An Allegory of Power and Knowledge

 Lapvona by Ottessa Moshfegh

Josefa de Óbidos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I was a little nervous about reading Lapvona, since I read somewhere that it dealt with cannibalism. Although it wasn’t a prominent theme in the book, there were plenty of other gross, disgusting and disturbing moments that made this book one of my favorite reads of the year. I’m not really sure how to explain or summarize this book, but it takes place in medieval times in a village ruled by a pompous and arrogant man child, Villiam. Mareck and his father Jude are the primary townspeople whose lives we follow, and whose lives take turns that greatly affect their futures and fortunes. While Mareck and Jude are different in many regards, they both tend to willingly accept the fictions that others put upon them and ultimately keep them in line. Mareck believes that his mother died in childbirth, although his mother tried to abort him, resulting in deformities at birth. She abandoned him and Jude, who kept Agata as a prisoner. Jude, like the other townspeople, believes that the draughts and food shortages are a result of an indifferent God, not realizing that Villiam controls the flow of water to irrigate the fields, nor the amount of food and resources that Villiam has. Mareck becomes a kind of toy for Villiam and his son, and after a tragic accident, becomes Villiam’s adopted son. From there, we see how the ineptitude and incompetence of the royal family leads to opportunities for Mareck. Trying not to give too much away, I was continually repulsed and delighted by the brutality and absurdity of the situations in this medieval village. The people, largely illiterate and uneducated, were willing to accept ridiculous ideas about access to food and go to extremes to persevere in this rugged life. Furthermore, the ruling class, with access to boundless resources, food, and riches, cared little for the wellbeing of their people, and almost seemed to delight in the kind of challenges and difficulties they presented for the village, only taking delight in the humiliation they brought to others. The descriptions of bodily functions, wounds, and decay was vivid and gross, but also highlighted the kind of lives these people lived. It also reminded me a lot of Patrick Suskind’s Perfume, where the descriptions of odors, garbage, and bodies were prominent markers of class and status. I’m not sure whether Moshfegh is commenting on class or status in society, but I do think there is some kind of commentary about our willingness to accept what the ruling class present to us as reality, and in turn, this affects our own behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes towards others. This book is really gross, absurd, challenging, but also a great read if you are up for it. It is definitely not a book for everyone, but one that really challenges a reader’s own sense of comfort and what we take in on a daily basis.