Author | Ottessa Moshfegh |
---|---|
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Publisher | Penguin Press (US) Jonathan Cape (UK) |
Publication date | June 21, 2022 |
Media type | Print, e-book, audiobook |
Pages | 320 |
ISBN | 978-0-5933-0026-8 (hardcover) |
Preceded by | Death in Her Hands |
Lapvona is a 2022 novel by Ottessa Moshfegh.[1] It is Moshfegh's fifth novel.[2]
Synopsis
In Lapvona, a corrupt medieval fiefdom, deformed 13 year-old Marek lives with his cruel shepherd father Jude and was nursed from birth by the village witch. When Marek commits a crime, the cruel lord Villiam demands that Jude give Marek to him as reparations, and Marek goes to live in his castle.
Background
Lapvona was written by Moshfegh during the COVID-19 pandemic and was announced on April 12, 2021.[3] The novel was published by Penguin Press on June 21, 2022.[1]
Reception
At the review aggregator website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the novel received a cumulative "Mixed" rating based on 27 reviews: 7 "Rave" reviews, 5 "Positive" reviews, 5 "Mixed" reviews, and 10 "Pan" review.[4]
In a review for the New York Times, Dwight Garner criticized the novel for lacking Moshfegh's typical wit, and that it is "narrow in its emotional range, a bleak, meandering and muddy-soled mix of fairy tale and folk horror."[5] Kirkus Reviews compared the novel to Moshfegh's earlier works and found the tone "stiff" and the plot "meandering".[2] The reviewer at Publishers Weekly, however, found the book "deliriously quirky" and declared it "a triumph".[6]
References
- 1 2 "Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh". Penguin Random House. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- 1 2 "Lapvona". Kirkus Reviews. April 15, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
- ↑ "Announcing Ottessa Moshfegh's next novel, Lapvona, coming next summer". LitHub. April 12, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ↑ "Book Marks reviews of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh". Book Marks. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ↑ "Ottessa Moshfegh's 'Lapvona' Is Gloomy Folk Horror Set Long Ago". New York Times. June 13, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
- ↑ "Lapvona". Publishers Weekly. March 8, 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.