Sweet Lamb of Heaven by Lydia Millet

Earlier this year, as soon as I heard news of Lydia Millet’s newest novel, I diligently set about reading the last two novels of her recent trilogy (How the Dead Dream, Ghostlights, Magnificence). Even when this author writes a trilogy, it is more like three loosely connected novels, the way some novels are a collection of loosely connected stories. I finished the trilogy satisfied that she had given me three distinct examples of her worldview shown through the eyes of three related characters. read more

Tenancy

The two men stood in the entryway of Edwina Graham’s spacious one-bedroom apartment. This whole building was going condo, and the fact that an old woman had a controlled rent of $580 wasn’t going to stand in the way of that. She had held out for months, but Carlson had had enough. This was a multi-million dollar deal, for God’s sake.

Test Subjects

There was something wrong with the self-checkout at Queen’s Grocer, I could tell. I didn’t know quite what it was yet, but I was sure there was something wrong with it. “Insert bills, or select method of payment,” said the robotic female voice. read more