Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

274 reviews

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

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

rooksauna's review against another edition

dark sad tense 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

3.75

I liked this book less than My Year of Rest of Relaxation only because of some certain, graphic scenes in the book, as well as the most grotesque descriptions of bodily harm, sexual acts, etc; however, Moshfegh's writing is so gripping, descriptive, and blunt that I couldn't put the book down and finished in about 3 days.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Physical abuse, and Vomit

Moderate: Abortion and Pedophilia

gia0203's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective tense medium-paced

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

3.5

As someone who has a complicated relationship with religion/faith, I really enjoyed the themes in this. I particularly enjoyed the use of the seasons (Summer being the most effective). 

However, as we moved towards the end of the novel, the pace slowed down, and the narrative became more dull, ultimately leading to an ending I didn’t find satisfying. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse and Rape

Moderate: Animal death, Grief, Ableism, Violence, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Adult/minor relationship, Miscarriage, Cannibalism, Self harm, and Pregnancy

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

flo_sg's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Excrement, Gore, Sexual assault, Death, Emotional abuse, Murder, and Body horror

Moderate: Vomit, Abandonment, Abortion, Animal cruelty, Violence, and Pregnancy

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pedophilia, Suicide, Eating disorder, and Incest

cwiita's review against another edition

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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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Animal death, Classism, Grief, Abandonment, Child death, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Body shaming, Child abuse, Abortion, Sexual assault, Drug use, Excrement, Ableism, Blood, Death, Cannibalism, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, Cursing, Emotional abuse, and Pregnancy

2ofhearts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

4.0

ottessa loves to be yucky gross as shock value while making some pretty succinct criticisms/praises of religion (and religious hierarchies) as a mode of corruption, community, and epistemology. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Sexual violence, Rape, Vomit, Pedophilia, Adult/minor relationship, and Violence

cmorelli's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Physical abuse, Gore, Vomit, Bullying, Classism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Incest, Mental illness, Excrement, Murder, Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Cannibalism, Death, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Animal death, Child abuse, and Pregnancy

evantmellon's review against another edition

dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cannibalism, Blood, Body horror, Murder, Misogyny, Classism, Death, Child abuse, Child death, Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Self harm, Sexism, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, Abortion, Gore, Grief, Mental illness, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Emotional abuse, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Domestic abuse, and Injury/Injury detail

emmastrange's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

4.0

The writing style was beautiful and I could not put it down. The story was really well served by the third omniscient perspective. I had a good time reading this, but I’m not sure if the themes were as well developed as they could have been (particularly those about class), and yet at other points the themes about women seemed to be glaringly obvious. Yes, it was incredibly disturbing, but I did not find it gratuitous. I’ll be thinking about this book for a while!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Violence, Body horror, Child abuse, Classism, Death, Pedophilia, and Rape

Moderate: Animal death