Lapvona: A Novel
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.
BUY THE BOOK
These clubs recently read this book...
Community Reviews
Unapologetically raw and pulls no punches. Moshfegh paints a brutal reality of medieval life, Lapvona is shocking, depressing, and relatable to life in modern times.
Beautifully constructed chaos, that will leave you with an oddly satisfying disgust. Moshfegh creates a theatrical world composed of fools. However, this leaves the novel with the sense that it is more of a performance than a novel. It is an oddly entertaining book, but it misses the character depth and complexity that her other novels produce.
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 point off.
See why thousands of readers are using Bookclubs to stay connected.