How sweet that you made the connection between Moshfegh and John Waters, there was a live conversation between the two here in NY at the launch of Lapvona. They talked at length about how they like to highlight the ugly parts of human nature.
Oh wow, I had no idea. I would have loved to see them in discussion. I saw John Waters speak here in London several weeks ago and he was so smart, funny and on point speaking for well over an hour on stage by himself.
Grimm for Grownups? Dark ages, indeed. Gruesomely fascinating and truly compelling. What inner strength it must take to write this! I'm glad that she wrote it and I got to read it (a worthwhile investment requiring far less time and immersion on my part). Her books wake me up (sometimes as if mid-nightmare). I am grateful that she has shared her vivid imagination in her work. I understand why some say 'Ew, gross' but I'm more inclined toward 'brava' for encouraging people to feel and thus to re-think.
This was my first Moshfegh book and I loved it. Maybe I’m creepy but it was a nice change to read something dark, away from typical fairytales. She’s gained a new reader and I’m here for her twisted writing 👏🏻😀
I’ve almost finished Lapvona. To say I’m enjoying it might be a little bit of a stretch, but it’s overt bizarreness is strangely mesmeric. It almost reads like a parable, or perhaps a fairy tale. I found it impossible not to draw parallels between the story, and the current state of the world. I’m reading Lapvona alongside Anna Karenina, and the bleak sparseness of it is an interesting contrast to the lush opulence (both in prose and in subject matter) of AK.
Oh wow, it must be really interesting to compare those books. And yeah, her writing does have the tone of a particularly dark fairy tale (although a lot of original fairy tales are very dark!)
You do a superb job of talking about the book without spoiling anything but still analyzing and critiquing the book with enough details! I will definitely be reading this book.
I just bought this book yesterday and I am soooo excited to read it. I always respect your opinions and I figured I would stop by your channel and see what you had to say about it. I loved the review and I am even more excited to dive into it. Right now I am reading Shuggie Bain and it's one of my all time favorites. I saw that book on your channel too! You have impeccable taste, sir.
I read my year of rest and relaxation in one day and it’s terribly incredible but since then I didn’t pick anything else from the author. Idk why people get offended by her writing I think it’s brilliant
Eric, I appreciate that you are always willing to give a book the benefit of the doubt. Moshfegh’s strong writing carried me through Lapvona but I was ultimately disappointed by its general misanthropy. I will be discussing it with a group next week and look forward to more thoughts about it.
I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation and enjoyed it which almost felt like a dirty secret based on the reviews. I'm going to pick this one up per your recommendation! Thanks so much for your videos! Love listening to your opinions and enjoy your recs.
I read Eileen and her book of short stories. Maybe one day we’ll look back and understand what she is trying to do but I always find her to be as extreme as possible. It’s too much and pretty tedious after a while.
Really great review, Eric! I struggled with this one, but likewise found a lot of humor in the absurdity of the grotesque. I really liked your thoughts on the philosophical morals of the books. If nothing else, she's definitely written a book that has started many many conversations.
Eric, the parallels you draw between LAPVONA and DESPERATE LIVING may be worth digging into. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Moshfegh watched the movie, was even inspired by it. She’s pulled in pop culture strands before, as in EILEEN. Very creative insight on your part. I’m enjoying your video posts. Wonderful work.
Well the short novel "Cold Enough for Snow" by Jessica Au is one of the most quiet, calming and thoughtful books I've read for some time so would probably make a good palate cleanser.
I don't really feel like reading this one, even though I loved 'my year of rest and relaxation' and 'death in her hands' (I think that's what it was called). 'Eileen' I wasn't overly impressed with, but I was most disappointed with her collection of short stories, 'homesick for another world', which seemed to me to be mainly about the shock value. I fear this one would make the same impression on me.
I just finished this before I watched your video. I know people love her and I've never really tried her. I enjoy really dark, depraved books (not always of course) but I think because people and love her AND because they were saying it was so dark I had high expectations. Ultimately I didn't like it. I don't know if this makes sense but while I felt there were dark elements, the book wasn't dark. The tone didn't feel particularly awful, and so the moments of depravity felt isolated and like you mentioned deeply absurd. I think part of my reasoning for this was because even though many of the villagers approached religion in such a self involved dark way it was something for them to live with. It gave them something.
Yeah, this makes sense. And if life is that hard it gives them something to believe in but religion and faith seems to also be a kind of opiate which prevents the population from revolting against the corruption they live under - at least that seems to be Moshfegh's assertion.
How interesting! Your intro cracked me up! Our tendencies to act out of self-interest is such a fascinating topic that goes back to our very biology and survival instincts...I think about this all the time; so while the beginning of your review had me thinking I don't need to read this novel...by the end I'm wondering if I should pick it up after all! for things like climate change it is a matter of convincing people to step back from their day-to-day self-interest and think about self-interest in a more long-term way, which seems impossible. Anyway, great review, thank you!
Thanks! Yeah, I think about these things a lot too. I guess most populations have felt a certain level of helplessness to change things over most of history, but even though we're supposed to be living in a democracy it feels like we have less and less control over how things are organised for bettering the lives of most AND helping the planet.
I bought the book a couple weeks ago but Otessa's story did not work for me. It is probably because it is the middle of the summer and I like something lighter. My reading choices really go with the season. However, I have not completely given up on Otessa's work. I simply put it back on my TBR and plan to read it sometime in the Fall. She is is an incredible writer and really enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
Just finished it. I was very intrigued in the beginning, it was like watching a Yorgos Lanthimos film, but more gruesome. But the horror factor quickly became numbing, by the end I was quite disappointed.
Well…. I had decided not to read it based on several reviews I’d read. But yours actually makes me feel challenged to try it. It seems to have a bit of a car wreck/can’t look away quality that could be interesting to experience. Or not. I will have to think it over. Great review though. Thank you!
I found that this gripped me and I kept trying to compare it to modern life but not sure if I have managed to sort it all out yet. If of course, she is trying to make some sort of comment. I might just have it all totally wrong.
The video popped up as I hit twenty pages until the end of the book, so I quickly finished so I could get a real time reaction from you! I haven’t read anything from her before, but I just came from reading Chouette, so they seem very much of the same milieu in their weirdness. All in all, it’s was intriguing and I see it as somewhat an adult Disney animated cartoon. From the first I saw Villiam as the squat king from Shrek, and Marek as a Quasimodo like character and the faux Middle Ages of both of those works as our setting. I was entertained, but far from grossed out, I’m a bit surprised by the squeamishness of reviewers. I guess I’m reading much darker and disturbing things elsewhere, so none of that fazed me and I found it more humorous, in a cartoony way again, than anything. I think it was kind of a palette cleanser from much of the other stuff I’ve been consuming and a much needed literary break. Basically a relief and memorable in its difference, neither a great work, nor exactly worthy of the dragging or outrage the reviewers have presented it as such.
Ha, I think it's apt to describe it like an adult Disney animated story. Yeah, it takes quite a lot of shock me and wasn't so much horrified by what happens but I definitely understand how it's not for some readers.
I loved it. My first Moshfegh book. I happened to sit down to a bowl of pho when I got to the grape scene. I had to read fast to get over it because I didn’t want to waste my noodles. 😂😂😂
It sounds more depraved than Earthlings. I only read My Year of Rest and Relaxation and it was 200 pages of take drugs, pass out, do strange things and then wake up. It didn't interest me so I'm reluctant to pick up Lapvona.
Good comparison. The ending of Earthlings came more as a shock for me whereas the way Moshfegh's book steadily cycled through the awfulness to arrive somewhere else.
@@NickBoston I also enjoyed / understood Earthlings in that I related to the feeling of being an outsider not conforming to societal expectations as I never felt great desire to ge a parent.
I’ve had such mixed reactions to all of her work, and I have to say that everything I have read and heard about Lapnova has not made me want to read it. I’ve changed my mind about whether to give it a go several times!
I've noticed that image of the Lamb of God the lamb awaiting slaughter being used a lot lately on social media, especially in death metal music and videos about murder and mayhem and of course Satanism and general chaos, with which TH-cam and Instagram are rife. But I've never heard of this book already you have my attention and of only seen your thumbnail! That being said I know your voice and it always warrants attention
I always love your reviews! I gave this a try and found her writing compelling... but I really didn't get on with the story and ended up setting it aside. I don't mind complicated characters and disturbing, gritty scenes - but this felt gratuitous and self-indulgently grim without enough balancing context for me. Perhaps if I had finished it I would have recognized a brilliant point, but life right now is grim and disturbing enough - I don't need to wallow in those feelings while reading.
I've read two Moshfegh books (My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Death in Her Hands) and really had to force myself to read all the way through each of them. I feel like that gives me a free pass to skip all the rest of her books, as they are just not for me.
I recently read Eileen and unless it is longlisted for the Booker have no plans to read Lapvona. I do think that Moshfegh is a skilful writer however but the subject matter is not for me.
Sounds good! Thanks! Sounds like the reaction Houellebecq gets-also “shocking”, pessimistic, and contrary to received ideas. New points of view are good-that’s what poets used to do!
I like ottessa moshfegh-she has a unique writing style and interesting characters-but I find that I never really get anything of substance out of her stories. Dope review though 💯
Had to DNF .. my sensitive tummy could not handle it. First book ever that made me literally gag .. I do understand the merit of it and not disputing that.. my constitution said No, Thank You.
Like many readers, I like to go outside my "comfort zone" occasionally and read a book that I wouldn't normally be interested in on hearing about it. I got just half way through this book and was bored to tears. No doubt the scatological and cannibal references etc. were meant to shock. Who in this day and age is even surprised considering the years of violence we have been subjected to in movies and TV? Are we supposed to get excited, shocked, whatever, at a medieval version of Jeffrey Dahmer? If you have even a mild interest in BDSM, prurient or otherwise, this is not the book to read. Maybe some of us have been tempted to have our mother-in-law take "one more step back" when taking a selfie at the Grand Canyon. Poor storyline told in not particularly interesting English with forgettable characters. Sorry Eric, to even suggest this book is mesmerising is really a stretch. Please, don't waste your time or money reading this.
I'm constantly amazed by all sorts of individuals and the books they choose to read. The subject material of books like Lapvona seems bleak and horrible. To some, reading about subjects like this is somehow cathartic. It satisfies some part of themselves. Not everyone has a happy childhood or life experiences as we have had. What is an author's purpose in writing such sensational controversial themes and stories? Is it to gain notoriety? Is it pretention to get noticed and gain literary awards or gain buzz? Is an author's style of writing reaching through despite the subject matter? What is it they are trying to get through to the reader? Is it a deeper truth? I do not read books like this. My purpose in reading at this time in my life is to be entertained with happy stories. My bent goes to female authors like Jane Austen and her contempories. Authors like Henry James and Edith Wharton are about as psychological as I like to get. Books like Lapvona and A Little Life are not for me. I thank you for your wonderful review of Lapvona. I enjoy hearing your thoughts.
maybe check out her intreviews? She does explain and I am afraid to see it is neither of the things u mentioned:) I hope u read different books to the ones that are happy only cuz u are missing out on some gems..but my opinion only
How sweet that you made the connection between Moshfegh and John Waters, there was a live conversation between the two here in NY at the launch of Lapvona. They talked at length about how they like to highlight the ugly parts of human nature.
Oh wow, I had no idea. I would have loved to see them in discussion. I saw John Waters speak here in London several weeks ago and he was so smart, funny and on point speaking for well over an hour on stage by himself.
@@EricKarlAnderson the talk is on TH-cam!
Grimm for Grownups? Dark ages, indeed. Gruesomely fascinating and truly compelling. What inner strength it must take to write this! I'm glad that she wrote it and I got to read it (a worthwhile investment requiring far less time and immersion on my part). Her books wake me up (sometimes as if mid-nightmare). I am grateful that she has shared her vivid imagination in her work. I understand why some say 'Ew, gross' but I'm more inclined toward 'brava' for encouraging people to feel and thus to re-think.
This was my first Moshfegh book and I loved it. Maybe I’m creepy but it was a nice change to read something dark, away from typical fairytales. She’s gained a new reader and I’m here for her twisted writing 👏🏻😀
Glad you loved it!
I’ve almost finished Lapvona. To say I’m enjoying it might be a little bit of a stretch, but it’s overt bizarreness is strangely mesmeric. It almost reads like a parable, or perhaps a fairy tale. I found it impossible not to draw parallels between the story, and the current state of the world. I’m reading Lapvona alongside Anna Karenina, and the bleak sparseness of it is an interesting contrast to the lush opulence (both in prose and in subject matter) of AK.
Oh wow, it must be really interesting to compare those books. And yeah, her writing does have the tone of a particularly dark fairy tale (although a lot of original fairy tales are very dark!)
Read Jude the Obscure! Def. parallels there
@@p.w.e.2374 it’s on my list! Thanks for the recommendation.
You do a superb job of talking about the book without spoiling anything but still analyzing and critiquing the book with enough details! I will definitely be reading this book.
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy it.
I just bought this book yesterday and I am soooo excited to read it. I always respect your opinions and I figured I would stop by your channel and see what you had to say about it. I loved the review and I am even more excited to dive into it. Right now I am reading Shuggie Bain and it's one of my all time favorites. I saw that book on your channel too! You have impeccable taste, sir.
Great! I hope you enjoy it. It’s quite a wild ride. And thanks so much for the compliment. Glad you’re enjoying Shuggie.
I read my year of rest and relaxation in one day and it’s terribly incredible but since then I didn’t pick anything else from the author.
Idk why people get offended by her writing
I think it’s brilliant
Eric, I appreciate that you are always willing to give a book the benefit of the doubt. Moshfegh’s strong writing carried me through Lapvona but I was ultimately disappointed by its general misanthropy. I will be discussing it with a group next week and look forward to more thoughts about it.
Thanks! I'm sure you'll have a really interesting discussion. I can't imagine people passively discussing it.
I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation and enjoyed it which almost felt like a dirty secret based on the reviews. I'm going to pick this one up per your recommendation! Thanks so much for your videos! Love listening to your opinions and enjoy your recs.
I read Eileen and her book of short stories. Maybe one day we’ll look back and understand what she is trying to do but I always find her to be as extreme as possible. It’s too much and pretty tedious after a while.
Really great review, Eric! I struggled with this one, but likewise found a lot of humor in the absurdity of the grotesque. I really liked your thoughts on the philosophical morals of the books. If nothing else, she's definitely written a book that has started many many conversations.
After I finished it I was so confused and grossed out… but I loved it 🤷🏻♂️
😄 Yep
Eric, the parallels you draw between LAPVONA and DESPERATE LIVING may be worth digging into. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Moshfegh watched the movie, was even inspired by it. She’s pulled in pop culture strands before, as in EILEEN. Very creative insight on your part. I’m enjoying your video posts. Wonderful work.
Thanks very much! I'd be interested to hear if she has seen the movie.
Eric I really need a palate cleanser after this book and would be ever so grateful if you’d make a “beach reads that aren’t terrible” video.
Well the short novel "Cold Enough for Snow" by Jessica Au is one of the most quiet, calming and thoughtful books I've read for some time so would probably make a good palate cleanser.
@@EricKarlAnderson thank you ☺️ ! I appreciate your recommendations so much ❤️
I loved it. Entirely depraved but the humor!!! Kept picturing the king as Mel Brooks in one of his long lost movies ❤️
Ah, love Mel Brooks!
I don't really feel like reading this one, even though I loved 'my year of rest and relaxation' and 'death in her hands' (I think that's what it was called). 'Eileen' I wasn't overly impressed with, but I was most disappointed with her collection of short stories, 'homesick for another world', which seemed to me to be mainly about the shock value. I fear this one would make the same impression on me.
I didn't like the stories either and I really hoped I would
Still not sure if I want to read it but I am intrigued and disturbed already
😅
I just finished this before I watched your video. I know people love her and I've never really tried her. I enjoy really dark, depraved books (not always of course) but I think because people and love her AND because they were saying it was so dark I had high expectations. Ultimately I didn't like it. I don't know if this makes sense but while I felt there were dark elements, the book wasn't dark. The tone didn't feel particularly awful, and so the moments of depravity felt isolated and like you mentioned deeply absurd. I think part of my reasoning for this was because even though many of the villagers approached religion in such a self involved dark way it was something for them to live with. It gave them something.
Yeah, this makes sense. And if life is that hard it gives them something to believe in but religion and faith seems to also be a kind of opiate which prevents the population from revolting against the corruption they live under - at least that seems to be Moshfegh's assertion.
How interesting! Your intro cracked me up! Our tendencies to act out of self-interest is such a fascinating topic that goes back to our very biology and survival instincts...I think about this all the time; so while the beginning of your review had me thinking I don't need to read this novel...by the end I'm wondering if I should pick it up after all! for things like climate change it is a matter of convincing people to step back from their day-to-day self-interest and think about self-interest in a more long-term way, which seems impossible. Anyway, great review, thank you!
Thanks! Yeah, I think about these things a lot too. I guess most populations have felt a certain level of helplessness to change things over most of history, but even though we're supposed to be living in a democracy it feels like we have less and less control over how things are organised for bettering the lives of most AND helping the planet.
thank you! your review and insights helped me in exploring its themes and plot!
I’m glad. That’s good to hear!
I bought the book a couple weeks ago but Otessa's story did not work for me. It is probably because it is the middle of the summer and I like something lighter. My reading choices really go with the season. However, I have not completely given up on Otessa's work. I simply put it back on my TBR and plan to read it sometime in the Fall. She is is an incredible writer and really enjoyed My Year of Rest and Relaxation.
Just finished it. I was very intrigued in the beginning, it was like watching a Yorgos Lanthimos film, but more gruesome. But the horror factor quickly became numbing, by the end I was quite disappointed.
Well…. I had decided not to read it based on several reviews I’d read. But yours actually makes me feel challenged to try it. It seems to have a bit of a car wreck/can’t look away quality that could be interesting to experience. Or not. I will have to think it over.
Great review though. Thank you!
Real life in 2022 sounds like this book - horror, depravity, cruelty, blood and guts, liver and onions and that sausage thing.
I found that this gripped me and I kept trying to compare it to modern life but not sure if I have managed to sort it all out yet. If of course, she is trying to make some sort of comment. I might just have it all totally wrong.
I don't think we even need to make a direct correlation to our present times as it's certainly reflective of a certain mood.
I’ve just finished it and it was one of the best books I’ve ever read! Also, how did you manage to read this in 3 HOURS?! I loved your video tho!
I couldn’t help but be entertained by this book. I think the style and comedy parallels Hulus’s comedy series “The Great”.
I was unaware of this author but have now ordered Eileen. Sounds intriguing.
The video popped up as I hit twenty pages until the end of the book, so I quickly finished so I could get a real time reaction from you! I haven’t read anything from her before, but I just came from reading Chouette, so they seem very much of the same milieu in their weirdness.
All in all, it’s was intriguing and I see it as somewhat an adult Disney animated cartoon. From the first I saw Villiam as the squat king from Shrek, and Marek as a Quasimodo like character and the faux Middle Ages of both of those works as our setting. I was entertained, but far from grossed out, I’m a bit surprised by the squeamishness of reviewers. I guess I’m reading much darker and disturbing things elsewhere, so none of that fazed me and I found it more humorous, in a cartoony way again, than anything.
I think it was kind of a palette cleanser from much of the other stuff I’ve been consuming and a much needed literary break. Basically a relief and memorable in its difference, neither a great work, nor exactly worthy of the dragging or outrage the reviewers have presented it as such.
Ha, I think it's apt to describe it like an adult Disney animated story. Yeah, it takes quite a lot of shock me and wasn't so much horrified by what happens but I definitely understand how it's not for some readers.
I loved it. My first Moshfegh book. I happened to sit down to a bowl of pho when I got to the grape scene. I had to read fast to get over it because I didn’t want to waste my noodles. 😂😂😂
It sounds more depraved than Earthlings. I only read My Year of Rest and Relaxation and it was 200 pages of take drugs, pass out, do strange things and then wake up. It didn't interest me so I'm reluctant to pick up Lapvona.
I enjoyed Earthlings… well, that is to say that I understood it. I wonder if I would feel the same if I read Lapvona.
Good comparison. The ending of Earthlings came more as a shock for me whereas the way Moshfegh's book steadily cycled through the awfulness to arrive somewhere else.
@@NickBoston I also enjoyed / understood Earthlings in that I related to the feeling of being an outsider not conforming to societal expectations as I never felt great desire to ge a parent.
My second DNF from Moshfegh in a row. I can’t imagine ever picking up anything from her again. Just not my thing
@@mareike6832 Death in Her Hands.
Thought it was great, the whole summer section with the drought was so well done it was almost apocalyptic
One of those writers I expected to like but so far haven't managed to finish one of her books that I attempted.
I’ve had such mixed reactions to all of her work, and I have to say that everything I have read and heard about Lapnova has not made me want to read it. I’ve changed my mind about whether to give it a go several times!
She published a short novel called Mcglue before anything else. Its about as macabre as her other books. I liked them all.
I've been on the fence whether I want to read this book or not. After watching your video, I'm still on the fence! 🙃
😄
NOW I want to read it. Thanks, Eric.
Fab! I'll be keen to hear what you think of it.
I enjoy her work! I have this on hold at the library. She’s definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, but really, who is?
True! I'll be keen to hear what you think of it.
I've noticed that image of the Lamb of God the lamb awaiting slaughter being used a lot lately on social media, especially in death metal music and videos about murder and mayhem and of course Satanism and general chaos, with which TH-cam and Instagram are rife. But I've never heard of this book already you have my attention and of only seen your thumbnail! That being said I know your voice and it always warrants attention
I always love your reviews! I gave this a try and found her writing compelling... but I really didn't get on with the story and ended up setting it aside. I don't mind complicated characters and disturbing, gritty scenes - but this felt gratuitous and self-indulgently grim without enough balancing context for me. Perhaps if I had finished it I would have recognized a brilliant point, but life right now is grim and disturbing enough - I don't need to wallow in those feelings while reading.
That's fair enough and it's good you gave it a try. I mean, I feel ambivalent as to the "point" of it (if it needs a point) too.
I really laughed out loud with this book. Great review. I much prefer this than MYORAR...
I've read two Moshfegh books (My Year of Rest and Relaxation and Death in Her Hands) and really had to force myself to read all the way through each of them. I feel like that gives me a free pass to skip all the rest of her books, as they are just not for me.
Haha, fair enough. Though I think if people choose not to read any of her books that's totally fine - no pass needed. 😄
Ok I have to read this book
Will definitely read it .... thanks to you!
I'll be keen to hear what you think!
I think i might have to give this one a go and see what i think of it please stay safe and enjoy your reading 📖 love your family friend John xxxx
Thank you!
@@EricKarlAnderson no worries 😉
I recently read Eileen and unless it is longlisted for the Booker have no plans to read Lapvona. I do think that Moshfegh is a skilful writer however but the subject matter is not for me.
Fair enough. It'd certainly make a controversial choice for the Booker list if it makes it.
Sounds good! Thanks! Sounds like the reaction Houellebecq gets-also “shocking”, pessimistic, and contrary to received ideas. New points of view are good-that’s what poets used to do!
I like ottessa moshfegh-she has a unique writing style and interesting characters-but I find that I never really get anything of substance out of her stories. Dope review though 💯
Thanks! Yeah I wonder how much I'll remember about the book and still feel impacted by it after a period of time has gone by.
Had to DNF .. my sensitive tummy could not handle it. First book ever that made me literally gag .. I do understand the merit of it and not disputing that.. my constitution said No, Thank You.
Maybe she had patrick suskind‘s perfume novel in her head
I don't get on with this author's writing. Thanks for your honest review.
😊
I’ve never read Moshfegh and have absolutely no desire to do so.
Haha! Fair enough!
Like many readers, I like to go outside my "comfort zone" occasionally and read a book that I wouldn't normally be interested in on hearing about it. I got just half way through this book and was bored to tears. No doubt the scatological and cannibal references etc. were meant to shock. Who in this day and age is even surprised considering the years of violence we have been subjected to in movies and TV? Are we supposed to get excited, shocked, whatever, at a medieval version of Jeffrey Dahmer? If you have even a mild interest in BDSM, prurient or otherwise, this is not the book to read. Maybe some of us have been tempted to have our mother-in-law take "one more step back" when taking a selfie at the Grand Canyon. Poor storyline told in not particularly interesting English with forgettable characters. Sorry Eric, to even suggest this book is mesmerising is really a stretch. Please, don't waste your time or money reading this.
I'm constantly amazed by all sorts of individuals and the books they choose to read. The subject material of books like Lapvona seems bleak and horrible. To some, reading about subjects like this is somehow cathartic. It satisfies some part of themselves. Not everyone has a happy childhood or life experiences as we have had. What is an author's purpose in writing such sensational controversial themes and stories? Is it to gain notoriety? Is it pretention to get noticed and gain literary awards or gain buzz? Is an author's style of writing reaching through despite the subject matter? What is it they are trying to get through to the reader? Is it a deeper truth? I do not read books like this. My purpose in reading at this time in my life is to be entertained with happy stories. My bent goes to female authors like Jane Austen and her contempories. Authors like Henry James and Edith Wharton are about as psychological as I like to get. Books like Lapvona and A Little Life are not for me. I thank you for your wonderful review of Lapvona. I enjoy hearing your thoughts.
maybe check out her intreviews? She does explain and I am afraid to see it is neither of the things u mentioned:) I hope u read different books to the ones that are happy only cuz u are missing out on some gems..but my opinion only
I read Eileen and My Year of Rest and Relaxation and disliked both. I find her writing to be snarky.
This author seems like she’s disgusted by humanity.
Think I will pass
😄
Thanks for the warning. Pass.
No, thank you.
Sounds gross. Did you read Cows!? Ugh grossest thing ever.