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A review by szeglin
Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet
5.0
I received an ARC of this book through a Goodreads giveaway.
Sweet Lamb of Heaven is a slow burn of a book. I found myself becoming more pulled into the story the further along I got, reading faster and faster until I was staying up late to finish it last night.
It's an epistolary novel; the story is presented as a text document that Anna, the protagonist, keeps on her laptop. We know only what she knows, and discover as she discovers. Her relationship with her daughter Lena feels very genuine and well-established, as is her growing dislike of her husband Ned, who she is hiding from. Ned is a cipher of what we fear all politicians are--emotionally hollow beings whose appealing characteristics or beliefs are carefully engineered to resonate with their constituents.
And the people at the motel have their own mysteries, too. They're all linked in a way that they don't completely understand. We get to know them through Anna's eyes, which is to say incompletely and a bit at a time. This sense of discovery also felt very true to life.
At first the two threads of the story seemed very distinct from each other, but slowly they converge, as we knew they must, building to the climax of the book.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book. Much more than I thought I would, actually. Well done, Lydia Millet!
Sweet Lamb of Heaven is a slow burn of a book. I found myself becoming more pulled into the story the further along I got, reading faster and faster until I was staying up late to finish it last night.
It's an epistolary novel; the story is presented as a text document that Anna, the protagonist, keeps on her laptop. We know only what she knows, and discover as she discovers. Her relationship with her daughter Lena feels very genuine and well-established, as is her growing dislike of her husband Ned, who she is hiding from. Ned is a cipher of what we fear all politicians are--emotionally hollow beings whose appealing characteristics or beliefs are carefully engineered to resonate with their constituents.
And the people at the motel have their own mysteries, too. They're all linked in a way that they don't completely understand. We get to know them through Anna's eyes, which is to say incompletely and a bit at a time. This sense of discovery also felt very true to life.
At first the two threads of the story seemed very distinct from each other, but slowly they converge, as we knew they must, building to the climax of the book.
I really, really enjoyed reading this book. Much more than I thought I would, actually. Well done, Lydia Millet!