By Julz Levesque | Arts & Culture Editor
During the summer I had an office job that offered hours upon hours of downtime. With nothing to do and all of my organizational work finished for the day I started to get rather bored. After staring at a computer screen all day the last thing I wanted to do was look at a tinier screen, so naturally I began bringing books to read. Afterall I needed to catch up on my annual Goodreads goal and in my mind I thought I was being somewhat productive rather than slacking off. There I was at my little desk cramped under the stairs, binders stacked on my desk for next day’s work and a book in my hand. I didn’t think I’d actually get through any. I felt I haven’t read a book outside of school in ages. It was difficult at first, I kept having to reread the same sentences over and over and I’d get frustrated with how distracted I could become from a voice down the hall or even the sound of the printer. I was hopeless and disappointed that I was so bad at doing something I once avidly loved. After completing my first book I felt accomplished, after my second it felt easier. Then, I revisited a book I started three years prior by the author Ottessa Moshfegh and finished it in just a few days. I was eager for more of her work. Out of the three books I read over the summer by her one of them stood out more than the others and that was Lapvona.
Lapvona (2022) is Moshfegh’s most recent work and I’d say her most dynamic and strongest one yet. The first book I read by her was Eileen (2015) just a couple years ago and everything from that story stuck with me. It was hitchcockian in suspense and entirely compelling. McGlue (2014) was a terrific novella written by Moshfegh that I swore nothing else by her could beat it but lo and behold Lapvona outshined them both. Moshfegh’s work is dark and unsettling, it asks the audience questions about loneliness, morality, and power. It looks at human nature and corruption in a grotesque and a sometimes even humorous lens. I’ve been captivated by her writing since Eileen as it reminds me of gothic works in the past I have read from authors like Edgar Allen Poe.
Lapvona is a dark and debauched novel that takes place in a fictional medieval fiefdom ruled by the gluttonous and corrupted Lord Villiam. It first follows a young peasant child named Marek who is outcast due to his deformities. He lives with his abusive shepherd father Jude on a pasture where they live a modest and religious life among the sheep. Marek’s life changes when he is caught up in the death of his cousin who so happens to be Lord Villiam’s son and in return for his death, Lord Villiam takes Marek as collateral. Once impoverished Marek now lives luxuriously with the Lord but corruption and greed becomes an obstacle in Marek’s devout life. Meanwhile down in the fiefdom, villagers scrounge for food and even for others as a drought and famine occur in the months after Marek leaves to live with the lord atop the hill. Although the story first focuses on Marek, the entirety of the novel gives us glimpses into different character’s thoughts and lives. Through this, the threadlike narrative binds all of their stories together to tell a gruesome tale about morality, religion, abuse, poverty, corruption, and delusion.
After I read Lapvona all I could do was sit and think about everything I had just read. I wasn’t expecting anything that had happened yet I should have seen everything coming through the clever foreshadowing within the story. I loved how the plot was written through the eyes of every character. With this I felt there was an underlying sense of tension that kept me on the edge of my seat and also allowed me to see the multiple angles of certain characters. The narrative style felt omnipotent, as if I was placed at the God of the story looking down on all of them and their sinful actions. I think what I didn’t see coming the most was how it was a revenge story, as the audience you’re so focused on Marek’s story and how it would end that it completely goes over your head… or at least mine. Lapvona was magnificently tragic, dark, gritty, and at times hilarious. It was horrifically disgusting but most of all it creates a conflicting desire to make you feel for all of the characters in their humanness but also loathe them in their cruelty and hypocrisy. It’s interesting because it’s like the book is composed of many small character studies of those living under a corrupted religion. It critiques those in power, religion, self preservation, abuse, and societal behaviors.
This novel is definitely not for everyone. The content can be wickedly cruel and for some, borderline offensive. I for one enjoyed it and how everything fit together like one big puzzle piece. As I finished it, all I could think of were the clues I was given throughout the book that lead up to the very tragic and horrifically morose end. I do not recommend this book to people who get easily grossed out or who are easily upset with sexual or violent content.