Lamb
Bonnie Nadzam
Other, Sep 13 2011, $15.99
ISBN: 9781590514375
Near Chicago, fiftyish David Lamb’s wife Cathy left him. Soon after that his father dies. Depressed and grieving, David no longer cares about his job.
In a strip mall convenience store lot, seventh grader Sydney persuades her friend Tommie to bum a cigarette off of David. He lectures the eleven years old girl for her foolish behavior, but gives her a cigarette. David convinces Tommie to teach her friends a lesson. They pretend he is abducting her, but instead he takes her home. Tommie is stunned as Sydney and the others act indifferent to her kidnapping. David and Tommie begin to see one another as friends until they take a ride to his empty family house in Colorado.
With a loose nod to Lolita, Lamb is a terrific character study of a lonely middle age adult and the tweener he “mentors”. David use of the defense mechanism rationalization that he’s providing her a wider experience to defend his time with her enhances the deep look at a very disturbed person. The Colorado neighbors snoop on the odd couple, but readers will wonder whether they will contact authorities or just satiate morbid curiosity. Although David’s adult girlfriend’s behavior appears almost as odd as that of her boyfriend, fans will appreciate a profound look at a mentally ill person.
Harriet Klausner
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