Reviews tagging 'Domestic abuse'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

129 reviews

abibliophagist's review against another edition

challenging dark sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Moshfegh is really Moshfeghing with this one.

Dark, grimey, disturbing and grotesque.

But somehow enthralling. Like an accidental medieval Saltburn. 

No one is likeable in this book, and everyone from the most pious to the most godless have twisted morals. 

 I loved it.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Body horror, and Animal death

Moderate: Death, Child death, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Grief

bloupibloupreads's review

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

carolinachiesa96's review against another edition

dark tense 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

2.0

The moral of the story is: abortion 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Sexual violence, Child death, Murder, Rape, Physical abuse, Violence, Gore, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Blood, Pedophilia, Vomit, Incest, Abortion, Sexual assault, Self harm, Pregnancy, and Misogyny

blau_elmo's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

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

1.0

Just feels like cheap folk horror to me, without real substance. Disturbing things happen throughout the book, revolting things, in fact. Abuse, greed, poverty, hunger and so much breastfeeding for some reason??

The problem is that all this grotesquerie leads to no real pay off. Things just happen for the sake of cheap shock, and then before you know it, the ending comes, and you're left feeling ambivalent.

The world isn't particularly enrapturing either, just a generic feudal village.

I kind of really hate this book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Violence

Moderate: Suicide and Sexual content

ameliethemoomin's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

don't read this book while eating food it made me feel so incredibly sick ms moshfegh you are amazing and this was a deeply horrible book

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abortion, Rape, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Animal cruelty, Murder, Violence, Suicide, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, Domestic abuse, Sexual assault, Sexism, Pedophilia, Death, Miscarriage, Misogyny, and Incest

literarybitch's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

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

.... Huh??????????? 

P.S. If you like stories where literally nobody is in the right, go for it, but holy shit dude it's A LOT 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Child abuse, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual violence, Adult/minor relationship, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Sexual assault, and Domestic abuse

Moderate: Alcoholism, Vomit, Cannibalism, Death, and Pregnancy

marxeism's review against another edition

dark tense fast-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

2.25

Weird book about weird and crazy people. If you're looking for a dark story about casual human evil, this is for you. Characters are interesting and diverse, but all but one of them is just awful. Personally I had a hard time getting into this and being invested/following a flow. Kind of reminiscent of game of thrones (the tv show, not the books)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Incest, Misogyny, Child death, Death, Murder, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Infidelity, Sexual assault, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Animal death, Ableism, Abortion, Rape, Self harm, Vomit, Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Cannibalism, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Eating disorder

inkhamartia's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Child abuse, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Death, Injury/Injury detail, Physical abuse, Cannibalism, Body horror, Animal death, Death of parent, Incest, Child death, Blood, Vomit, Rape, Excrement, Adult/minor relationship, and Animal cruelty

alex_nicolee's review against another edition

dark medium-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: Violence, Death of parent, Animal death, Classism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Rape, Suicide, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Murder, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, and Sexual content

alexlouise97's review

dark sad tense slow-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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Gore, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, Murder, Rape, Abortion, Sexual assault, Ableism, Animal death, Body shaming, Child death, Physical abuse, Abandonment, Blood, Child abuse, Slavery, Suicide, Body horror, Bullying, Classism, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Pedophilia, Death of parent, Adult/minor relationship, Incest, and Cannibalism