Sweet Lamb of Heaven, the new novel by Lydia
Millet, hold within it a very weird and unexpected story of paranoia,
friendship and the places we go when the world gets to dangerous and scary,
elements I did not expect from reading the synopsis on the front flap of the
hardcover edition. What presents itself as a rather straightforward thriller of
a lover gone mad and the woman hiding from him turns into something deeply
philosophical and almost magical, if my intuitions about what was actually
going on are true. Most thrillers of this nature are not as vague or dreamlike
as this book, a quality that both keeps a lot of this book’s intent at arm’s
length, but also creates a world that is intoxicating, a narrator who is
fascinating and shows the complexity of the book’s plot and narrative. At the
start of the book Anna and her daughter Lena are on the de-facto run from Ned,
Anna’s husband and Lena’s father. They are holed up in a motel in Maine called
The Wind and Pines during its off-season, which is strange since the hotel
seems full. They are hiding from Ned, an uncaring sociopath who is charming and
using that charm to run for office, the reason he wants Anna and Lena by his
side. Not a lot happens until the rather chaotic ending. Instead, the bulk of
the book introduces us to people who may or may not be figments of Anna’s
depressive, crumbling psyche, such as Don, the hotel owner, Kay, a former
doctoral student, two girls named Linda and Will, who Anna eventually falls in
love with. I was close to finding out what was at the heart of this book, but
even though I was unsuccessful, I found the experience enriching and
rewarding.
Rating: 4/5
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