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electablue's review against another edition
3.0
This book grabbed me from the first and kept my attention so that I didn't want to stop listening to it. However, it just sort of fizzled out for out me.
kpages23's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
3.0
I keep reading Lydia Millet, but I don’t get Lydia Millet. Is it bad to admit that I know I’m not picking up everything she’s putting down? Is someone going to take my English degree away?
Last year I read [b:Mermaids in Paradise|20723818|Mermaids in Paradise|Lydia Millet|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392580764s/20723818.jpg|40047487], a sharp satire with ecological themes. Or at least I think that’s what it was. There was a distinctly unlikable narrator and real, actual mermaids. And a possible murder. And an abrupt twist at the end that turned everything that came before it on its head, though for what purpose, I’m still not entirely sure.
It was super weird, a lot of it went over my head, but still…I kinda liked it, even if I couldn’t explain why. So when I heard Millet had another book coming out this year, this one pitched as a thriller, my curiosity wouldn't allow me to pass it up even though I wasn't sure what to expect.
What I got was, as you might guess, not really a thriller, at least not in any traditional sense. I don't think Millet is capable of writing a traditional anything. I think for most readers, enjoying Sweet Lamb of Heaven will be a matter of adjusting expectations. If you're expecting James Patterson, you will end up scratching your head. This is decidedly not that.
The premise is thriller-y, which is why I think the publisher thought they could get away with mislabeling it. A mom with a young daughter decides to leave her husband, and she and the child go on the lam. But the husband isn't going to let them go easily--he's decided to run for political office, and he needs a smiling daughter and doting wife for the campaign trail. His wife and daughter hide out at a derelict motel filled with odd residents. Over time, the mother's paranoia mounts until it becomes impossible to tell, as the reader, what's really going on. Reality blurs in the distance like a desert mirage.
So even though the two Millet books I've read are vastly different in terms of subject matter, style, and theme, they left me with the same feeling after I turned the last page. They're books that make you go "hmm."
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
Last year I read [b:Mermaids in Paradise|20723818|Mermaids in Paradise|Lydia Millet|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1392580764s/20723818.jpg|40047487], a sharp satire with ecological themes. Or at least I think that’s what it was. There was a distinctly unlikable narrator and real, actual mermaids. And a possible murder. And an abrupt twist at the end that turned everything that came before it on its head, though for what purpose, I’m still not entirely sure.
It was super weird, a lot of it went over my head, but still…I kinda liked it, even if I couldn’t explain why. So when I heard Millet had another book coming out this year, this one pitched as a thriller, my curiosity wouldn't allow me to pass it up even though I wasn't sure what to expect.
What I got was, as you might guess, not really a thriller, at least not in any traditional sense. I don't think Millet is capable of writing a traditional anything. I think for most readers, enjoying Sweet Lamb of Heaven will be a matter of adjusting expectations. If you're expecting James Patterson, you will end up scratching your head. This is decidedly not that.
The premise is thriller-y, which is why I think the publisher thought they could get away with mislabeling it. A mom with a young daughter decides to leave her husband, and she and the child go on the lam. But the husband isn't going to let them go easily--he's decided to run for political office, and he needs a smiling daughter and doting wife for the campaign trail. His wife and daughter hide out at a derelict motel filled with odd residents. Over time, the mother's paranoia mounts until it becomes impossible to tell, as the reader, what's really going on. Reality blurs in the distance like a desert mirage.
So even though the two Millet books I've read are vastly different in terms of subject matter, style, and theme, they left me with the same feeling after I turned the last page. They're books that make you go "hmm."
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
corrina_milito's review
dark
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Very promising, engaging read that sadly crumbled in the home stretch. I was left with unanswered questions and not in a good way. I love Millet’s voice but this book paled in comparison to A Children’s Bible. I will continue to read her work with cautious optimism.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Emotional abuse, and Stalking
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Drug use, Infidelity, Dementia, Grief, Mental illness, Murder, and Suicide
citylif's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
tnanz's review against another edition
4.0
This book was VERY well written. I’m a huge fan of Millet’s writing, she is incredibly compelling. But I just felt like too much went unexplained here. I think the balance between the grandiose and the specific really tripped her up here: a lot of the ideas wouldn’t have needed to be explained if there was a different scope but she kind of wrote herself into a trap. Would still recommend this book but it’s not up to the standard of her other works.
nicolemhill's review against another edition
3.0
I really don't know if this is a 2 or 4 for me, so I'm going to split the difference until I decide.
dllh's review against another edition
4.0
This book had a strong start, slumped a little in the middle, and ended strong. When it began to slump for me was when some of the details of the antagonist's main ambition seemed a little off kilter -- which registered for me as poorly researched and written and implausible in a world that for the most part hewed pretty close to reality -- but boy did my interest in quibbling with the book's realism fade as I got into the last few chapters. The book is at its best when Millet delves into the philosophical and the lyrical, and there's sufficient delving of this sort to make the more procedural bits worthwhile. It's a short book that, apart from a several-dozen-page slump around the middle, I found really gripping.
carmenere's review against another edition
2.0
Anna decides to have the baby her husband, Ned, does not want. When Lena is born her father has very little to do with her and withdraws from his marriage. Anna on the other hand adores her daughter but these darn voices she begins hearing after her birth are very strange, unrecognizable and make no sense, at all. When Lena is 6 and now living in a run down motel in Maine with her mother, Ned comes back into their lives and manipulates Anna into agreeing to fake family love for the duration of his political campaign. Weird how Ned knows things before they happen, strange how the residents in the run down motel hear voices too. Sounds like a spooky thriller to me, until, this National Book Award longlister, becomes some metaphysical gibberish that does not make any sense and becomes something like a drug induced trip that's really difficult to wrap ones head around.
elzizzle's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25