Reviews with content warning for Mental illness - Lapvona

Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

46 reviews

ginnydw's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

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sherenreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

1.5

To cut it short, I‘m pretty sure a character in the book said “there’s no virtue in suffering” and that’s all you need to know about this book.

If you however are a masochist, do go ahead and read the grossest 300 pages you’ll ever have read.

I wanted to quit at least twice. I’m sure you know the disturbing movies iceberg meme. This book belongs there somewhere in the middle. When I was done, I wanted to shower and scrub my eyes and brain in hopes that I can forget what I just read. I’m 99% sure my brain will push the memory of this book far away and if I’m lucky I’ll just forget most of it.

It was so gross, and for what? I barely found meaning in it all. A little bit, yes, but the rest? It felt like a book that’s gross for the sake of being gross.

I read in another review that someone said maybe this was Moshfegh’s answer to critics who’ve criticized her because apparently everything she writes is meaningless and weird and gross and maybe this one was supposed to be a f*ck you to those critics. If that was her point, she did an amazing job.

I wish I could talk to Moshfegh and ask her why, just why. I’d also love to look into her brain and find out what goes on in there and if she’s mentally alright.

This was also the first book by Moshfegh I’ve ever read, because they didn’t have my year of rest and relaxation available. I’m sure that’s on me.
I also wanted something spooky and weird for Halloween. This was so much worse. I wish I’d watched the exorcism or something instead. Funnily enough it reminded me of movies by people like von Trier and Vinterberg. Maybe I just didn’t understand it, I don’t know

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cwiita's review against another edition

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dark 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

3.0

Well, after marking My Year Of Rest and Relaxation as my only DNF ever, I managed to make it through this one. I purchased this book before I started MYORAR, before I had any idea how much I would struggle with Otessa Moshfegh. I find her to be a difficult read, not for lack of skill or quality, but for the simple fact that she seems to have an ongoing problem with fatphobia and ableism, among other things. I discussed my initial problems with MYORAR with a friend who has read most of Moshfegh's work, and the consensus was that her stories relay very similar views each time and that her characters tend to be the same type of people across the board. I am a big fan of unreliable narrators and I appreciate the challenge of crafting a story around difficult characters, but to do it unrelentingly in every book while consistently implying hateful messages is tough for me to get behind.
With that being said, I blew through Lapvona. This book is absolutely vile, but incredibly readable when it comes to pacing and language. It was also much easier to tolerate the actions and views of the characters knowing that the events were taking place under a feudal system in medieval times. Moshfegh did a wonderful job of characterization, for better or for worse. The plot is somehow both ceaseless and unrecognizable. It's an infinite circle of pointless suffering, but maybe that's the point. In an uncanny way, there was something enjoyable about this read. Since I already own MYORAR, this piece almost convinced me to give it another try. Almost.

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cmorelli's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense fast-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

3.25

Oh boy, where to start unpacking this one.

First off, it feels like this book tries to hit any and all triggers possible, so be warned in advance.

Marek, a crippled, abused, motherless shepherd’s son, constantly lives under the fear of his unworthiness in God’s eye. With jealousy and anger, he commits a crime that puts him as a ward to the Lord of the fiefdom - Villiam, who is childish as the very least, abusive, controlling, and wildly incapable of his position as a lord at the very most.

This book, written in a medieval setting, gives you a sense of discomfort every page of the way.

While written to pull you in to the horror show of Lapvona you can’t possibly look away from out of morbid curiosity, Lapvona’s story falls flat without meaning. It’s a press just to see how uncomfortable you can be made.

Content Warnings