The Mermaid Chair

The Mermaid Chair Sue Monk Kidd Date: 07 March, 2006   —   $10.78   —   Book product page Rating:

Review of The Mermaid Chair:

Jessie Sullivan’s tale begins with a wake-up call. Literally. Her estranged mother, Nelle’s, best friend telephones Jessie with troubling news of Nelle’s mental and physical health. In spite of their differences and Nelle’s fierce independence, Jessie decides to return home to Egret Island to care for her and possibly discover the underlying reason for Nelle’s irrational and sometimes obsessive behaviors. Through her journey, Jessie discovers more than she anticipated, including answers to her father’s troubling death more than 30 years ago.

I love author Sue Monk Kidd’s use of words, the manner in which she tugs the reader through the world of her protagonists. In The Mermaid Chair, as in her previous work, The Secret Life of Bees, Kidd dips into culture and familial dysfunctions that feel both authentic and fresh. Her characterizations ring true and the story offers a full-circle type of closure with a twist.

However, while I appreciate Kidd’s writing style and attention to detail, once again her theology is tainted with the superstitious and the mystic. She refers to God as “she” and condones Jessie’s adulterous foray for truth and freedom under the guise of independence and self-belonging.

Like Bees, Mermaid’s Chair is a delightful story but with a rather uninspiring message.

tags: eccentric  island  mystic  bees  monkkidd  adultery  mermaid  review  superstitious  mother  

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