I remember seeing this cover on TikTok a few times but I honestly never knew what it was about. But then I received a copy of the book from NetGalley and decided to give it a go.

First let’s talk about the authors writing before I touch on the plot of the book. Well the writing was quite all over the place for me, I don’t know how to really feel about it. I personally didn’t like that it switched POVs the whole time and that confused me a little if I am honest. Now to the plot….this book was different I guess. First of all, there are SO many triggers in the book so please check the trigger warnings before picking it up. I just didn’t like the story at all. Sure it might have a deeper meaning but that it got lost on me, might be my fault though. It’s weird, grotesque and just not good to me. This wasn’t my cup of tea and I am glad I finally finished it.

Description:

In a village in a medieval fiefdom buffeted by natural disasters, a motherless shepherd boy finds himself the unlikely pivot in a power struggle that puts all manner of faith to a savage test, in a spellbinding novel that represents Ottessa Moshfegh's most exciting leap yet Little Marek, the abused and delusional son of the village shepherd, never knew his mother; his father told him she died in childbirth. One of life's few consolations for Marek is his enduring bond with the blind village midwife, Ina, who suckled him when he was a baby, as she did for many of the village's children. Ina's gifts extend beyond childcare: she possesses a unique ability to communicate with the natural world. Her gift often brings her the transmission of sacred knowledge on levels far beyond those available to other villagers, however religious they might be. For some people, Ina's home in the woods outside the village is a place to fear and to avoid, a godless place. Among their number is Father Barnabas, the town priest and lackey for the depraved lord and governor, Villiam, whose hilltop manor contains a secret embarrassment of riches. The people's desperate need to believe that there are powers that be who have their best interests at heart is put to a cruel test by Villiam and the priest, especially in this year of record drought and famine. But when fate brings Marek into violent proximity to the lord's family, new and occult forces upset the old order. By year's end, the veil between blindness and sight, life and death, the natural world and the spirit world will prove to be very thin indeed.