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Loading... The Mermaid Chairby Sue Monk Kidd
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will love Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. I purchsed this book right after I finished [The Secret Life Of Bees] but deliberately waited to read it. So 2 years later, unfortunately, it was still impossible to judge Mermaid on it's own merits. So here goes...it's not even close to the wonderful Secret Life Of Bees. I do know it's the same writer, but barely. A new author would get a pass on this work though the problems, prose and story development, would still be glaring. The entire story seems contrived. You can almost hear the editor saying "Sue I need pages"... On a scale of 1 to 10 -- maybe a 6. The Mermaid Chair is written by Sue Monk Kidd. Kidd also wrote the New York Times bestseller The Secret Life of Bees. Kidd was born and raised in a small town in Georgia. Sue lived in South Carolina with her husband Sandy where they taught at a small college. This was when she truly started writing. She published her first book titled God's Joyful Surprise in 1988. This book described the beginning of her spiritual journey. The Mermaid Chair was Kidd’s second novel. It was published in the spring of 2005. The Mermaid Chair was on the New York Time bestseller list for nine months. The novel was made into a television movie by Lifetime. The Mermaid Chair Is about a married woman named Jessie. Her husband’s name is Hugh and they appear to be happily married. Their only daughter Dee has just left for college and Jessie begins looking for more out of her life. One morning she receives a call from her mother’s friend on the South Carolina Island, Egret Island, she had grown up on. Jessie’s mother, Nelle cut off her finger and it was important that Jessie be there to care for her mother. The injury was on purpose, there were more serious things going on than just a missing finger. Jessie went to Egret Island and stayed with her mother for some time. While on the island Jessie met a young monk. He was fairly new to the monastery. After spending time together Jessie begins to fall in love with the monk. While Jessie is trying to work through her mother’s emotional problems, which she just can’t understand she is dealing with her own issues. Her marriage begins to fall apart as she falls for this other man and details from her father’s death start to trouble her as she learns new truths. Jessie had grown up believing that her father died in a boat fire started by a pipe she had given him as a gift. After much time on the island she learns truths about herself and uncovers the way her father had actually died. This novel is about Jessie’s journey of self discovery and finding what makes her truly happy. The themes of this book are mid-life marriage and self-awakening. This story is empowering, it tells the tale of a women who isn’t truly happy with her life and how she takes the time to rediscover herself. I enjoyed the book. I was able to easily identify with the main character. I think many women find themselves in the same spot in the lives. You can always take the clear message from the book that you should live your life for yourself - not only those around you. read twice. Loved this book enough to read it again. Mother cuts off her finger and daughter goes home to help. Her mother also cooks for the monks at the monastary next door where the mermaid chair resides. Daughter falls in love with a certain monk, they meet in the tidal basins and waterways. Will she return to her husband Hugh? Some good phrases, very good writing, unique story, enchanting. 0.049 seconds to build listing
Amazon.com (ISBN 0143036696, Paperback)Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair is the soulful tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island, where she is caring for her troubled mother, Nelle. Like Kidd's stunning debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her highly anticipated follow up evokes the same magical sense of whimsy and poignancy.While Kidd places an obvious importance on the role of mysticism and legend in this tale, including the mysterious mermaid's chair at the center of the island's history, the relationships between characters is what gives this novel its true weight. Once she returns to her childhood home, Jessie is forced to confront not only her relationship with her estranged mother, but her other emotional ties as well. After decades of marriage to Hugh, her practical yet conventional husband, Jessie starts to question whether she is craving an independence she never had the chance to experience. After she meets Brother Thomas, a handsome monk who has yet to take his final vows, Jessie is forced to decide whether passion can coexist with comfort, or if the two are mutually exclusive. As her soul begins to reawaken, Jessie must also confront the circumstances of her father's death, a tragedy that continues to haunt Jessie and Nelle over thirty years later. By boldly tackling such major themes as love, betrayal, grief, and forgiveness, The Mermaid Chair forces readers to question whether moral issues can always be interpreted in black or white. It is this ability to so gracefully present multiple sides of a story that reinforces Kidd's reputation as a well-respected modern literary voice. --Gisele Toueg (retrieved from Amazon Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:58:24 -0400) The first test round has been closed. Visit the Open Shelves Classification group for details. |
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The author's main characters are so confused, that it doesn't come across as plausible when they eventually do what they do. All in all, I'm glad I read this book. The author is a good writer and shows some real flashes of originality. I was totally fascinated by the look into the souls of people trying so hard to find themselves, and even in the end, not giving much evidence of really having succeeded. I would recommend the book very highly to anyone who is contemplating having an affair. She might very well change her mind after reading it. (