Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

160 reviews

bayrayj's review

adventurous dark funny lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

3.5

This book was hard to read at some points. The beautiful language of The author was juxtaposed by the horrors of living through famine in futile servitude to an absurd lord. There are all sorts of trigger warning to give for this book, but I still kind of enjoyed it. The whole thing felt like watching a car crash over the course of 300 pages. I cringed and Icked and laughed and gagged. The story was not my favorite, but the writing was immaculate and that made it worth the read at least 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Self harm, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Death, and Death of parent

matigiuro's review

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Child death, Death, Physical abuse, Religious bigotry, and Incest

loustat__'s review

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Abortion, Self harm, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Chronic illness, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Suicide, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, Gore, Religious bigotry, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Sexual violence, Violence, and War

haunted_klaus's review

challenging dark mysterious 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Incest, Child abuse, Suicide, Violence, Physical abuse, Murder, Child death, Religious bigotry, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Adult/minor relationship, Rape, Cannibalism, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Excrement, and Blood

venusinlove's review

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.25

that sure was a wild reading experience. i don't think i liked the story all that much hence I'm not really a medieval kind of girlie but the writing itself was immaculate! her way with words is so fascinating and it very much reminded me of Madeline Miller's writing style.

in Lapvona there were so many elements of horror and disgust, so i would advise people not to start this book before checking out the trigger warnings because it is a lot to get through. i don't think i was that shocked to read the more gore-y parts of the story rather than the behavior of the many different characters. there was not a single one that stood out with any positive characteristic to me. however, that didn't make the book bad? usually it would throw me off since i very much so rely on the characters because they are usually the builders of the story, but in this one, i liked it a lot as it was. no complaints there.

i loved how the story was a mix of body horror but also delusion between its characters. it gave off a sense of dark comedy in a way. i'll also say that regarding the story i am willing to excuse (view spoiler) but only in this one instance.

all in all this book was a maze in which every corner made you feel either disturbed, shocked or a bit frightened. it was great!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, Ableism, Cannibalism, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Animal death, Incest, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, Abortion, Rape, Child abuse, Murder, Miscarriage, Death, Physical abuse, Gore, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Death of parent, Suicide, Animal cruelty, Self harm, and Torture

ramreadsagain's review against another edition

challenging dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

I really enjoyed this but also struggling to put into words why.

It definitely feels like a pandemic novel, as we see the undeserving rich living in largely oblivious luxury while the poor starve, die, and are driven to insanity by the drought. Though the setting is medieval, a lot of modern human behaviour is laid out here: the rich playing with people's lives for amusement, resource shortage artificially created in order to ensure obedience, religion and faith used as tools to impose suffering on the masses, by people who do not even believe in a God, and how these come together to prop up the capitalist system. 

The book is incredibly atmospheric and I read it in three sittings, the writing style pulled me in and the characters are so awful you can't look away. 

There is a lot that goes without explanation particularly revolving around the village "witch" Ina. I enjoyed parts of this mystery, with some other aspects frustrating me with their vagueness. I also felt like the ending fizzled out a bit, whereas I was expecting a big crescendo. 

This has been my first Moshfegh read and I'm really excited to delve into her other novels. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Violence, Animal death, Death, Religious bigotry, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Rape

Moderate: Abortion, Blood, Miscarriage, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Pedophilia, and Body horror

captainyaht's review

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Domestic abuse, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Suicidal thoughts, Pregnancy, Body shaming, Child death, and Suicide

Minor: Toxic relationship, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Infidelity, and Murder

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

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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

geraldinerowe's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

I'm not entirely sure what this book was about, but I enjoyed it. Yes, the book is gory and unpleasant at times, but not unnecessarily so as It's set in unpleasant times (although not quite in our universe as there are magical elements). The masses being kept in poverty by an idiot man-child ruler advised by a self-serving hypocrite could be a story for our time, as it could for pretty much any other time. Power corrupts. The consequences of blind faith. Any of these things could be the message of Lapvona. Whatever the case, I'll miss this grumpy bunch of characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body shaming, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Rape

kirareads02's review against another edition

challenging dark slow-paced

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

4.25

This book was so weird and disgusting but I couldn't stop listening to it. There wad no real sense of plot or movement really it was basically a year in lapvona. 

I don't know what I expected from the ending but it was very fitting. 

Just a weird story and I loved it 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Cannibalism, Confinement, Gore, Murder, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexual assault, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Ableism, Abandonment, Abortion, Adult/minor relationship, Violence, Vomit, Blood, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, and Suicide

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death