A review by gwenswoons
A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet

challenging dark funny tense fast-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

4.5

What the actual fuck, haha, this was so wild. I’ve had this on my shelf for a while because I loved Dinosaurs by Lydia Millet a couple of years ago, and got some backlist of hers to enjoy later. But wowza, this could not have been more different from Dinosaurs!! Not at all in terms of the quality, which was totally amazing here as well — but just the entire tenor of the book, its span and the way its characters interact and what it seems to feel about the world. It’s amazing to me that an author can write with such lucidity, so convincingly, a book that is as gentle and tender-hearted as Dinosaurs, as full of love and hopefulness about other human beings; and then, with equal deftness and a sort of razor-sharp knife for a pen, write this harrowing dystopian work that is A Children’s Bible, spitting virulent terrors (all true, I fear) about the ways human beings interact and what lies ahead because of it. Just wild. The writing in this is astonishing and full of bite — I inhaled it in a day and I can’t imagine a better way to either spend some hours or to freak oneself out more. Just wow — can’t wait to read more Millet.
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