Leïla Slimani - Lullaby

I bought ‘Lullaby’ for a book club meeting I ended up being too busy to attend, and it had been sitting on my shelf ever since. Seeing as it’s pretty short, I finally decided to give it a go this weekend, and it’s been... an interesting experience. 

This short novel follows the story of the young, nuclear Mausse family. Myriam had to give up her dreams of becoming a lawyer to fulfil her motherly duties, and while initially she finds them fulfilling, they become stifling once the second baby comes. When given an opportunity to jumpstart her career by an university friend, and some back and forth with Paul, her husband, they decide to hire a nanny. After a fruitless search, the perfect nanny, a Mary Poppins incarnate if you will, shows up. Louise seems to be the answer to all of their problems - their apartment is suddenly clean and welcoming, children better behaved and the kitchen full of scrumptious food. They sing Louise’s praises, but as time goes on, the relationship grows strained, and animosities increase.

Usually my favourite part of reviewing is talking about the characters, as I firmly believe they are the foundation every book requires to be an enjoyable read. I’m hesitant to discuss this too much here, in fear of spoiling anything, so let me just say these characters made me uncomfortable. I loved the fact the author included all of these different points of view showing not a single character here is purely ‘good’, as that’s unrealistic. They all think and do questionable things, but unfortunately, aren’t all that likeable.

This is much more of a character study rather than a typical thriller, as little goes on in terms of action: It is heavily implied in the begging who committed the murder, and soon we are thrust back in time to see how the events leading up to this point have unfolded. The short length of this piece works in its favour for this reason - otherwise the reader might grow bored of the domesticity with some foreshadowing peppered in. This also contributes to how claustrophobic this novel made me feel.

All and all, I’m torn between praising the character study here, as it is quite masterful, but I just didn’t enjoy this book that much. It’s a claustrophobic portrayal of the extremes of human nature, even in the most unlikely of suspects. It’s this uniqueness that makes ‘Lullaby’ a worthwhile read - at least once. 

Rating: 5/10