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A review by eric_roling
Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet
3.0
This was a decent piece of light horror, sort of a woman's take on Stephen King. The protagonist is a woman who marries an inaffectionate man and moves to Alaska. Once she has a baby, the man essentially abandons her. She starts hearing a voice, and tries to figure out if the voice is real or if she's mentally ill. Eventually, she takes her child and flees to a motel in Maine. The man has started running for office, is a true-believer evangelical (or pretends to be), and starts looking for her because he needs his perfect family image to get elected. Think Ted Cruz.
At points there are some light supernatural plot points. Maybe it was the intent of author to be unclear as to whether this was really happening or if the character was delusional. But it felt a little hinky or off. I often find this to be the case when a "literary" author decides to write or appropriate genre elements. They get the broad details, but fail the "uncanny valley" test - you kind of get thrown out of your immersion because things don't add up holistically. A good genre author gets these details right, and usually is more willing to commit to the genre - sort of jumping or wading in rather than dipping a tentative toe.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and the main character's detached experience of some pretty horrible events. It was a short read, so the shortcomings weren't nearly the issue they'd be in a longer book.
At points there are some light supernatural plot points. Maybe it was the intent of author to be unclear as to whether this was really happening or if the character was delusional. But it felt a little hinky or off. I often find this to be the case when a "literary" author decides to write or appropriate genre elements. They get the broad details, but fail the "uncanny valley" test - you kind of get thrown out of your immersion because things don't add up holistically. A good genre author gets these details right, and usually is more willing to commit to the genre - sort of jumping or wading in rather than dipping a tentative toe.
Overall, I enjoyed the story and the main character's detached experience of some pretty horrible events. It was a short read, so the shortcomings weren't nearly the issue they'd be in a longer book.