Lapvona: A Novel
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, 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.
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Community Reviews
Constant painful cycles that no one bothers to subvert.
I found the simple, heart wrenching prose fascinating. I did wish that Moshfegh had done more research into medieval life, but it also made the story feel timeless. Every little change in the story made enough sense to be believable, but just not enough to make it feel almost magical.
Do all Otessa Moshfegh stories have to end with such a shocking event? That's the only thing that took a p...read more
Overall it was a very interesting book and if it was meant to disturb it would do the trick for most. It just left me with the question of why would someone write this? What was the purpose of putting this into the world? Overall an enjoyable experience though.
Unnecessarily gory and disturbing. I love disturbing books, but without purpose, it feels like shock and awe without a direction. I had to force myself to the end. If you are a person who loves shocking gore and disturbing events, I still wouldn’t necessarily recommend this book. After a while, there’s no surprise. You find yourself saying, “yeah, that sounds about right.” To the most disturbing, stomach turning events.
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