A nanny kills the two kids of a young Parisian couple – but why?
Lullaby has a compelling premise and discovering what warped, demented reason the nanny could possibly have for doing something so heinous kept me turning the pages. Except we never really find out. You could read that opening scene showing the immediate aftermath of the killings, leave it there and still have the same impression as someone who reads the whole thing! The following 200 pages in Leila Slimani’s Prix Goncourt-winning book bizarrely doesn’t build on that scene any further. And it’s why I found myself disliking the novel more and more as it went on.
There’s no real story. Paul and Myriam hire Louise to look after their little ones, Mila and Adam, while they pursue their careers. We learn a bit about Louise’s sad life – her wayward daughter, her deadbeat husband who saddles her with debt and the broken-down studio flat she lives in – but it’s barely a story and definitely not an entertaining one at that.
So I hoped, in lieu, there’d be strong character work and/or psychological insight into the mind of a child-killer – but no, not even that either! Why did this win France’s most prestigious literary prize?! The characters are flat and unremarkable, Louise is a little odd but there’s no real indication for her actions which come out of nowhere in the final act and don’t make sense – couldn’t she just get another job as nanny for another family?
It’s not badly written, it’s an accessible, quick read, and the premise is compelling but ultimately it doesn’t live up to it and the lack of any great story, characters or insight made Lullaby a disappointing and unsatisfying book.
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