Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

731 reviews

aviary's review against another edition

challenging dark tense medium-paced

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

4.0

read 12/19/24

read this because my friend recommended it to me. texted her halfway through asking why the hell she recommended it to me, and she said she hadn't gotten far in it yet LOL. very wild content, but the way the author presents the society and the strong flaws within the society was really interesting and intense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Grief, Cannibalism, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Moderate: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Abortion, and Classism

pavonated's review against another edition

dark 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

1.0

 Perverse, yes. But "provocative"? It's not substantial enough. A tour through a cast of characters being miserable, and taking pleasure in another's misery. It's set in a "medieval fiefdom" that has about as much grounding in history as Monty Python, except not funny or satire and instead boring and stale. The whole 'everyone used to live in muck and mud' thing is so trite. Doesn't help the lack of substance. Plenty of graphic sexual violence for.... Some reason. There's not really a reason to anything here. If I'm being generous, characters seem to switch between masks of different purposes and analogies frequently, so nothing is said in the end. We're all sinners I guess? We're all damned? Everyone has a capacity for cruelness and innocence? I could've put this book down at any point and gotten the same thing out of it. I only finished it because I have nothing else to read on this train.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Incest

jade_smith's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

4.5

Every character was so deeply unlikeable and it this book was incredibly disgusting. I loved it. 

This was my first Ottessa Moshfegh book and I’ll be running to pick up the rest of her catalogue. 

Darkly absurd and almost fairytale-esque in its depiction of greed and human perversion, Lapvona is half pseudo-historical fiction and half a horror comedy.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Cannibalism, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Infertility, Kidnapping, Abortion, and Alcohol

megann853's review against another edition

4.0

V hesitant on this rating!!! Idk!!!! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Incest, Infertility, Infidelity, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Cannibalism, Religious bigotry, Abortion, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

secondhandreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad slow-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

2.0

I think this book was trying to make a statement about how human greed and cruelty just breed more of themselves and overflow into the world in unexpectedly huge ways. That said, the author seems to have gotten too caught up in just writing things that are appalling to really pay an incredible amount of attention to that story thread. If you're looking for a dark sad book where terrible things happen, this is the one. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Violence, Vomit, Cannibalism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

claudialucas99's review against another edition

dark 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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, and Cannibalism

Minor: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Incest, Suicide, and Abortion

polysemy's review against another edition

I found the book too triggering and bleak for me. I understand that the purpose was to disgust and alienate the reader, but it did this too well for me to find it redeemable. The graphic description of rape was the last straw for me and I just couldn’t continue.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Incest, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Violence, Cannibalism, and Classism

books_and_sea_salt's review against another edition

It's just too much. The absurd and disgusting details can be valuable or even a niche, but this was just so over the top. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Incest, Mental illness, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, and Pandemic/Epidemic

sum1tookmyshoes's review against another edition

Too much navel gazing, detracting from the story. Scenes go on way longer than necessary. The novel also contains some problematic scenarios between characters. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape and Cannibalism

pichetteemmons's review against another edition

dark 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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Cannibalism, and Classism

Moderate: Rape