Reviews tagging 'Religious bigotry'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

94 reviews

quirkko24's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape

Moderate: Kidnapping, Death, Cannibalism, Excrement, Violence, Murder, Sexual violence, Child abuse, Infertility, Gore, Child death, Blood, Suicide, Incest, Religious bigotry, Body horror, and Animal death

Minor: Vomit, Pedophilia, and Torture

sassafrasreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

5.0

So gross and strange but a really good read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Gore, Body horror, Rape, Sexual assault, Ableism, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Violence, Death, and Child abuse

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Excrement, Child death, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Incest, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Animal death, and Self harm

Minor: Alcohol and Alcoholism

bloupibloupreads's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

Imagine having top quality ingredients and yet still baking a disastrous cake because you can’t follow the recipe correctly. This was my opinion on Ottessa Moshfegh’s “My Year of Rest and Relaxation”. This opinion still stands with her latest book, Lapnova. 

The intrigue picked my curiosity, the idea in itself is great but the way Moshfegh worked around with it was just not it. It’s always tell, never shown, the book is trying to be “something” deep in a way but completely fails because there is no substance, there’s nothing concrete in this story. 

For My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Ottessa Moshfegh just scratched  the top of an amazing idea with her fingernail and never tried to go deeper, here she sprinkles a semblance of deeper knowledge onto a great idea, she works around it never on it. She adds stuff here and there, left and right to the story that just makes everything feel a little bit too much. The book just comes off as trying too hard. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Domestic abuse, Excrement, Child abuse, Religious bigotry, Rape, and Death

Moderate: Sexual violence, Suicide, Murder, and Animal cruelty

Minor: Miscarriage, Suicidal thoughts, and Vomit

lau_charest'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? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pedophilia, Violence, Sexual violence, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Death, Sexual harassment, Sexual content, Excrement, Blood, Vomit, Suicide, Physical abuse, Gore, Cannibalism, Animal death, Adult/minor relationship, Sexual assault, Self harm, Child death, Rape, Murder, and Incest

v333spertine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• 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, Grief, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Classism, Incest, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Sexism, Death, Body horror, Violence, Sexual content, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Gore, Child abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Blood, Pedophilia, Rape, Cannibalism, and Excrement

Moderate: Self harm

studydniowka's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

No i przeczytałam „Lapvonę”, ale niestety nie jestem do niej przekonana. Nie czułam w ogóle tej konwencji baśni i trudno było mi się przez nią przegryźć. Czekam jednak na spotkanie wokół książki.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Death, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Cannibalism, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Body horror, Incest, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Religious bigotry, and Violence

allisonz6's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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? Yes

1.5

what the actual f was that

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual violence, Slavery, Death, Torture, Self harm, Abortion, Blood, Rape, Body horror, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Murder, Abandonment, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Infertility, Injury/Injury detail, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Incest, Gore, Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Grief

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide

Minor: Miscarriage

mediocrity_is_expected's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Religious bigotry, Rape, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Child death, Classism, Sexual content, Pregnancy, Pandemic/Epidemic, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Confinement, Sexual violence, Murder, Misogyny, Sexual harassment, Physical abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Abandonment, Ableism, Abortion, Blood, Bullying, Incest, Suicide, Alcohol, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Self harm, Sexual assault, and Sexism

Moderate: Animal death

eemily's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Incest, Animal death, Child death, Self harm, Gore, Emotional abuse, Rape, Cannibalism, Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Suicide, Religious bigotry, Miscarriage, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Murder, and Pedophilia

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexism, Animal cruelty, Infertility, Fire/Fire injury, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Bullying, Abandonment, Ableism, Alcoholism, Abortion, Toxic relationship, Sexual violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Body shaming, and Blood

sherenreads's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder, Animal cruelty, Death, Cannibalism, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Physical abuse, Gore, Adult/minor relationship, Mental illness, Rape, and Excrement

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Vomit, Slavery, and Religious bigotry