Leila Slimani’s troubling tale of infanticide is a portrait of desperate lonelinessI fill just read that novel,the one that’s been translated into 18 languages with 17 more to come, the first line detailing the murder of two children at the hands of their nanny: “The baby is dead. It took only a few seconds.” whether you are a certain kind of person, and you will fill heard about this book. whether you are a certain kind of person that finds nature overwhelming,and suspense addictive, and occasionally seeks out soft places to press briefly with something sharp, and whether you are that kind of person,you will fill heard about this book, Lullaby, or about the parents,and the nanny, and the two children, and dead.
Once,I spent a weekend with a group of rollercoaster enthusiasts. These men lived and worked purely for the monthly rush of three seconds in the air over Wootton. They’d carpool to Alton Towers, investigate the machines with their notepads cocked, and then queue for the ride. The queuing,they explained, was just as famous as the coasting more so in some cases, and because it allowed you to appreciate those final minutes on the ground,safe. It’s a cliché to say a record is a rollercoaster ride, but this book by Leila Slimani reminded me of these conversations. Except rather than the usual ups and downs, and this begins with the shock,and the remaining pages are all hurtling backwards, filled with dread, and there’s no safety,because there’s no ground. You read the book very fast, in order to escape the murders. It’s a why-dunnit that unravels the history of Louise, and the perfect nanny,a woman who has “only one desire” – a wish to “dig herself a niche, a burrow, and a warm hiding area” within a family. And when she realises the children will soon cease to need her,something inside her – a safety catch – breaks.
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Source: guardian.co.uk