So I’ve never read a book from this writer, and I don’t know what to expect. I’ve heard that it can get pretty dark, which I don’t mind. My fav books are all about darker subjects anyway (Phantom of the Opera, Frankenstein, Picture of Dorian Gray, these are some of my favs)
The only thing worrying me a bit is the body horror tag in the trigger warnings. I’m not the best with body horror in general, and I’m not sure how bad it’s gonna get. I can handle quite a bit of it, especially if the material’s so good it’s worth it, but I’m afraid it’ll be too much and scar me for life.
Can anybody tell me how it was, if it’s good read, what did they think of it, and if they recommend it? I’d greatly appreciate that!
by _neolania
3 Comments
I like Ottessa Moshfegh, but her books are different. For one thing, every single book lacks any character that you can like or root for, everyone is horrible. In “My year of rest and relaxation” and “Lapvona” there’s not even any real plot, things happen and then the book ends. Given what you said about body horror – I would not recommend “Lapvona” – there are lot of disgusting themes. I’d suggest you try a different book, maybe “Eileen” (or “Death in Her Hands”) would be a better fit for you if you want to try this author but don’t want graphic descriptions of things would would repulse most people. The two books I mentioned still have some darker material, but it’s not quite as explicit or extreme as in “Lapvona”.
Some things in “Lapvona” (non-exhaustive list of body horror):
>!cannibalism, keeping a corpse in a room, removing and replacing eyes, rape!<
If you’re open to recommendations, based on some of the things you said you enjoyed, I think you might like one of my favorite books, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” by Shirley Jackson.
If you’re measuring based on your list of favorites, then this is going to be WAY more extreme than your used to.
I just finished this book last week! I feel like for me the disturbing-ness of it was a little overrated online, and I also feel pretty grossed out by body horror even though I’m a horror fan in general. Like there was a part in Eileen by the same author that I found way more disturbing than anything that happened in Lapvona. However, if you don’t want to read about sexual violence or really nasty bodily functions, it may be best for you to skip this one. Honestly, I didn’t love it as much as I wanted to and I’m a huge fan of Moshfegh’s work.