required: an iron stomach

This was a journey through lots of emotions and cringing and wondering where the story could possibly go. The two words that keep chasing themselves through my mind are "fascinating" and "gruesome." Fascinating because there are so many moving parts and intentional choices made on the writing level to create the kind of horror that stirs the senses as well as reveals a deep human truth (that's also a little scary). Gruesome because this is a book about cannibalism---so buckle up for the rest of this review and The Lamb if you decide to read it.
I tried describing the plot of this novel from beginning to end to my mom, cause I absolutely had to share the trajectory of this story with someone. She was equally parts grossed out and equally parts intrigued to know if the child-first-person narration style was successful in making the story more or less scary. My vote is more scary. Think about it this way: Margot, a young girl, grows up in a rural area of England with just her mother to raise her and keep her company. Her mother lays out traps on the backroads to lure "strays" to their homestead to then be drugged, killed, cooked, and eaten by Margot and her mother. Margot knows nothing but this lifestyle and form of food, and therefore spends a good portion of the novel observing her mother and trying to make sense of the world from her point of view. It's disturbing stuff, but also the kind of psychological stuff that kept me reading even when it just got more and more grisly and disturbing. I found myself rooting for Margot whenever she went to school and had interactions with other children and the kind bus driver who showed her glimpses of how things are (and can be) outside of her house. I think this POV brilliantly illustrates what it's like to only know one way of life and not knowing to question if there are other ways to exist before it's too late. I don't want to put direct spoilers into this book beyond the blurb/short synopsis that's already at the top of this paragraph, but please know that the turning point of the book is marked by the arrival of a stray unlike the others who changes everything for Margot and her mother.
I saw some criticism in reviews relating to the novel's pacing and how the middle sections drag. I honestly can't second those particular reviews, as I felt that all the smaller incidents and moments of growth in Margot's perspective were fodder for the epic finale of an end. I also have to comment on all the deliciously ironic language used in every chapter, maybe even every page. There's so much interesting and intricate comparison of the human body to food, of a growing child in a womb to a growing child in puberty, to prey and predator, to young girl to older woman/mother... the list goes on and on. It makes you aware of your body in perhaps not very pleasant ways, but is a signal to me of very good writing. 
My two main warnings for this book may seem obvious, but I shall write them here regardless: 1) If you don't want to engage in any sort of cannibalistic horror literature, this book is what I believe to be the epitome of that. Skip it. 2) You need a pretty strong stomach if you are gonna read or listen to this.
Happy reading. :)



Some of my favorite quotes from The Lamb:

"It’s impossible to truly know someone who hides so much of themselves and consumes so much of others."

"She looked the way I imagined women had looked thousands of years ago, without airs and graces and preconceptions. She was just a person, held up by bone."

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