenious overall.
2.75⭐
I'm not sure how to rate this. Part of me wants to never think about this book again, and another part of me is like, what the fuck did I just read?
What can you read after
Lapvona?
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