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A review by holmesstorybooks
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
2.5
I don't know how to feel about this. On the one hand, it was classic otessa. On the other hand, it didn't work, lol. It felt like The Favourite or the Great, but more grotesque. Except it wasn't darkly comedic like those two films/shows just ... bizarre.
What worked in McGlue didn't work here. This had visceral descriptions of every bodily function you can imagine and then some. McGlue had that as well, but mostly related to the main character's traumatic brain injury and alcoholism. The unreliable narrator worked in McGlue, but not here. The unceremonious addition of indisputable facts (and plot points) that worked in McGlue to combat the unreliable narrator's narrative didn't work in Lapvona.
Also as a disabled person, I dont mind that non-disabled authors write disabled characters, but more that Disabled Characters As Protagonists always have their disabilities as Symbolism. Many of these characters in this medieval village have disabilities, which is absolutely fine and accurate, but also, did your main character really have to be a child with a birth defect who thinks of himself as a Lamb of God?
It was very readable ... but also ... not enjoyable. lol.
What worked in McGlue didn't work here. This had visceral descriptions of every bodily function you can imagine and then some. McGlue had that as well, but mostly related to the main character's traumatic brain injury and alcoholism. The unreliable narrator worked in McGlue, but not here. The unceremonious addition of indisputable facts (and plot points) that worked in McGlue to combat the unreliable narrator's narrative didn't work in Lapvona.
Also as a disabled person, I dont mind that non-disabled authors write disabled characters, but more that Disabled Characters As Protagonists always have their disabilities as Symbolism. Many of these characters in this medieval village have disabilities, which is absolutely fine and accurate, but also, did your main character really have to be a child with a birth defect who thinks of himself as a Lamb of God?
It was very readable ... but also ... not enjoyable. lol.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Gore, Child abuse, Cannibalism, Ableism, Vomit, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual violence, Miscarriage, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy