The Carnivorous Lamb (Little Sister's Classics)

This wasn't an easy book. I was able to put it down for days, yet I
needed to know the outcome, wanted it to be a happy one.

At the beginning we know nothing about narrator Ignacio only that
he's arrived in Spain to await the arrival of brother, Antonio, who
he hasn't seen for several years. First he makes the bed in their
old room then bathes repeatedly in the soap their mother always
used, a scent redolent of Antonio. As Ignacio tells his story
recalling the past and his strange family gradually we understand
why he wants Antonio home so badly, his absence a major presence in
a story of longing and passion.

It is 1975. As Ignacio describes his peculiar childhood shut in the
house with only brother, parents and family servant for company, the
story becomes a meditation on love and loss, hope and despair.
Ignacio hated his mother who ignored his existence, silent and
indifferent since he refused to open his eyes for 16 days after he
was born and then only to look at his older brother. His father
retired to his study a defeated man, an invisible presence in the
house.

It's a love letter from Ignacio to Antonio. Though the relationship
is incestuous, it's described so beautifully I didn't question the
morality. The sex is explicit but tasteful, literary erotica. You
never feel Antonio exploits Ignacio; the boy is in control. Their
intimacy is tender and affectionate as well as something intensely
physical.

The mother knows what's going on, and the father's isolation is
disturbed when it comes to his attention. The affair is hardly
clandestine as the brothers flaunt their togetherness.

The book is laden with social & political meaning, about Spain, the
Civil War and the Franco regime. Heavy use of symbolism includes
colour, red and yellow. The decaying old house with its family at
war stands for a country marked by conflict, triumphant victors and
bitter losers slowly dying without hope. Read as metaphor the
relationship of Ignacio & Antonio is about freedom of conscience,
their union a victory against totalitarian forces of oppression
holding Spain in thrall. Ignacio & Antonio are the young generation,
the hope for a better future.

This is a literary book, carefully crafted, yet
somehow it just didn't get under my skin; I never forgot I was reading a novel. Ignacio is the carnivorous lamb, a stuffed skin
belonging to Ignacio's mother, a pet never to grow up, devouring
everything it touches, a disturbing image. Are we meant to like him? I'm
not sure if I did, yet I wanted Antonio to come back to him. Is this
an acceptable book, the kind that wins prizes, because it uses
incest to make a political statement and educate readers in
history? Food for thought.

Recommended to anyone interested in understanding modern Spain,
though it can be read simply as a stylish romance.

The Carnivorous Lamb (Little Sister's Classics)

Agustin Gomez-Arcos

Reader Reviews:

A love story with a twist (3/3 people found this helpful)

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