Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
In a captivating book that marks Ottessa Moshfegh’s most thrilling turn yet, a motherless shepherd kid finds himself the unusual pivot of a power struggle that puts all types of religion to a cruel test in a community in a medieval lordship buffeted by natural disasters.
Little Marek, the mistreated and hallucinating son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; according to his father, she passed away after childbirth. Marek’s lasting relationship with the blind village midwife, Ina, who breastfed him as a baby and did so for many of hamlet’s children, is one of life’s few solaces for him. Ina’s talents go beyond child care; she has a rare capacity for interfacing with the natural environment. No matter how religious the other villagers may be, her skill frequently enables her to receive transmissions of spiritual knowledge on levels much beyond those to which they have access. Some people view Ina’s house in the nearby woods as a place to fear and avoid, a place devoid of gods.
Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh
36 used from $13.01
Free shipping
Amazon.com
Father Barnabas, the local priest and lackey for the corrupt lord and governor Villiam, whose hilltop manor hides a hidden embarrassment of wealth, is one of their numbers. Villiam and the priest cruelly test the populace’s desperation to believe that there are higher powers who have their best interests at heart, especially in this year of unprecedented starvation and drought.
However, when fate places Marek in close contact with the lord’s family in a violent manner, mysterious forces disrupt the status quo. By the end of the year, it will be clear how thin the line is between blindness and sight, life and death, and the physical world and the afterlife.
The new book by Ottessa Moshfegh, Lapvona, has generated a lot of hype. The medieval lordship where Lapvona is set is plagued by starvation, drought, and corruption, and it is home to a large ensemble of locals who are fighting to survive. Lapvona has a similar macabre fascination with the strange and sinister aspects of human nature.
Ottessa Moshfegh is such a gifted author, and her tales are genuinely original. This specific story is significantly different from her earlier books and offers a more historical perspective on modern life.
