Scan barcode
A review by thatdecembergirl
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
5.0
This book is my Joker. It is so toxic and morally questionable, and I love it so much. Lapvona is a name of a place, name of a village, which has this medieval vibe but is not actually historically correct (and it doesn't try to be, so there's no need to get hung up on that, I guess). Lapvona would be a perfect fit in the crooked and manipulative universe of A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones) and also House of the Dragon, where nothing comes free but life is cheap. And the people are foolish.
We have a protagonist with a taste for suffering.
We have a veeeery old wet nurse who just doesn't seem to die and.
We have a frail, shallow, greedy lord who.
We have almost-decent characters disappearing mid-book as though they fall off the pages.
This is crazy with a capital C and I'm so down for it.
This story doesn't have any purpose other than telling us the tale of Lapvonians. There's no real justice; things are mostly consequences and repercussions, maybe snowball effects of poor judgments and choices. Not to mention a lot of them are meaningless. "Nrimo ing pandum" is the only way to go, no matter how wretched your life is becoming. And while I know it's not for everyone, Lapvona is definitely for me. Moshfegh narrates the tale so well, in haunting and almost-magical way, the way parents read their children bedtime stories, that makes me savor every awful, gruesome, often disgusting event that unfolds.
Once again, this book is pure madness, and Ottessa Moshfegh is my favorite madwoman.
We have a protagonist with a taste for suffering.
We have a veeeery old wet nurse who just doesn't seem to die and
Spoiler
lets teenager and adults suck her tits just because she fed everyone when they were babiesWe have a frail, shallow, greedy lord who
Spoiler
rubs grapes on other people's asshole and demands someone else to put it in their mouthWe have almost-decent characters disappearing mid-book as though they fall off the pages.
Villiam believed that his appetite was nothing but a physical symptom of his greatness. He needed more because he required more, because he deserved more, because he was more. Food was not the only thing that he could not get enough of.
This is crazy with a capital C and I'm so down for it.
This story doesn't have any purpose other than telling us the tale of Lapvonians. There's no real justice; things are mostly consequences and repercussions, maybe snowball effects of poor judgments and choices. Not to mention a lot of them are meaningless. "Nrimo ing pandum" is the only way to go, no matter how wretched your life is becoming. And while I know it's not for everyone, Lapvona is definitely for me. Moshfegh narrates the tale so well, in haunting and almost-magical way, the way parents read their children bedtime stories, that makes me savor every awful, gruesome, often disgusting event that unfolds.
Marek knew that God took pity on the poor and hungry. He would rather faint than give God any reason to suspect him of indulgence.
Once again, this book is pure madness, and Ottessa Moshfegh is my favorite madwoman.