Lamb

A Novel

By: Bonnie Nadzam

Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert

Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

Lamb traces the self-discovery of David Lamb, a narcissistic middle-aged man with a tendency toward dishonesty, in the weeks following the disintegration of his marriage and the death of his father. Hoping to regain some faith in his own goodness, he turns his attention to Tommie, an awkward and unpopular 11-year-old girl. Lamb is convinced that he can help her avoid a destiny of apathy and emptiness, and even comes to believe that his devotion to Tommie is in her best interest. But when he decides to abduct a willing Tommie for a road trip from Chicago to the Rockies, planning to initiate her to the beauty of the mountain wilderness, they are both shaken in ways neither of them expects.

Lamb is a masterful exploration of the dynamics of love and dependency that challenges the boundaries between adolescence and adulthood, confronts preconceived notions about conventional morality, and exposes mankind’s eroded relationship with nature.

©2011 Bonnie Nadzam (P)2011 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“ Lamb is a remarkable debut by a writer to watch. I will be thinking about these characters for a long time.” (Aimee Bender, New York Times best-selling author)

Lolita-esque

First off, if you were captivated by Lolita, then this is a must. The story accurately captures the realistic characters of Lamb and Tommy, complete with their unlikable traits and oversights when planning. I do not agree with the negative reviews saying that the story is somehow wrong just because of its subject matter; if you not prepared for an unconvential tale with an abnormal main character then why did you choose to choose to buy the book? This story is an unheralded gem that you can lose yourself in.

wow!!!

Spellbinding, thought-provoking, incredibly written and yet also disturbing. All in all, well done and a resounding wow!

UNCOMFORTABLE

This book was very disturbing. It was uncomfortable. THREW MY PHONE! Overall, liked it though. Its one of those books, once you start you just have to finish.

Great performance, strange book.

I'm not sure what to make of this book. The main character is an odd mix of Holden Caufield, Humbert Humbert, and my grandfather. The one who was always spouting nonsense about the grimness of the "real world" while living in a cocoon of wealth and denial.

This could have been a touching story of two people, an adult and a child, meeting at just the right time in each other's lives, and striking up a strong, loving, and unconventional friendship. I think that is what the author was going for. However, it comes off as the story of an old guy who is trying desperately to convince himself that he isn't infatuated with a child.

To be clear, there isn't anything overtly sexual between the two, and the author does go out of her way a few times to explain how innocent certain things are. But, there are too many scenes in the book that just simply wouldn't happen if the main character wasn't a pervert. Like when he forces her into the tub and washes her (the kid is 11), when simply changing her shirt would have sufficed. Or the multiple mentions of him feeding her whiskey with his mouth. Who does that?

I would have been fine with the story of a doomed, horrible, one-sided love affair like Lolita, and I would have been fine with the story of an unlikely friendship between an old man and a young girl. Both could have been good. This book though, seems to want to be both, and it just didn't work.

The performance, on the other hand was excellent. It is worth a listen just for that. The reader does and excellent job bringing life to the somewhat shallow characters.

Total score 5.567 / 10

Very intriguing story

What made the experience of listening to Lamb the most enjoyable?

Great narration which kept me listening despite nearly cringing each chapter to see if something terrible was going to happen

Would you be willing to try another book from Bonnie Nadzam? Why or why not?

I found the story disturbing, so no

Which scene was your favorite?

Beautiful descriptions of the landscape, almost felt like I was there

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

NO

Any additional comments?

Disturbing story line

That was....weird

Just....weird.

It's pedophilia almost but...barely. which I guess is good but I'm also confused? Maybe that's what the writer wanted?

Gary/David is a manipulative @$$hole... I hate him.

I am just so weirded out by this story. What's was the point?

I could not finish due to disturbing storyline

I should have read the reviews before selecting this book. I didn’t bother because it was in the plus portion of the audible app. However, I can’t even listen to it I can’t imagine How anyone could come up with the direction the store it was clearly headed. Simply sick. With that said, the narrator was excellent! I will look for more Audio with her narration! At least that was a positive to come out of this. The author should change the story line a bit and remove the disgusting portion. It could have been a great book if it Didn’t head into pedo trash territory. She could have focused on the narcissistic portion without ruining the book that way. Sorry I could not finish, I do wish she would change this story and resubmit it with the same narrator. The disgusting Portion was so bad, the excellence of the narrator cant bring the story up to a star but you cant submit zero stars.

Evil

Horrible and disgusting book trying to normalize pedophilic behaviors. I wish I could delete it.

Worst Listen and soooo disturbing!

I struggled to get through this book, at one stage where the pedophilia got to bad I listened to it at twice the speed just to get it over. When I started I thought this would be a good story, but really it is so disturbing and there is no good story line or ending. The manipulation and pedophilia disgusted me. I would have stopped listening but I was invested already and thought lets give it a try, maybe there is a good ending. I think this is the lowest I have ever rated a book on Audible.

weird

really weird book. I was creeped out throughout the story and was really hoping for a redeeming endind