Lapvona

Lapvona

First edition (US)
Author	Ottessa Moshfegh
Language	English
Publisher	Penguin Press (US) Jonathan Cape (UK)
Publication date	June 21, 2022
Publication place	United States
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. Now suddenly thrust into noble life, Marek is caught in a deathly power struggle of corruption and debauchery.

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. "Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh". Penguin Random House. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
2. "Lapvona". Kirkus Reviews. April 15, 2022. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
3. "Announcing Ottessa Moshfegh's next novel, Lapvona, coming next summer". LitHub. April 12, 2021. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
4. "Book Marks reviews of Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh". Book Marks. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
5. "Ottessa Moshfegh's 'Lapvona' Is Gloomy Folk Horror Set Long Ago". New York Times. June 13, 2022. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
6. "Lapvona". Publishers Weekly. March 8, 2022. Retrieved 5 October 2022.