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versmonesprit's reviews
216 reviews
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
From the ashes of the 40s rose two magnificent works of literature: Camus’s The Stranger, and Dazai’s No Longer Human. They’re not exactly comparable but complementary. Sure, the thematic resemblance can be boiled down to the zeitgeist of the war/postwar period, but its handling is not a common feat in literature.
No Longer Human centres an utterly broken protagonist (who, in all honesty, seems to be suffering from a personality disorder) who considers himself a clown, but who’s considered a good person (an angel!) by others on account of his good actions; yet we as the readers know he lacks the impulse to be good. His life is a mask, a show he puts on for the benefit of its spectators. As such, No Longer Human is a wonderful character study in performative humanity, and is ultimately relatable for it deals with “weariness from enduring the task of being a human being”.
At times philosophical, at times tumultuously poetic, No Longer Human is compulsively readable, and flows like no other book as far as I can recall. A must read masterpiece that is rightfully lauded as a “holy grail” book!
No Longer Human centres an utterly broken protagonist (who, in all honesty, seems to be suffering from a personality disorder) who considers himself a clown, but who’s considered a good person (an angel!) by others on account of his good actions; yet we as the readers know he lacks the impulse to be good. His life is a mask, a show he puts on for the benefit of its spectators. As such, No Longer Human is a wonderful character study in performative humanity, and is ultimately relatable for it deals with “weariness from enduring the task of being a human being”.
At times philosophical, at times tumultuously poetic, No Longer Human is compulsively readable, and flows like no other book as far as I can recall. A must read masterpiece that is rightfully lauded as a “holy grail” book!
After the Quake by Haruki Murakami
emotional
funny
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
I had the worst start to the new year, having been drugged by people I loved and trusted. Still under the effects of a bad trip, I felt no joy, no will of any kind. I had planned on using my day off to read another book, but all I wanted to do was curl into a ball and cry.
But I’m nothing if not ridiculously self-competitive, and so couldn’t bear the idea of breaking my reading streak. If I had to read something, I decided, it should be familiar waters. There’s no other author whose pen unfailingly comforts my soul than Haruki Murakami.
And so came after the quake from my shelves. Immediately I felt at home with Murakami’s signature tone. This could’ve been easily unfair to him, as I struggled to connect with anything for a good while afterwards; but it also speaks volumes to the marvels of Murakami’s craft that I enjoyed these while reading, and appreciate them all the more now that I’m looking back on the book.
Through the six stories, we’re introduced to the vastly different ways the Great Hanshin earthquake impacts or at the very least finds its way into the thought patterns of the various characters. Murakami never takes us to its centre, never exploits the real trauma experienced by real people. If anything, after the quake is a collage of how the inner and the personal always take precedence, how even the most serious of matters can serve as a backdrop to our own private lives. But I wouldn’t go as far as calling this selfishness: none of Murakami’s characters are bad people. He isn’t an author who places judgement either; he only shows, and what he shows is often highly relatable in a very human way.
A tragedy can serve as a reminder to live the day, to love more, to hold on tighter, as a motivation to connect, to keep on going, sometimes even to regret and reevaluate. In that, yet again, Murakami’s layered characters of ink come alive like true people of flesh. Whether melancholic, realistic, absurd, or emotional, Murakami — as expected of a true master like him — nails the “vibe”.
Dreams crop up as a theme, and by far the best take on it (as well as the star among the six) is Super-Frog Saves Tokyo. Its renown more than well-deserved, it’s a must-read! As it’s best experienced with fresh eyes, I won’t elaborate beyond saying it feels exactly like a Studio Ghibli movie!
A story collection for when you want to go through the feels…
But I’m nothing if not ridiculously self-competitive, and so couldn’t bear the idea of breaking my reading streak. If I had to read something, I decided, it should be familiar waters. There’s no other author whose pen unfailingly comforts my soul than Haruki Murakami.
And so came after the quake from my shelves. Immediately I felt at home with Murakami’s signature tone. This could’ve been easily unfair to him, as I struggled to connect with anything for a good while afterwards; but it also speaks volumes to the marvels of Murakami’s craft that I enjoyed these while reading, and appreciate them all the more now that I’m looking back on the book.
Through the six stories, we’re introduced to the vastly different ways the Great Hanshin earthquake impacts or at the very least finds its way into the thought patterns of the various characters. Murakami never takes us to its centre, never exploits the real trauma experienced by real people. If anything, after the quake is a collage of how the inner and the personal always take precedence, how even the most serious of matters can serve as a backdrop to our own private lives. But I wouldn’t go as far as calling this selfishness: none of Murakami’s characters are bad people. He isn’t an author who places judgement either; he only shows, and what he shows is often highly relatable in a very human way.
A tragedy can serve as a reminder to live the day, to love more, to hold on tighter, as a motivation to connect, to keep on going, sometimes even to regret and reevaluate. In that, yet again, Murakami’s layered characters of ink come alive like true people of flesh. Whether melancholic, realistic, absurd, or emotional, Murakami — as expected of a true master like him — nails the “vibe”.
Dreams crop up as a theme, and by far the best take on it (as well as the star among the six) is Super-Frog Saves Tokyo. Its renown more than well-deserved, it’s a must-read! As it’s best experienced with fresh eyes, I won’t elaborate beyond saying it feels exactly like a Studio Ghibli movie!
A story collection for when you want to go through the feels…
Brynmore (TPB) by Steve Niles
fast-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
Reading another graphic series by IDW for work, I came upon a promotion for Brynmore, and immediately ran to the publisher’s website to see if I could find an ebook. So when I happened upon it on NetGalley, I excitedly jumped on the opportunity.
I don’t know why, but I thought this would be a vampire tale (inclined to say it’s the cover art). Instead it’s a golem story. But that doesn’t matter, because the disappointment stemmed not from the story, but from its execution.
The illustrations (as well as the colouring) were initially gorgeous. Their grain and texture created a feeling of found footage, which immediately set a thrilling atmosphere for the story. Things went downhill immediately after.
Right off the bat, it’s all tell and no show, which is baffling considering graphic novels incorporate literal visuals. Everything moves at an unbelievable pace, preventing all suspense. As such, there is no inner conflict to justify Mark’s alcohol relapse either.
The abruptness extends to the ending as well, which makes the volume feel all the more like the storyboard to build upon rather than the actual story.
It doesn’t help that everyone accepts the emergence of a golem and zombies as perfectly normal, with no disbelief or panic or at least a brief reaction. The rather comical depiction of the action sequence is yet another unfavourable aspect of this graphic novel.
I am sorry to say this should have stayed in the development stage much longer.
[DRC provided by NetGalley and IDW Publishing.]
I don’t know why, but I thought this would be a vampire tale (inclined to say it’s the cover art). Instead it’s a golem story. But that doesn’t matter, because the disappointment stemmed not from the story, but from its execution.
The illustrations (as well as the colouring) were initially gorgeous. Their grain and texture created a feeling of found footage, which immediately set a thrilling atmosphere for the story. Things went downhill immediately after.
Right off the bat, it’s all tell and no show, which is baffling considering graphic novels incorporate literal visuals. Everything moves at an unbelievable pace, preventing all suspense. As such, there is no inner conflict to justify Mark’s alcohol relapse either.
The abruptness extends to the ending as well, which makes the volume feel all the more like the storyboard to build upon rather than the actual story.
It doesn’t help that everyone accepts the emergence of a golem and zombies as perfectly normal, with no disbelief or panic or at least a brief reaction. The rather comical depiction of the action sequence is yet another unfavourable aspect of this graphic novel.
I am sorry to say this should have stayed in the development stage much longer.
[DRC provided by NetGalley and IDW Publishing.]
The Hunger and the Dusk, Vol. 1 by G. Willow Wilson
adventurous
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.0
One of the best things to come out of my work was the opportunity to read the first for issues of The Hunger and the Dusk. By the time I had gone through them with utter excitement and the brilliant feeling of having discovered a story that’s as immersive and captivating, I was hooked and already fretting over how I would read the rest. The thought of waiting for the next two issues was unbearable.
So when I saw this volume available on NetGalley, I again jumped on the opportunity. I was over the moon when I saw my request was approved, and set to read from the very beginning.
My reviews for the first four volumes are up, but to summarise I did love them very much, and had minor complaints for each, sometimes as trivial as them being too fast paced and abrupt. I still stand by my plea for a full length novel of this story, but the 5th and 6th issues left a lot to be desired.
I really love the artwork (top notch dynamism!), but was surprised to see how different the colouring on my phone was from how it appeared on my work computer. The display of my phone being miles better, I assume that’s true to the original — I actually regret that because the computer made the colours duskier, which you can guess felt so much more appropriate for a series thus named!
The storytelling immediately plunges the reader into high fantasy’s favourite times: the troubled, turbulent ones. The characters, very much like us, find themselves in a climate crisis. Losing fertile lands for their oxen to feed upon, orcs move further into human territories; but when the Vangol come back centuries after leaving the lands, clerics organise a meeting for a truce between the old enemies against this new, common, hungry enemy. As part of the treaty, healer orc Tara joins human Cal’s fighting company, which sets up further opportunities to navigate themes like prejudice, cultural differences, (de)humanisation of the Other, the impact of war, and extinction. None of the remarks is deep, but they still add dimension to the sociocultural structure of this universe.
A lot is done right, but a lot is done, if not wrong, with a bit less careful attention and/or conviction. One of the main issues is the timeline — the story is vague about how many days or weeks or months certain things take place, to the point it feels like it’s almost contradictory? and if not, certainly illogical… The second issue/chapter has an ending that really does not make sense considering everything we’re told in the story, and the fifth sees our characters suddenly acting quite juvenile and unfittingly dramatically: characters who previously show reasonable communication skills have a very unconvincingly shallow conflict and decide to burn bridges. And my biggest gripe: how little we learn about the Vangol. After the ending of the fourth issue/chapter that gave us a glimpse into the Vangol sociopolitical structure, I was convinced the later issues would finally reveal more substantial information about them … to my dismay, that didn’t happen, so this entire volume feels like a prologue.
Unfortunately the sixth issue/chapter of the document I was allowed to access lacked all text. It did go to showing how good the illustrations are because I’m pretty sure they already told the entire story that would’ve been told through text, but I still hope this was an error and not intentional. Either way, it did nothing to further the story in any shape or form, so it felt like a filler episode, which is a very questionable decision for such a short volume.
I still would read the second volume whenever it comes out, but I’m less enthused and hyped for it now that I know the first one does not end on a very intriguing point: I wasn’t fed enough crumbs to really crave the rest of the pie, which is a shame, because the first four issues had achieved that!
Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the DRC, maybe I just wasn’t destined to meet my heroes.
So when I saw this volume available on NetGalley, I again jumped on the opportunity. I was over the moon when I saw my request was approved, and set to read from the very beginning.
My reviews for the first four volumes are up, but to summarise I did love them very much, and had minor complaints for each, sometimes as trivial as them being too fast paced and abrupt. I still stand by my plea for a full length novel of this story, but the 5th and 6th issues left a lot to be desired.
I really love the artwork (top notch dynamism!), but was surprised to see how different the colouring on my phone was from how it appeared on my work computer. The display of my phone being miles better, I assume that’s true to the original — I actually regret that because the computer made the colours duskier, which you can guess felt so much more appropriate for a series thus named!
The storytelling immediately plunges the reader into high fantasy’s favourite times: the troubled, turbulent ones. The characters, very much like us, find themselves in a climate crisis. Losing fertile lands for their oxen to feed upon, orcs move further into human territories; but when the Vangol come back centuries after leaving the lands, clerics organise a meeting for a truce between the old enemies against this new, common, hungry enemy. As part of the treaty, healer orc Tara joins human Cal’s fighting company, which sets up further opportunities to navigate themes like prejudice, cultural differences, (de)humanisation of the Other, the impact of war, and extinction. None of the remarks is deep, but they still add dimension to the sociocultural structure of this universe.
A lot is done right, but a lot is done, if not wrong, with a bit less careful attention and/or conviction. One of the main issues is the timeline — the story is vague about how many days or weeks or months certain things take place, to the point it feels like it’s almost contradictory? and if not, certainly illogical… The second issue/chapter has an ending that really does not make sense considering everything we’re told in the story, and the fifth sees our characters suddenly acting quite juvenile and unfittingly dramatically: characters who previously show reasonable communication skills have a very unconvincingly shallow conflict and decide to burn bridges. And my biggest gripe: how little we learn about the Vangol. After the ending of the fourth issue/chapter that gave us a glimpse into the Vangol sociopolitical structure, I was convinced the later issues would finally reveal more substantial information about them … to my dismay, that didn’t happen, so this entire volume feels like a prologue.
Unfortunately the sixth issue/chapter of the document I was allowed to access lacked all text. It did go to showing how good the illustrations are because I’m pretty sure they already told the entire story that would’ve been told through text, but I still hope this was an error and not intentional. Either way, it did nothing to further the story in any shape or form, so it felt like a filler episode, which is a very questionable decision for such a short volume.
I still would read the second volume whenever it comes out, but I’m less enthused and hyped for it now that I know the first one does not end on a very intriguing point: I wasn’t fed enough crumbs to really crave the rest of the pie, which is a shame, because the first four issues had achieved that!
Thank you to NetGalley and IDW Publishing for the DRC, maybe I just wasn’t destined to meet my heroes.
Women in the Middle Ages: The Lives of Real Women in a Vibrant Age of Transition by Frances Gies, Joseph Gies
informative
slow-paced
3.0
This is a book I wish I did not read in a very short timespan before it was taken off Everand, because every line brims with information. That is of course the dream for a nonfiction book, but it can also become overwhelming and tiring when you do what I had to.
I’ll get the bad out of the way: After the second chapter of the second part, the material becomes far less interesting and the presentation much more chaotic. The writing becomes overdrawn when it could have been so much more concise, and the previous organisation of the initial chapters is swapped with a messy, looping, repetitive format that could have used a lot more editing. These chapters were thus gruelling to read, especially after the initial magic…
Because at first this book was profoundly enjoyable to read, not to mention so touching the way it got you to witness the vivid tapestry of medieval life. The chapter on Blanche of Castile was nothing short of exquisite! The material was thrilling to learn, and the writing was so absorbing that by the end of the chapter, I was actually crying at Blanche’s death. That is a feat to accomplish for a nonfiction book! Being able to present that much information in a manner that historical fiction often fails to do is truly remarkable. I just wish this extended to the entirety of the book!
Either way, this is an indispensable resource — not only for those interested in the Middle Ages, but maybe even more so for those who are not. I saw some shockingly ignorant takes on how Romans and then Christians ruined everything for women, which were clearly based in a complete delusion about historical facts. Because as you will see in this book, pagan and tribal societies were not gender equality havens, while the Roman Empire granted unprecedented rights to women, and Christianity sometimes provided a step up for women from their conditions in pagan communities. Add to these takes the overall Enlightenment propaganda against the Middle Ages that is served and gobbled up at every turn, I would even say we’re in dire need of reliable, well-researched, factual sources on the medieval period.
I will happily pick up other books by the Gies, which I hopefully will be able to read at a much more leisurely pace.
I’ll get the bad out of the way: After the second chapter of the second part, the material becomes far less interesting and the presentation much more chaotic. The writing becomes overdrawn when it could have been so much more concise, and the previous organisation of the initial chapters is swapped with a messy, looping, repetitive format that could have used a lot more editing. These chapters were thus gruelling to read, especially after the initial magic…
Because at first this book was profoundly enjoyable to read, not to mention so touching the way it got you to witness the vivid tapestry of medieval life. The chapter on Blanche of Castile was nothing short of exquisite! The material was thrilling to learn, and the writing was so absorbing that by the end of the chapter, I was actually crying at Blanche’s death. That is a feat to accomplish for a nonfiction book! Being able to present that much information in a manner that historical fiction often fails to do is truly remarkable. I just wish this extended to the entirety of the book!
Either way, this is an indispensable resource — not only for those interested in the Middle Ages, but maybe even more so for those who are not. I saw some shockingly ignorant takes on how Romans and then Christians ruined everything for women, which were clearly based in a complete delusion about historical facts. Because as you will see in this book, pagan and tribal societies were not gender equality havens, while the Roman Empire granted unprecedented rights to women, and Christianity sometimes provided a step up for women from their conditions in pagan communities. Add to these takes the overall Enlightenment propaganda against the Middle Ages that is served and gobbled up at every turn, I would even say we’re in dire need of reliable, well-researched, factual sources on the medieval period.
I will happily pick up other books by the Gies, which I hopefully will be able to read at a much more leisurely pace.
The Poetry of Sex by Sophie Hannah
emotional
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
2.0
Call me old-fashioned, but I believe a certain thought process should be put into the selection of anthologies beyond “these are what I wanted to put together,” because such an approach is both incredibly lazy, and a tangible proof of inadequacy for the task at hand.
In her introduction (in which she goes on and on and on about Daniel Craig for literally a whole page! because there are in fact two poems about him in this book! and neither are remotely good!) Sophie Hannah expresses her belief this could be the “raunchiest anthology” of its year of publication. So you wouldn’t be amiss in thinking these poems would be raunchy, right?
Well, it might be crazy what I’m about to say, but you would be, actually! For the most part, the poems gave nothing close to erotic/salacious sex. For reference, there were only one poem each by Catullus and Cummings — THE two names you would think of when it comes to “raunchy, sexual”. And there were in fact several times the same poets appeared (which again I think is a bit lazy, ngl) so I have no clue why that choice excluded them.
Speaking of lazy choices, there were some incredibly long poems (they were not at all fine examples of poetry either) that went on for far too many pages, several other poems could have been included in their place. Considering their very mid quality, it seems like they were chosen specifically to take up space, because Sophie Hannah seems to have been struggling with finding poems for this book already.
But I’m nothing if not honest. While there were some quite terrible poems, there were others I got to discover through this anthology that I really liked! In fact, I bought another copy as a gift because I know my friend will have even more fun reading those than I did!
Alas, circling back to the introduction… it’s the main reason I changed my rating from the intended 3 stars to the 2 here. Sophie Hannah had such a cringy millennial tone, I was already dead set on never reading anything by her. But no, she couldn’t have that! She had to go ahead and insert one of her own poems in an anthology she was editing, because that doesn’t seem like cheap self-promo at all! So yeah, this is a cringe-based review. The entire content list is on the Google Books preview, so if you can find them online or through libraries, I’m going to recommend you to go that route.
Oh and one last note: the selected translation for Ovid sounded horrendously modern. Why not choose a better translation?
In her introduction (in which she goes on and on and on about Daniel Craig for literally a whole page! because there are in fact two poems about him in this book! and neither are remotely good!) Sophie Hannah expresses her belief this could be the “raunchiest anthology” of its year of publication. So you wouldn’t be amiss in thinking these poems would be raunchy, right?
Well, it might be crazy what I’m about to say, but you would be, actually! For the most part, the poems gave nothing close to erotic/salacious sex. For reference, there were only one poem each by Catullus and Cummings — THE two names you would think of when it comes to “raunchy, sexual”. And there were in fact several times the same poets appeared (which again I think is a bit lazy, ngl) so I have no clue why that choice excluded them.
Speaking of lazy choices, there were some incredibly long poems (they were not at all fine examples of poetry either) that went on for far too many pages, several other poems could have been included in their place. Considering their very mid quality, it seems like they were chosen specifically to take up space, because Sophie Hannah seems to have been struggling with finding poems for this book already.
But I’m nothing if not honest. While there were some quite terrible poems, there were others I got to discover through this anthology that I really liked! In fact, I bought another copy as a gift because I know my friend will have even more fun reading those than I did!
Alas, circling back to the introduction… it’s the main reason I changed my rating from the intended 3 stars to the 2 here. Sophie Hannah had such a cringy millennial tone, I was already dead set on never reading anything by her. But no, she couldn’t have that! She had to go ahead and insert one of her own poems in an anthology she was editing, because that doesn’t seem like cheap self-promo at all! So yeah, this is a cringe-based review. The entire content list is on the Google Books preview, so if you can find them online or through libraries, I’m going to recommend you to go that route.
Oh and one last note: the selected translation for Ovid sounded horrendously modern. Why not choose a better translation?
Nadas Yılkı Aheste by İlhan Durusel
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
0.25
Hayatım boyunca okuduğum en kötü kitaplardan biriydi. O kadar ki bitmek bilmedi, öfkeden kitabı yumruğumda sıkmamak için kendimi zor tuttum. Büsbütün anlamsız rastgele cümleler art arda sıralanmış, sözde dil ile ilgili yaptığı tek şey de avam yazım hataları. Bir de bunca para döküldüğünüz kitapta bir tam sayfa boyunca Orhan Gencebay’ın Vikipedi’den kopyalanmış filmografisi var, harikulade bir özen ve edebiyat örneği (!)
As kingfishers catch fire by Gerard Manley Hopkins
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
2.0
I love Transcendentalism and religious poetry, so I fully expected to love Hopkins’s poems. That wasn’t exactly the case: while his love for nature and finding God in it come close to a transcendental stance, I found his use of language to be a bit too modern — to the point it sometimes felt like reading Tender Buttons! Yes, that makes him way ahead of his time, but also means it was far from my very specific tastes in poetry.
My biggest gripe with this small selection from Penguin’s Little Black Classics collection is its randomness, especially in the selection of Hopkins’s prose. It felt lazy, as if not much thought or care went into the planning of this small edition. My rating reflects more on the edition itself than the contents, as I think I should read the full collection these came from before commenting on the latter.
My biggest gripe with this small selection from Penguin’s Little Black Classics collection is its randomness, especially in the selection of Hopkins’s prose. It felt lazy, as if not much thought or care went into the planning of this small edition. My rating reflects more on the edition itself than the contents, as I think I should read the full collection these came from before commenting on the latter.
But also, fucking hell we direly need to enforce IQ tests before allowing people to read, because I went through the reviews out of curiosity and what????? do you mean “Old English”?!?! This was written in the 19th century, not the 9th… R.I.P. to the education system, you will be sorely missed.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures, Vol. 1 by Erik Burnham
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
Cowabunga dudes, the turtles are back! (And after all these years I’m still confused why the inventor is Donatello and not Leonardo lol)
Not that they’ve been gone anywhere, so maybe let me rephrase: the cartoon of our childhood (such an old person thing to say, I know) comes alive again within the pages of this volume of four brand new stories, illustrated in that same style we grew up with.
Each and every single one of the stories is solid in plot and truly funny. The pacing is reminiscent of the original cartoon (and maybe the Nickelodeon one, I wouldn’t know) in that while it’s action-packed, each story also gives space for the turtles’ puns and one-liners as well, allowing for their personalities and dynamics to unfold.
The strength of the visuals is undeniable: you genuinely feel like you’ve just watched an episode! Anyone who was a fan way back when will have fun (and feel the lovely warmth of nostalgia) sitting down this volume (and preferably, a pizza — you know the deal).
Not that they’ve been gone anywhere, so maybe let me rephrase: the cartoon of our childhood (such an old person thing to say, I know) comes alive again within the pages of this volume of four brand new stories, illustrated in that same style we grew up with.
Each and every single one of the stories is solid in plot and truly funny. The pacing is reminiscent of the original cartoon (and maybe the Nickelodeon one, I wouldn’t know) in that while it’s action-packed, each story also gives space for the turtles’ puns and one-liners as well, allowing for their personalities and dynamics to unfold.
The strength of the visuals is undeniable: you genuinely feel like you’ve just watched an episode! Anyone who was a fan way back when will have fun (and feel the lovely warmth of nostalgia) sitting down this volume (and preferably, a pizza — you know the deal).
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.