Scan barcode
auroravelz's review against another edition
I read this book and I have no idea what it's about. I have no clue how the different threads relate to one another, how the husband could do what he did (was that explained and I missed it). The individual plot lines are interesting enough but they don't come together nicely and it's hard to see how each is essential to telling the story.
karral's review against another edition
DNF Page 50. I couldn't even make it past page 50.
I was bored and frankly, it made me angry to read. I just didn't have it in me to continue.
The writing was too flowery for my taste, but that's my personal preference. It was distracting and I couldn't focus on the plot. Even though the first 50 pages held so little plot, I wanted to claw my eyes out.
I also didn't like the lack of dialogue. I like conversations to be taking place in my books. Not boring retrospective paragraphs about characters that are already boring to be begin with. I found the main character, Anna, to be extremely bland and one dimensional. I just didn't like her. The religious overtones pushed me over the edge. Just, no.
The entire book screamed pretentious to me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. What I was looking for was a thriller with other interesting elements (like the voices the main character was experiencing), but I just found myself wishing I was reading something else.
I was bored and frankly, it made me angry to read. I just didn't have it in me to continue.
The writing was too flowery for my taste, but that's my personal preference. It was distracting and I couldn't focus on the plot. Even though the first 50 pages held so little plot, I wanted to claw my eyes out.
I also didn't like the lack of dialogue. I like conversations to be taking place in my books. Not boring retrospective paragraphs about characters that are already boring to be begin with. I found the main character, Anna, to be extremely bland and one dimensional. I just didn't like her. The religious overtones pushed me over the edge. Just, no.
The entire book screamed pretentious to me and I couldn't help but roll my eyes. What I was looking for was a thriller with other interesting elements (like the voices the main character was experiencing), but I just found myself wishing I was reading something else.
cmspin's review against another edition
4.0
Seriously creepy, but also thought provoking. This book deserves a second read.
Maybe good for people who like David Mitchell.
Maybe good for people who like David Mitchell.
an_enthusiastic_reader's review against another edition
3.0
This novel ended up being a 3-star read for me. Where I've was completely taken with Millet's trilogy (How the Dead Dream; Ghost Lights; and Magnificence), Sweet Lamb of Heaven seems more metaphorical of our own precarious, teetering existence and less a novel about "real" characters, or predicaments that could, at least, be real. I do appreciate how much thought Millet puts into the themes and morality of her work; I can't get away without thinking a lot about what's she's fortelling. But. One of the pitfalls of refusing to know much (if anything) about a book is that sometimes I don't know I'm not in the mood for its subject matter until I get to it. It might be time to crawl into a fetal position and read some Bronte.
sartzer's review
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
jennilathrop's review against another edition
4.0
This was a good book, but it felt like it was building up to a pretty dramatic plot rerouting (what did it all mean, why the voices) and then the author kind of chickened out. But still good storytelling and writing.
tracystan's review against another edition
4.0
The premise of this book is that it's a thriller: a woman and child leave the emotionally abusive wealthy husband, he follows them from Alaska to Maine, and gets more threatening as the book progresses. And it is a thriller. But there's more to it than that.
When Lena is born, Anna starts to hear a voice, much like a running commentary in the background. When Lena starts to talk, the voice stops. When Lena is four, Anna decides to leave Ned, hiding her identity, and finds a rundown motel on the Maine coast. The straggling vacationers there become an ersatz family. Eventually Ned catches up, and the mind games begin.
This was beautifully written- the suspense builds up gradually, and though it has the climactic ending, the trip there does not follow the standard thriller formula. This was good story telling and believable characters combined with subtle social commentary, and a little hint of the apocalyptic. It reminds me of Donna Tartt, but with fewer pages.
If you like the nail biting predictability of the standard abusive husband goes after his runaway wife, this may not be your thing. But if you want a thriller to make you think, this is a good one.
When Lena is born, Anna starts to hear a voice, much like a running commentary in the background. When Lena starts to talk, the voice stops. When Lena is four, Anna decides to leave Ned, hiding her identity, and finds a rundown motel on the Maine coast. The straggling vacationers there become an ersatz family. Eventually Ned catches up, and the mind games begin.
This was beautifully written- the suspense builds up gradually, and though it has the climactic ending, the trip there does not follow the standard thriller formula. This was good story telling and believable characters combined with subtle social commentary, and a little hint of the apocalyptic. It reminds me of Donna Tartt, but with fewer pages.
If you like the nail biting predictability of the standard abusive husband goes after his runaway wife, this may not be your thing. But if you want a thriller to make you think, this is a good one.
marisa_syl's review against another edition
3.0
This book was challenging, to say the least. Millet’s prose remains exquisite, but the combination of psychological thriller with such heavy-handed metaphor and allusion was difficult to parse. I think she tried to tackle too much, and while the plot wraps up somewhat neatly, the novel reads like a fable without a sufficiently clear or specific moral. Despite the potential to be great, the vaguely dystopian and heavily applied message that “modern society has problems” was unsatisfying.