The Lamb by Lucy Rose is Crazy

The Lamb is about a cannibal bisexual, her daughter, and her lover. Mama, Margot, and Eden, respectively. Or disrespectfully. This shit was crazy. It’s a fascinating deep dive into consumption horror that is gut wrenching. There’s also a warm glow the coats the novel, like the earthy, delicate, and beautiful nostalgia of girlhood. It’s comforting and reviling. Like, this book is gross. If you don’t want to hear the bloody and gory details of how one is cooked into an English stew with potatoes, carrots, garlic and rosemary, this isn’t for you. But as someone who pushes my capacity for horror, I loved it. I loved how weird it was.

The first words left me gobsmacked: “on my fourth birthday, I plucked six severed fingers from the shower drain.” Okay! What the fucking is happening! We hit the gas!!

I don’t want to spoil anything about the contents of the book, but it’s one of those books that made its way into my bones until I finished it. It was so vile and gorgeous. She describes Margot licking black mold off a wall in vivid detail, as if spores are themselves a work of art. I love how dark, gothic, and strange the narration is. There’s so much simple beauty alongside the ugliness.

I also love feminine rage and consumption as a societal metaphor. In this case, it’s the literal consumption of other human beings as a metaphor for feminine rage. Mama is clinging to youth and beauty. She is wild, untamed, monstrous, decaying, unable to fit into societal structures or roles. She needs to be loved and adored, but she uses people up – consumes them heart, body & soul – consuming a world that tried to consume her. A warped, selfish, and evil character with tinges of tenderness, she’s terrifying, but I understand her rage. She is also a total wino. Cult of the Mother God type shit. Margot is fascinating – her trauma, confusion, and naivety becoming a curiosity for love and connection beyond the world of her mother is… heartbreaking. Eden’s role in the story… surprised me. That’s all I’ll say, but I do this her name is a reference to the original sin, leading to the unraveling of many things in the story…and she’s described as a serpent, so… anyways!

Many times my mouth hung open during this one. If you can stomach it, definitely worth a read!!

Much love to Abbie and her green ribbon and Lucy Rose’s many many many ways of describing mud on boots & soot on hands.