Lapvona
By Ottessa Moshfegh
- Release Date: 2022-06-21
- Genre: Literary Fiction
Description
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 buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself part of a power struggle that puts the community’s 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, believes his mother died giving birth to him. One of Marek’s few consolations is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby. For some people, Ina’s ability to receive transmissions of sacred knowledge from the natural world is a godsend. For others, Ina’s home in the woods is a godless place.
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 their depraved lord and governor, 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 arise to upset the old order. By year’s end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, and the natural world and the spirit world will prove to be very thin indeed.
Reviews
Did not put it down
5By bexabexaIm a slow reader like takes 2 months to read a book but this I read in a week!Good but..
4By Cali2011paradiseRambled on for quite some time. Felt like a fever dream. There was so “turning point”. It was just like one long stream of weird/horrifying things but I liked itWild ride
5By SarahSMainThis book was like David Lynch had a fever dream. I loved every chapter.Not really scary as I was told…
3By CrisAngiFrom previous editors, they said it was off putting and scary. So as I was reading, there was gore and definitely dark times. But if your looking for horror there is none in this book. There is truly no plot either, just a downhill slide of grotesque and depressing events. But fortunately, I must say that it was a good read because the writer knew how to draw people in. *Like with the cover, made me think there’d be demonic lambs or something, nahhhh fam*What was this even about?
1By aenicholPoorly written and plotless. I kept thinking a plot would be forthcoming, but one never did. Honestly probably one of the worst books I’ve ever read.The Stench of the Middle Ages
1By Losing myselfThe only gross and disgusting things missing from this book are pus and boogers. Really gross and no redeeming value. It’s one long continuous slide down to ……. (WHAT!?!) I can’t believe it is on anyone’s reading list. I was looking for a good story, NOT!Not worth the money
1By milljes335This story has no arch, no intensive description of characters, it’s not a fun read.Wild
5By Isaac_PupThis book was dizzyingly heinous. I found it grotesque but I couldn't look away. Ottessa has a way of writing the most despicable people in a sustained air of un-relatable gory nonchalance that I find thrilling.