Reviews tagging 'Eating disorder'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

26 reviews

mnatale100's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Rape, Self harm, Slavery, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Ableism, Confinement, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Excrement, Abortion, Suicide attempt, and Pregnancy

Minor: Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Incest, Infertility, Miscarriage, Sexual content, and Fire/Fire injury

sallak's review against another edition

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: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Child abuse, Eating disorder, Gore, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, Violence, Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

missymaus's review against another edition

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

2.25

One of the most grotesque books I've ever read. Interesting but definitely not for the faint of heart/stomach.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Abortion, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

nixieba25f's review against another edition

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

1.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Dementia, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

quiltsandtealibrary's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• 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

5.0

Loved this book. Fucking wild as hell, but good. Not for everyone & not an easy read (emotionally) but it’s so well written it is an easy read? If that makes sense? 

Longer review:
Lapvona is nothing like anything I have ever read before. The book is disturbing, distorted, unsettling, & most of all very distressing for the most part. There is no chapters, just Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, & Spring again as we follow the story of the people of Lapvona through multiple POVs. Lapvona is a self aware story of the evilness of humans, how it’s shaped & how it’s created, greed & society. The book explores religious beliefs & traumas, daring to ask “if the creator is so great, then why has this happened?” 

I couldn’t put Lapvona down & read it in one sitting. There’s so much, yet so little to understand. It is a well written book that is hard to read at times. I do not recommend going into Lapvona blind & to maybe even spoil yourself for certain scenes to prepare yourself.

There is a way motherhood, childhood, coming of age/self discovery, & parental care that is explored in this book & shown in this book that will haunt me for the rest of my life. 

I don’t know if there will ever be another book like Lapvona, but I am eager to read more from Ottessa Moshfegh

5 stars

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Pedophilia, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Chronic illness, Cursing, Abortion, and Alcohol

Minor: Incest and Pregnancy

This book is,,,,,something. Please maybe read some spoilers or just be prepared with the warnings i provided. This book just explores like everything grim & awful of the nature of humans. It frames all these ugly, evil things as bad so it gave me some peace of mind while reading it. But it’s??? Something

_bxllxe_'s review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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

5.0

This is Pillars Of The Earth with a dash of splatterpunk and Ottessa Moshfegh’s signature sweaty-pitted malaise. This is One Hundred Years Of Solitude-level magical realism, complete with Gabriel Garcia Marquez-esque predatory sexual perversion. This is an irreverent guffaw at religion, classism, and politics. This is disgusting. This is weird. This comes second only to Animal Farm as my favorite book of the year.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Eating disorder, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, and Classism

erenreads's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective 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

3.75

this definitely was one of the books i’ve read! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Infidelity, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug use, Eating disorder, Excrement, and Classism

Minor: Miscarriage

belle_oftheball's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

5.0

Impossible to rate with stars. Great book, hated every minute of it. It takes a great author to write something this upsetting and also worthy of the time and effort to get though it. Give it a try if you want to feel bad, read about gross things, and write "ugh," "gross," and "Jeeeesus" in the margins every few pages.

*EDIT* I'm adding a star rating because I haven't stopped thinking about it since I read it. Unforgettable book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Incest, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Rape, Excrement, Grief, Cannibalism, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

thearchivist03's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

3.25

So...where to start?
You're not supposed to like the characters, and it's very body gore oriented with a side of medieval soft world building. It's captivating at first when Ottessa writes about each character's suffering, but you soon get desensitized and perhaps go a little mad and laugh at the over the top chaos.
I hear some people say that one of the characters is representative of female rage, but this character strikes me as thrown in out of the blue for more plot development. It does have an open ending, just a heads up.
I have such a love-hate relationship with the author and this book. I did enjoy the descriptions and her writing style of scenery and the world, but keep in mind her character descriptions and development brink on grotesque and nihilistic.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Blood, Excrement, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Drug abuse, Eating disorder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Stalking, and Gaslighting

Lots of detail in the excrement and fluids part. And all the sexual violence scenes primarily take place in the abuser's point of view, even though it's omniscient. It demonizes women a lot, be warned.

rhinaissance's review against another edition

dark funny 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

5.0

This book had me in a chokehold the whole time. It is bizarre, perverse, and a bit uncertain of its own ideas at times, but really really fascinating. And enjoyable (if you're weird, like me). I barely put it down the entire time, because I could not at all predict what would happen next. It was chock-full of "....what?" moments without being too overstated and obscene like Tender is the Flesh. I will admit, the moment I finished the book I was mad, but then as 24 hours have passed I find myself laughing at the absurdity. So it has won me back. 

On the surface, it appears as if there is no point, but I urge you to not stop there when thinking about it. There doesn't need to be a neon sign for something to be worth reading/analyzing. 

This book is not everyone's style but Moshfeg has really won me over.  I liked this novel a lot more than My year of Rest and Relaxation. But now I am *almost* tempted to go back. 
 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Drug use, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, Rape, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Excrement, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism