Lapvona Audiobook By Ottessa Moshfegh cover art

Lapvona

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Brought to you by Penguin.

In the land of Lapvona, the lord of the land Villiam is cheating the local villagers of their food, their water, their livelihoods. Grotesque and ridiculous, he marries the pregnant and tongueless ex-nun Agata, whom he believes will make him God, and his son will be the second Christ.

It's a land of murder, cannibalism, incest and rape. Despite all of the characters' individual inadequacies and madness, you find yourself completely engrossed in each character's fate, be it Marek, Jude, Agata, Villiam, Lispeth, Ina, Father Barnabas. It's an anti-fairytale within a fairytale - maybe this is what hell on earth looks like? Is it an indictment of humanity, of religion, of grotesque despots?

An original work of brilliance - singular, funny, horrifying and entertaining in equal measure.

© Ottessa Moshfegh 2022 (P) Penguin Audio 2022

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Critic reviews

Compelling... Moshfegh's bold venture beyond her comfort zone in Lapvona is a welcome promise of how much more she has to offer American literature today.
What impresses here is not so much Moshfegh's abilities with character or narrative, or even her language . . . as the qualities Lapvona shares with a Francis Bacon painting: depicting in blood-red vitality, without morals or judgment, the human animal in its native chaos.
Moshfegh expertly creates a world with its own superstitions and laws, both timeless and topical.
Moshfegh's genius is her ability to rip away the veil, revealing the horrors beneath, in writing so compelling, and bleakly funny, that we can't bear to look away.
A witty, vicious novel.. . Moshfegh is one of our most thrilling chroniclers of the abject
Booker-shortlisted Ottessa Moshfegh is likely to out-weird most things published next year - set in a medieval fiefdom, could it be a work of genius, too? (Stephanie Cross)
Deliriously quirky medieval tale . . . Moshfegh brings her trademark fascination with the grotesque to depictions of the pandemic, inequality, and governmental corruption, making them feel both uncanny and all too familiar. It's a triumph.
[A] truly unique novel.
Moshfegh writes brilliantly bizarre. Her arresting fourth novel continues this tradition.
Despite its medieval milieu, Lapvona is a quintessential Moshfegh book. It has the warped earthiness of the author's first two novels... [and] a powerful undercurrent of allegory.
All stars
Most relevant
The reviews over at Goodreads tell you that this book is disgusting and horrifying, even gag inducing. I don't know what these people have been reading because that isn't my impression. It certainly isn't PG by any means, but I didn't feel horrified or even close to vomiting. It has a "Game of Thrones" feel to it. Which I quite enjoyed. It also is not for someone that holds their faith in a god dear, because this book lays open the hypocrisy of religious leaders. The prose is lyrical, the narrator does a fine job. The "grape scene" is revolting but shows the disparity of power and how people accept their "station in life". I enjoyed this book and would recommend it to most of my friends.

I liked it

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Very interesting read to think about late capitalism and what it does to humans. Almost everyone in Lapvona is both a perpetrator and a victim of horrible crimes, but they are unable to change the way the system works.

Savage allegory

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