A review by ginnyb412
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

challenging dark mysterious 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

 
books that make you go Hm. 
 
Jokes aside, it was a bit disappointing from Moshfegh (for me). When reading her other work I was struck by how much I loved it and how it tilted the axis of my taste; I didn’t have that with Lapvona at all. If I had to describe Lapvona in 1 word it would be ‘heavy-handed.’ The overt biblical metaphors and references, the anti-capitalism, it was all a little too obvious, like a magician who accidentally reveals his trick to the crowd. It felt, at times, that Moshfegh got caught up in being Ottessa Moshfegh: she focused too much on making everything repulsive that she forgot to add depth or any real plot (coming from someone who loves all vibes no plot books!). My 2 biggest bones of contention were these: 
 
First, that she tries a little too hard to mesh modern late-stage capitalism with medieval feudalism (assuming that this story takes place at the end of the 14th century as there’s a few throwaway references to the Plague). I think this bothered me in particular because I’m a historian! They were two separate systems that existed hundreds of years apart with things in between. This grated on me especially towards the end, when she writes about the Lapvonians (one in particular, won’t spoil) having Lenin or Robespierre-esque monologues in their thoughts. 
 
Second, she falls into the trap with Villiam that ugly = evil. I’ve seen other people say that he represents Trump and I think they’re probably right, given how much of a fixation there was with how physically ugly Trump was (paralleling Moshfegh’s continual references to how Villiam is ugly, skinny, sickly, etc). I think this left a profound distaste in my mouth: its too easy, it almost borders on laziness. It’s easy to look at someone like Trump or Villiam, so obviously uneducated and physically unattractive, and focus on their bad qualities, to assume that they’re evil. But what about the handsome, ivy league educated, well-mannered, confident, friendly people (like either Bush, Reagan, Clinton, Obama, etc) who were responsible for so much suffering and death not through incompetence or stupidity but uncaring negligence or calculated maliciousness? It’s too easy and lazy to say that evil always has a terrible spray tan, a toupee, and is physically unappealing. Sometimes it comes in a suit and speaks with a confident New England accent. America and the West aren’t too stupid to stop themselves from being evil—thats a core concept that I think Moshfegh got wrong. 
 
Overall, I didn’t hate this book (despite the ranting above haha). Given the buzz online I was expecting to be crawling in my skin disgusted but honestly, it didn’t really gross me out (but maybe I’ve read too much Moshfegh). As usual Moshfegh’s writing style is excellent and alluring. While I didn’t necessarily enjoy this book, I read it quickly simply because Moshfegh’s talent was dripping from the pages. I think this books biggest sin is that it was too much and not enough, a nothingness almost. I thought this book would be chilli pepper but it was flour. If another author had written this, I’d probably be more lenient, but because it’s Moshfegh and I know she can do better, the mediocrity really stuck with me. 
 
5/10 
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