Lapvona is awesome, what's everyone so mad about?

Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh is just a very good book about the abuse of women, the working class, and the planet, and it is making some people very upset.

*****

[WillowTalksBooks]

IMPORTANT: After filming this video, I read this Vulture article which did change my opinion on Moshfegh a bit. She seems to imply that all the feminist and socialist themes which I read into in Lapvona were not intentional. It's a curious article that paints her in an unlikeable light and did make me feel a little more sympathetic towards the people who hate this book. It's definitely worth a read!

[obryana]

I always find it interesting that people can be up in arms about the cruelty portrayed in a book and not the real life cruelty it's based on.

[alipurplesticks]

These are my thoughts only two minutes in but I am SO HAPPY you enjoyed this book!! Lapvona was also my first Moshfegh, I received an arc of it and immediately fell in love. I have now read almost every book of hers and every article/ story she's ever written that I was able to find on the internet. I ended up purchasing the finished copy of Lapvona about a month and a half after my first read and immediately started rereading and annotating this masterpiece. I absolutely adore her writing and books and I am quite ignorant when it comes to who the person behind their words/ stories truly are. After reading your article I was a tad bit shellshocked to say the least, but thank you for providing, yet again, another wonderful review and some extra information <3 Truly out of all of the creators on this app, I have never seen someone engage so much with their audience and provide such beautiful thoughts everytime <333

[marycronin]

I’m so happy to find this, after seeing mainly bad reviews I almost didn’t read it, but I loved it and see some scary realistic similarities to our world that are honestly not that exaggerated.

I need to check out the interview you mention in your comments, however I don’t think a book has to mean anything & I don’t think it makes anyone bad to not hit the marks we may believe it needs to.

I’m glad I found your channel 💙

[kiri]

I think many people hate on it due to the fact it alludes heavily to a specific plotline in the first half then continues documenting the characters lives until the very end, and I think a lot of these people need to shift their perspective on the book, like mine shifted halfway through the autumn chapter. A lot of characters became metaphors rather than physical assets, such as Jacob with virtuousness and idealistic royalty as one part of the concept of lordship with villiam being the rest as selfish tyranny. Its “the meaning is up to the reader” without it being a massive cop out which I thoroughly enjoy

[lupitasanchez]

Totally agree with the way is written or meant to be read. The way it traps you but in a distant place and yet makes you keep reading and reading further more.

[Feminazidc]

after hearing the way you speak about women, i absolutely love you. & whether the novel was meant to portray these themes or not, its art, its like music, we should be able to determine what is means to us specifically.

[Computra]

My guess is the reviewers who have clutched their pearls are hiding a very evil side to their personality and this struck a deep accord with them.

[cosmicfox]

I’ve let the pearl clutchers influence my decision to purchase this book for far too long. Thank you for this in-depth review, Willow. I really enjoyed listening. And I’ve subscribed to your channel. Nice to meet you 😊

[tobi_adediran]

A gothic, socialist book with unlikeable characters, fantastical elements and body horror. Sounds like a bit of me!!🙌🏾😂

[millieil]

Read it in one day. Not sure how I feel about it. It was definitely readable. Thanks for your review!

[carowolff]

It's so interesting to hear your opinions on Lapvona! I personally hated it for the same reasons that you loved it: the simplistic prose, the distance the reader has from the characters, and how the themes are portrayed. On paper it sounds like everything I love in stories, but found myself disappointed by the lack-luster portrayal of exploitation, gender inequality, sexual abuse, religious belief, animality etc. It just said things I already knew of.
The one note I agree on is how strange it is to see people clutching their pearls over the cruelty and gore in the novel. There's nothing wrong with depicting disgusting acts if it serves a point or evokes an emotion, the latter in which Lapvona succeeds in.
Lovely review!

[ipshitajee]

I really love how you approach on literature and how you express your takes on books.
Especially when the book is considered/labeled by people as too dark or grotesque, but in my view I find these books to be another part of society and human personality that people don't talk as much, yes it's brutal, yes it's awful but so is the society that we live in.
Absolutely love your reviews 🙌

P.s- I would love to see your video recommendation on this 'type' of books (or punk and claustrophobic litrature by womens )🥺

[mftgreen]

Moshfegh is BRILLIANT and INIMITABLE! Cannot wait to read this! Thank you!

[melsyerdad]

I loved this analysis of Lapvona. your ideas are very complex and I didn't even think about some of the things you touched on

[sesemmychicken]

hi I just finished this book, and I’m glad I found this video. I liked the book but I didn’t know how to really understand or put together some of the pieces on my own, and I was put down by a lot of the negative reviews I was seeing. While I was thrown for a loop on some of the elements, I couldn’t put the book down and wanted to know more. I really appreciate your analysis and for talking about some of the themes in the book that I was unable to pick up on. Great video and I think I’ll check out more!

[CestKevvie]

Ottessa Moshfegh is a master at unlikeable characters. The protagonist in My Year of Rest and Relaxation is awful! It's such a great book.and even though I was disappointed with the ending when I first read it, upon reflection that final image and the character's thoughts are a perfect, haunting way to wrap up the story. I was indifferent towards reading Lopvana, but describing it as an entertaining communist manifesto is an excellent way to sell me *any* book. Definitely interested in reading it now!

[AbsurdExistentialist]

I've heard so much about this book and this author as of recent! Can't wait for your next review on this author!

[prove_it]

I love your reactions- I have similar reactions often to people offened by anything out of the ordinary, no matter how relevant or sensible it might be. I hear you! Just borrowed this book from the library!

[thedarkestreads]

Hmm I highly disagree with your evaluation of socialist themes in the novel. Maybe it’s because I’ve read more of her work but it reads as right wing libertarianism. The novel is very childish in a lot of ways, it feels like a high schooler has just found out about inequity and has begun parroting ring wingers on youtube. The characters are very hallow and I think that Ottessa Moshfegh is very concerned with spectacle without having much to discuss beyond a surface level understanding of what she brings up. Ottessa Moshfegh as a person is very first and foremost concerned with trying to make the reader squirm and it leaves her narratives very dry. Her writing and provocation are what keeps her around I feel like, because she is a good writer just one with no cause and it hinders her work a lot. In My Year of Rest and Relaxation the narratives discussion of depression is phenomenal, but then every so often it delves into “satire” to make fairly juvenile observations on racism and fatphobia and antisemitism. Something similar happens in her short stories Homesick For Another World. The worst of them all is her debut novella McGlue, where she has her main character utter the words fag and faggot nearly 100 times while completely ignoring that fag wasn’t even a word to be used in that distinction in the time period the novel is set. It’s an interesting portrayal of alcoholism, yet an abysmal look into homophobia and religion, she has no stake in getting these things well told because her heart is in the idea of “well why CANT i say what i want” rather than actually putting meaning behind her words.