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A review by versmonesprit
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
Anyone who has any self-respect would steer clear of Moshfegh from this point on. I made the mistake of trusting the hype about how different her books are from the mass market commercial fiction, and bought all her books (save the limited run she had.. what was it called, My New Novel?) to read in chronological order. What started with a banger (McGlue) crashed and burned so fast with Eileen, and while it was good to finally be rid of that Eileen DNA after MYoRaR and Death in Her Hands, Moshfegh once again chose to be a sloppy, lazy piece of shit who only cares about money, and couldn’t bother to respect her readers (who make her that money…) by showing some inkling of an effort.
Not doing your research about the time period you set your book in is not “subversive”. Laughable mistakes don’t create a “magical realist” world; they make you look uneducated. Uneducated and money-grabbing is not a good combo for someone, and if I can’t respect a living author, why would I ever again give them money? But lucky for Moshfegh, clearly she could take a shit on the subway and people would slurp it up.
And that’s the core of the problem, but I digress.
Moshfegh clearly sat down with one false, ignorant line in mind: “The Middle Ages was when peasants were too stupid to realise the evils of the nobles and the clergy.” That’s what the book stems from, and boils back down to. No nuance, no depth, just that slogan created by the “Enlightenment” propaganda. Very foolish to still blindly believe it in this day and age, but again, I digress. This makes the book extremely shallow, and takes away any opportunity for it to be anything beyond boring.
The book started promising enough, but after 4 consecutive terrible experiences with Moshfegh, I already knew none of the ideas and concepts that were introduced would ever be explored to their full potential. I’d be more content even if Moshfegh only kept putting in more of these crumbs of ideas, but before even reaching the halfway mark, she stopped bothering writing something at least interesting, and just wrote one of the most boring accounts you could ever suffer through (would easily go hand in hand with Death in Her Hands). I felt dread knowing I would have to push myself through some pages every time I picked this book up. The boredom rage drained my life energy away.
Of course it did not help at all that the third person narrator sounded extremely modern, and coupled with the factual mistakes, any chance at an immersive setting was ruined. I can’t believe someone could manage to do that to the Middle Ages, THE historical period that’s the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to atmosphere. Not a single one of the creative opportunities presented by the period was taken advantage of. The most obvious one? Dividing the book into the four seasons when the Middle Ages had fascinating calendars. A good, intelligent writer could do SO much with that, it hurts to think of the possibilities.
Long story short, Moshfegh must have seen Parasite and decided to essentially rewrite it. But you can obviously never achieve something good if your starting point is an already flawed material. You would have to be barely literate to enjoy Lapvona as a “twisted” book. It’s not. It’s barely anything at all.
Oh and I fucking despised the comedy of errors moments. So glad to be done with Moshfegh for good; still fucking mad that I ever gave my hard earned money for this pile of crap.
Not doing your research about the time period you set your book in is not “subversive”. Laughable mistakes don’t create a “magical realist” world; they make you look uneducated. Uneducated and money-grabbing is not a good combo for someone, and if I can’t respect a living author, why would I ever again give them money? But lucky for Moshfegh, clearly she could take a shit on the subway and people would slurp it up.
And that’s the core of the problem, but I digress.
Moshfegh clearly sat down with one false, ignorant line in mind: “The Middle Ages was when peasants were too stupid to realise the evils of the nobles and the clergy.” That’s what the book stems from, and boils back down to. No nuance, no depth, just that slogan created by the “Enlightenment” propaganda. Very foolish to still blindly believe it in this day and age, but again, I digress. This makes the book extremely shallow, and takes away any opportunity for it to be anything beyond boring.
The book started promising enough, but after 4 consecutive terrible experiences with Moshfegh, I already knew none of the ideas and concepts that were introduced would ever be explored to their full potential. I’d be more content even if Moshfegh only kept putting in more of these crumbs of ideas, but before even reaching the halfway mark, she stopped bothering writing something at least interesting, and just wrote one of the most boring accounts you could ever suffer through (would easily go hand in hand with Death in Her Hands). I felt dread knowing I would have to push myself through some pages every time I picked this book up. The boredom rage drained my life energy away.
Of course it did not help at all that the third person narrator sounded extremely modern, and coupled with the factual mistakes, any chance at an immersive setting was ruined. I can’t believe someone could manage to do that to the Middle Ages, THE historical period that’s the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to atmosphere. Not a single one of the creative opportunities presented by the period was taken advantage of. The most obvious one? Dividing the book into the four seasons when the Middle Ages had fascinating calendars. A good, intelligent writer could do SO much with that, it hurts to think of the possibilities.
Long story short, Moshfegh must have seen Parasite and decided to essentially rewrite it. But you can obviously never achieve something good if your starting point is an already flawed material. You would have to be barely literate to enjoy Lapvona as a “twisted” book. It’s not. It’s barely anything at all.
Oh and I fucking despised the comedy of errors moments. So glad to be done with Moshfegh for good; still fucking mad that I ever gave my hard earned money for this pile of crap.