Having read My Year of Rest and Relaxation, I expected some of the same here. I did NOT get what I expected! This is set in a semi-medieval time period of cruel overlords and famine, with audacities and appalling behavior on every page. I almost DNF'd after 25 pages or so but something kept me reading... all the way to the end. Was there ever to be redemption for these awful characters? In this world that Moshfegh has created, you feel the ones who don't make it are the lucky ones. I read that this was her COVID novel, written in isolation, so some of that makes sense with what's on these pages. Read if you dare! Thank you to @netgalley and Penguin Press for the ARC copy of this book.

I’m a big fan of Otessa Moshfegh’s work, so was really excited to get an advance copy of this to review. This book is unlike anything she’s written before - set in a (fictional) medieval fiefdom, the writing is graphic, scathing and at times utterly vicious, shot through with some excellently observed moments of black comedy.

Written during one of the many covid lockdowns of the past couple of years, the book reflects the sense of claustrophobia, uncertainty, corruption and death. It could also be viewed as a comment on climate change and the corruption of people in power. Although it’s set in an unspecified historical period, it felt to me more like historical fantasy - the character of Ina in particular crossed the blurred lines between reality and fantasy, with her ability to understand bird song, her seeming agelessness, and her sight being restored by the eyes of a horse.

I’ve only given this four, rather than five, stars because I’m still unsure about how I feel about the characters. They were enigmatically and sharply written, but were often so repulsive that I struggled to care about what happened to them. However, the world Moshfegh has created was so absorbing and unique, with such beautifully crafted, almost biblical, writing that it deserves nothing less than a solid 4/5.

Another unique original novel by Ottessa Moshfegh .This novel leans more to fantasy but like her previous novels her outstanding prose drew me in.I will be recommending this novel as I do with her others.#netgalley #knopfdoubleday

3.5 stars

Ottessa Moshfegh’s newest book strays from her past stories into the territory bordering fantasy. However, this is still the same Moshfegh writing we all know and love. I definitely prefer her slice of life contemporaries to this, but Lapvona is still enjoyable. The story felt a little lackluster at times, but the overall themes of religion and power were really well done. I’d definitely recommend this particularly to those who’ve already read Moshfegh’s work.

I was thrilled to see Ottessa coming out with a new book, and I'm honored that Edelweiss let me read this piece early. Though Ottessa's most well known work tends to lean towards unhinged women, this book followed an abused young boy and his journey through one year of finding riches and a new environment. There were some parts of this book that actually repulsed me in the best way possible and I find myself still thinking about daily. The writing wasn't too descriptive that it was distracting or boring to read, but written well enough that things were easy to picture. I personally found there to be one too many characters in the book to follow, though each of them did have an unlikeable quality that added to the joy of reading this. I would absolutely recommend this to anyone who likes Ottessa's past work, and I'm looking forward to this being released to see other's opinions on this book. Out of 10 stars, I would give this 9. Great work, Ottessa!

Ottessa Moshfegh is supposed to be a new upcoming genius in American letters nowadays?? OK.....But.....

Lapvona is frankly one of the biggest flop I have ever read in my life.

I simply couldn't make heads or tails of this weird and really totally bizarre story.

Disturbing and quite frankly after 2 years of confinement and Covid related stress who needs to read such a dark and sinister dirge.
I'm sorry but it's was definitely not for me. I will definitely try to forget it...

Many thanks to Netgalley and Penguin for this very depressing ARC

I am conflicted about Lapvona.

The prose was beautiful and the writing skilled enough to pull me through, but I felt deeply dissastified at the end. As a horror fan, I have encountered my fair share of the grotesque and the brutal. But I rarely enjoy gore and depravity for the shock alone. There were too many themes hinted at and left unexplored in the way I wanted. Too many times I asked myself "what was the point of that?" or "how did that add value to the telling of this character's story?"

I kept hoping for the deeper messages that seemed to be promised, and felt cheated when the storytelling passed over them. I thoroughly disliked every character and there seemed to be no growth or change possible for any of them. It was like reading a dark and brooding fairytale that had no overarching message about morality other than that human beings are inherently terrible and alone. It is not a spoiler to say that the end was not a surprise for me and that because of that predictability, I didn't understand the point of the story as a whole.

Did Moshfegh successfully create tension in an interesting setting? Absolutely. Was the writing excellent? Again, yes. Was this book for me? No. I do think that this book will appeal to fans of the author's other works who enjoy her writing style, as well as those who like experimental storytelling.

Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Group for the ARC.

Thanks to Penguin Press and NetGalley for letting me review an ARC of this upcoming release!

I have heard amazing things about Ottessa Moshfegh for years but had never got around to trying her work so when I saw this cover come up in my NetGalley feed, a deceptively sweet yet strangely unnerving image of a bound lamb, I knew this book would be the one where I finally took the plunge, and I am so glad I did.

Valpona is a novel that explores complex themes such as the individual relationships people have with their God(s) and how these relationships can be built on delusion, while it also touches on themes of power, corruption, and the stupidity of man. I suggest not expecting the description of this novel to do it justice - it paints this as a more supernatural work of fiction when in reality it is a perverse and oftentimes disgusting comedy, with characters that are in no way likable but yet are infinitely fascinating.

Highly recommended.

Wow, where do I even begin? First, I'd like to say that the only other novel that I've read by Moshfegh is My Year of Rest and Relaxation, which I really enjoyed. I was in genuine awe at her ability to keep me captivated by a story where the only thing the main character did was sleep for days on end. I had no idea what to expect with Lapvona. All I knew about the story was that it took place during the late Medieval ages. So, yes, that was true. It's also about a village ruled under a fiefdom. The book contains an array of characters that are written so well it's uncanny. Moshfegh also has a way of writing that is fresh and surprising. I can't count the number of times that an event or scene happened so suddenly that I literally gasped in surprise. The way that the plot unfolds and the DRAMATIC IRONY (dramatic irony abound!) is handled is masterful. I genuinely believe that Moshfegh is one of the best writers writing today. Also, that cover is gorgeous!

Idk how I feel about liking this book as much as I did. I am usually (but not always) a fan of Moshfeg’s work, and this is by far the bleakest, most stomach-churning book of hers I’ve read. It’s also unique and immersive, despite being incredibly slow paced. Lots of fucked up characters doing disgusting things in a medieval village plagued by misfortune doesn’t sound like my typical kind of book but what can I say, her writing is just that good.

I can't ever decide if I adore Ottessa Moshfegh, or just don't get her work. As per usual, I'm very haunted and in awe of Lapvona - but feel that I may be missing some bigger picture out there.

Medieval horror lite with some lovely prose in service to a cast of amusing if ham-handed caricatures. I found some themes and metaphors pretty corny though there is a sense of intention and humor around those aspects. I blew through this story but ultimately it left me empty.

there is no doubt that ottessa moshfegh is talented in writing the grotesque, and lapvona further proves so.

foregoing her usual contemporary setting, this book manages to highlight moshfegh's skill in worldbuilding. lapvona feels like a breathing character itself, with traits that drastically affect the lives of the other characters. essentially moshfegh's pandemic novel, lapvona's medieval setting with its drought, starvation, and rampant corruption reflects our current state. faith and religion hang in the air like a haunting presence, and moshfegh uses it to weave the course of her characters lives. she doesn't paint it black and white; rather, as she always does, she shows the complexities. the beauty in the hideous, the monstrosity in the goodness. lapvona is a blatant commentary on humanity — how we are essentially our own gods with the ways we bring life to religion.

and yet, with all the rapes, tit sucking, butthole sniffing, cannibalism, and the queasy descriptions of smells, lapvona feels inconsequential.

while i think it successfully fulfills the goal it set out to achieve, its prominent themes seem too surface level for a book that does so much. people are cruel, society is a human construct based on corruption. religion isn't necessarily evil, it's the believers that are the issue. it's basically everything that a modern individual is already aware of. lapvona is unnerving, made me squirm and lose my appetite a few times, but the end result is merely average and that's a huge disappointment.

My introduction to the author, Lapvona is unlike anything else I've read in recent memory. It's an ugly, horrible book, and if I wasn't so in awe of it, perhaps it wouldn't pain me as much as it does that I won't be able to recommend it to anyone I know.

Lapvona is a small, medieval town whose residents would mostly, apparently, rather make themselves suffer than help others or reckon with the fact that they're being awfully exploited by a crass, juvenile lord and the charlatan priest, whose manor sits atop the village on a hill, looking down on it from a distance. Marek, an unattractive, disfigured son of a mother who it is believed has died, walks around (usually bloodied from a beating by his father, the village's herder who shows only tenderness to his sheep) looking for pity and mothering, the latter of which he only receives from a formerly-exiled elderly blind woman named Ina, whose breasts have fed and continue to feed much of the village, age be damned. Shall I mention that the birds speak to her? Eventually, Marek ends up in a wildly different position from which he starts off, and the village experiences a deadly drought and famine. The story escalates from here as conditions grow ever more dire, with the residents responding in kind; crises of faith, fleshy eats, ass-grapes, all ensue.

The story is not for the faint of heart: along with all the creativity and surrealism of the story comes some explicit, troubling imagery. I found myself dreading picking up the book each night, only to invariably become completely immersed (for better or worse) after mere seconds of reading. But it IS violent, repulsively gross; it is unabashed in its view of human nature, especially during hard times, which makes sense given the inspiration of the pandemic.

All in all, I likely won't forget this one for a very long time, if ever. At times I felt myself thinking that it was like a horrific fever dream-saturated Game of Thrones meets The Master and Margarita. It won't work for everyone, but for me, I'm off to buy every single Ottessa Moshfegh book out there. Hot damn.

The phrase "exquisite torture" could have been invented with Mossfegh in mind. Lapvona is at once grotesque, mesmerising, abhorrent and very funny.
The ostensible hero is Marek, abused son of the shepherd in a medieval village, who is both physically and emotionally deformed. Far from being a pitiable character however, his warped sensibilities leave the reader disgusted from the outset. And then, unfortunately, he becomes enmeshed in the lives of the local lord, the priest, and the village midwife, to nobody's benefit.
Religion appears to be a major theme in the novel, yet the priest is an incompetent who cannot even remember the most basic narratives of Christianity; the villagers blindly accept a belief system even in the absence of a church or a liturgy; and the servants in the castle meet by night to receive a communion of cabbage.
The nature of power is also explored, as the lord lives in great luxury at the expense of the peasants, even when they are in the throes of a punishing famine. But when events make it clear how badly he abuses them, most of the villagers refuse to see the reality, preferring the comfort of pretence and display.
The depictions of sexuality, motherhood and the treatment of women is particularly brutal and disturbing, from Jude's continued rape of Marek's mother, to Ina's extraction of power via her breastfeeding, but then every one of the characters is gross in one way or another, and their debasement of sex is just one of a multitude of ways in which they harm themselves and others.
Ultimately, this novel is a very discouraging meditation on human nature. The lack of logical decision-making or general understanding on behalf of the different characters is greatly exacerbated by their own mean-spiritedness, and their suffering teaches them no empathy or kindness, surely a damning indictment of our own society.
I usually only give one 5-star rating per year (and in 2021, none managed it), but Mossfegh has hit the bullseye with this horrible yet compelling fable; Lapvona will haunt me for many years to come.
My thanks to Netgalley for the ARC of this book.

*Content Warning: Sexual Assault*


Ottessa Moshfegh's newest work is not for the faint of heart... or the queasy. This piece chronicles a cast of unlikable characters throughout a year in Lapvona. These characters, driven by their own sense of god and greed take us on a grotesque journey through not only drought and famine but cannibalism, rape, and general gnarly bodily gore.

My critique of this novel is that I found these characters to be more so caricatures of symbolic figures throughout christianity and various classic literature of the time period. I felt, overall, that they were not fully fleshed out, unlike the characters in her more previous works. The writing of the story, particularly the first half, was like this happened and then this happens and then that happens rather than taking us through the scenes themselves. This made the first half of the book feel rushed. The second half however was more visceral and I had a lot of fun reading the scenes that were rich in dialogue where the shock value wasn't so much of a gimc.

It is a Moshfegh at the end of the day and if you are a fan of her outlandish novels you will too enjoy this one. I found myself laughing and gagging and having fun with the text through the end. This one isn't my favorite out of repertoire, maybe the references went over my head a bit, however it was an anxiety ridden romp.

Thank you to PENGUIN GROUP and NetGalley for the digital ARC
Pubishied: 21 Jun 2022

[author:Ottessa Moshfegh|3276202][book:Lapvona|57823102]

I have no clue what to rate this novel in terms of ‘stars’. This novel is the most grotesque and vulgar thing I’ve ever consumed, but of course I think that was the purpose. I couldn’t put it down and I was fully engrossed in this story. This is a story about a boy named Marek. He’s deformed and constantly wallowing in self-pity. He wants everyone to feel sorry for him, but no one does. Not a single character in this entire novel feels any sort of pity towards the boy. They are mainly repulsed by him. This fiefdom they all live in is full of secrets and the central religious theme is constant throughout the novel. It’s incredibly difficult to wrap my mind around what I’ve just read. I think I’ve decided on 4 stars because if I rate it 5 stars, I’m afraid I’ll be sent away to my local psychiatric facility.

First I would like to give a huge thanks to The Penguin Press for sending me an ARC of this book!

Moshfegh has always been a hit-or-miss author for me and this was a total hit. It’s not often that your most anticipated read for a year matches or exceeds your expectations, but in this case, Lapvona BLEW ME AWAY. The writing is beautiful but blunt. The harsh nature of this story really shines through Moshfegh’s prose, allowing for it to not seem gratuitous. This is definitely a must-read for the year.

I know Ottessa Moshfegh has a huge following - and I myself have read all of her books. But book after book of hers, I find myself wavering between repulsion and fascination. I thought this novel was gross. I thought it was unnecessarily gross, even - but that's also how I felt about Eileen. Even while scrunching my nose and scoffing, I couldn't help but finish it. Gross? sure. Engrossing? yeah, that too. I'm not sure this is one I will hand sell, but I am confident it will find its audience.