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A review by lmwanak
Lambs of God by Marele Day
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
This was an interesting book. The first book SG recommended to me, and it did not disappoint. I wanted something that involved faith but also myths, slow and reflective and maybe funny. Lambs of God fell into many of these categories.
Three forgotten nuns on a remote island receive a visit from a priest, who is assessing the land for a high-class resort that would put money back into the church. For the nuns, this will not do. The crumbling monastery is their home, and the priest is anathema to everything they know. So, well, they prevent him from finishing the assessment.
The book wants to be funny. The nuns are uncivilized in the eyes of the priest and isolated from outside human contact, they are portrayed as almost as animalistic as the sheep they care for. Carla is the youngest (roughly around her upper 40s, I think) and the most eccentric and child-like, having spent all her life at the monastery. Margurite is the most suspicious, and rightly so, given what we learn from her past. Ipaphengia is the oldest and has the curious talent of having the keenest nose, able to smell anything from anywhere on the island. Their faith has evolved to a mixture of Catholicism and paganism, with a smattering of retold fairy tales thrown in (they love to tell stories -- my favorite scene is when Margurite retells Beauty and the Beast and the priest gets upset). And there's knitting. So much knitting, that it feels like a religion itself.
Among this idyllic life, however when the nuns learn of the priest's plan, they drug him and hold him captive by plastering his legs together so he can't run off. I think this is supposed to be humorous, but I found it horrifying. Pompous and arrogant as the priest is, it was very uncomfortable seeing him held captive and at the mercy of the sisters. There's also an action done by Carla that is very non-consensual (it isn't made clear, but the implications are enough). It's all very weird and uncomfortable and definitely took some enjoyment out of the book for me.
Writing-wise, I enjoyed the slow, rambling nature of the book. There's a lot of 3rd person POV mixing and muddling, but I think it works in this in that it gives a clear picture of what everyone is thinking (and it's been a long, long time since I've read an Omni-pov book. I kind of miss it.) Some of the revelations in the book did leave me wanting a bit more. I wanted to know why Ipaphengia chose the monastic life when we're given reasons about the other two. What was life like when there were more sisters in the monastery? What will happen to the sisters now? The ending seems happy, but it still gave me a sense of bleakness.
Three forgotten nuns on a remote island receive a visit from a priest, who is assessing the land for a high-class resort that would put money back into the church. For the nuns, this will not do. The crumbling monastery is their home, and the priest is anathema to everything they know. So, well, they prevent him from finishing the assessment.
The book wants to be funny. The nuns are uncivilized in the eyes of the priest and isolated from outside human contact, they are portrayed as almost as animalistic as the sheep they care for. Carla is the youngest (roughly around her upper 40s, I think) and the most eccentric and child-like, having spent all her life at the monastery. Margurite is the most suspicious, and rightly so, given what we learn from her past. Ipaphengia is the oldest and has the curious talent of having the keenest nose, able to smell anything from anywhere on the island. Their faith has evolved to a mixture of Catholicism and paganism, with a smattering of retold fairy tales thrown in (they love to tell stories -- my favorite scene is when Margurite retells Beauty and the Beast and the priest gets upset). And there's knitting. So much knitting, that it feels like a religion itself.
Among this idyllic life, however
Writing-wise, I enjoyed the slow, rambling nature of the book. There's a lot of 3rd person POV mixing and muddling, but I think it works in this in that it gives a clear picture of what everyone is thinking (and it's been a long, long time since I've read an Omni-pov book. I kind of miss it.) Some of the revelations in the book did leave me wanting a bit more. I wanted to know why Ipaphengia chose the monastic life when we're given reasons about the other two. What was life like when there were more sisters in the monastery? What will happen to the sisters now? The ending seems happy, but it still gave me a sense of bleakness.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Kidnapping, and Misogyny