Weekend Guide: Lapvona

🐑 free to range into the dark and wrong 🐑

Ottessa Moshfegh’s Lapvona lives in an amoral universe — one that feels lightyears away in time, but eerily close in reality. Lapvona is dark, perverse, and real trudge through the muck. It feels reductive to type out, but they kind of don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Lapvona is a twisted morality tale set in a medieval fiefdom rife with drought, famine, and some really fucking twisted folks. This sort of thing usually is not my bag, but Ottessa had me cranking through pages.

If Lapvona hasn’t been optioned by A24, i’m not sure what they’re waiting for. Good or bad? Robert Eggers is waiting in the wings. You be the judge. If you walk into any bookstore in the world, you will likely be confronted with this sleeping (dead?) sheep. Proceed with caution.

“We need characters in novels to be free to range into the dark and wrong. How else will we understand ourselves.”

Marek, Villiam, Father Barnabas, Ina and the rest of these Lapvonians surely range around in the dark and wrong. The Guardian called it “a grim fairytale” — I like that. Let’s end it there. Do with that what you will.

Try reading next to a pool to offset the gloom.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!