Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

16 reviews

mnatale100's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Rape, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Classism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, and Vomit

Moderate: Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Ableism, Physical abuse, Sexism, Suicide, Abortion, Confinement, Excrement, Misogyny, and Pedophilia

Minor: Infertility, Miscarriage, Fire/Fire injury, Drug use, Eating disorder, Sexual content, Domestic abuse, and Incest

sallak's review

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Murder, Kidnapping, Incest, Body horror, Sexual assault, Cannibalism, Rape, Suicide, Sexual harassment, Miscarriage, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Violence, Sexual violence, Gore, Death of parent, Child abuse, Animal cruelty, and Adult/minor relationship

missymaus's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

One of the most grotesque books I've ever read. Interesting but definitely not for the faint of heart/stomach.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Sexism, Sexual violence, Stalking, Bullying, Classism, Sexual content, Child abuse, Gore, Colonisation, Death, Child death, Abortion, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Ableism, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Rape, Religious bigotry, Blood, Body horror, Mental illness, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Incest, Excrement, Grief, Infidelity, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Pedophilia, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit

nixieba25f's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Religious bigotry, Violence, Vomit, Alcohol, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Classism, Dementia, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Gaslighting, Grief, Pregnancy, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicide, Torture, Sexual assault, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Bullying, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Sexual harassment, Abandonment, Drug use, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Ableism, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, and Self harm

quiltsandtealibrary's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Loved this book. Fucking wild as hell, but good. Not for everyone & not an easy read (emotionally) but it’s so well written it is an easy read? If that makes sense? 

Longer review:
Lapvona is nothing like anything I have ever read before. The book is disturbing, distorted, unsettling, & most of all very distressing for the most part. There is no chapters, just Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, & Spring again as we follow the story of the people of Lapvona through multiple POVs. Lapvona is a self aware story of the evilness of humans, how it’s shaped & how it’s created, greed & society. The book explores religious beliefs & traumas, daring to ask “if the creator is so great, then why has this happened?” 

I couldn’t put Lapvona down & read it in one sitting. There’s so much, yet so little to understand. It is a well written book that is hard to read at times. I do not recommend going into Lapvona blind & to maybe even spoil yourself for certain scenes to prepare yourself.

There is a way motherhood, childhood, coming of age/self discovery, & parental care that is explored in this book & shown in this book that will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

I don’t know if there will ever be another book like Lapvona, but I am eager to read more from Ottessa Moshfegh

5 stars

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cannibalism, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Blood, Rape, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Mental illness, Sexual content, Suicide, Violence, Child death, Self harm, Body horror, Gore, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Abortion, Alcohol, Cursing, Addiction, and Alcoholism

Minor: Incest and Pregnancy

This book is,,,,,something. Please maybe read some spoilers or just be prepared with the warnings i provided. This book just explores like everything grim & awful of the nature of humans. It frames all these ugly, evil things as bad so it gave me some peace of mind while reading it. But it’s??? Something

_bxllxe_'s review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This is Pillars Of The Earth with a dash of splatterpunk and Ottessa Moshfegh’s signature sweaty-pitted malaise. This is One Hundred Years Of Solitude-level magical realism, complete with Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque predatory sexual perversion. This is an irreverent guffaw at religion, classism, and politics. This is disgusting. This is weird. This comes second only to Animal Farm as my favorite book of the year.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Pedophilia, Grief, Death, Murder, Classism, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Suicide, and Eating disorder

erenreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

this definitely was one of the books i’ve read! 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Child abuse, Infidelity, Pregnancy, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Ableism, Cannibalism, Classism, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Self harm, Violence, Religious bigotry, Sexism, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Abortion, Incest, Physical abuse, Body shaming, Death of parent, Gore, Murder, and Rape

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Classism, and Excrement

Minor: Miscarriage

belle_oftheball's review

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Impossible to rate with stars. Great book, hated every minute of it. It takes a great author to write something this upsetting and also worthy of the time and effort to get though it. Give it a try if you want to feel bad, read about gross things, and write "ugh," "gross," and "Jeeeesus" in the margins every few pages.

*EDIT* I'm adding a star rating because I haven't stopped thinking about it since I read it. Unforgettable book.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Excrement, Grief, Miscarriage, Death, Drug use, Incest, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Rape

thearchivist03's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

So...where to start?
You're not supposed to like the characters, and it's very body gore oriented with a side of medieval soft world building. It's captivating at first when Ottessa writes about each character's suffering, but you soon get desensitized and perhaps go a little mad and laugh at the over the top chaos.
I hear some people say that one of the characters is representative of female rage, but this character strikes me as thrown in out of the blue for more plot development. It does have an open ending, just a heads up.
I have such a love-hate relationship with the author and this book. I did enjoy the descriptions and her writing style of scenery and the world, but keep in mind her character descriptions and development brink on grotesque and nihilistic.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Alcoholism, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Rape, Misogyny, Death, Grief, Ableism, Murder, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Cursing, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Gore

Moderate: Gaslighting, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Stalking, Torture, and Violence

Lots of detail in the excrement and fluids part. And all the sexual violence scenes primarily take place in the abuser's point of view, even though it's omniscient. It demonizes women a lot, be warned.

rhinaissance's review

dark funny sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book had me in a chokehold the whole time. It is bizarre, perverse, and a bit uncertain of its own ideas at times, but really really fascinating. And enjoyable (if you're weird, like me). I barely put it down the entire time, because I could not at all predict what would happen next. It was chock-full of "....what?" moments without being too overstated and obscene like Tender is the Flesh. I will admit, the moment I finished the book I was mad, but then as 24 hours have passed I find myself laughing at the absurdity. So it has won me back. 

On the surface, it appears as if there is no point, but I urge you to not stop there when thinking about it. There doesn't need to be a neon sign for something to be worth reading/analyzing. 

This book is not everyone's style but Moshfeg has really won me over.  I liked this novel a lot more than My year of Rest and Relaxation. But now I am *almost* tempted to go back. 
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Eating disorder, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Animal death, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Child death, Drug use, Adult/minor relationship, Child abuse, Classism, Colonisation, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Chronic illness, Infidelity, Abandonment, Body shaming, and Bullying