Erin's Book #16: The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

The Secret Life of Bees was one of my favorite books of last year, so when I saw this on the bargain shelf, I couldn't resist. Had I not known it was the same author, I wouldn't have figured it out.

Mermaid is about a middle-aged married woman, Jessie, who goes back to the small island on which she grew up to care for her mother. She begins an affair with a Benedictine monk. (I'm not giving anything away; she says as much in the opening line). The titular chair resides in the monastery.

I guess the book is kind of about finding yourself and the truth and there's a lot of business with her dad, but it kind of just feels like a romance novel. The rest of it, what really should be the meat of the story, feels secondary.

It's an easy read, if you can tolerate the embarrassing title and cover (a co-worker of mine actually laughed out loud when he saw it). I do enjoy Kidd's style - she writes beautifully, lyrically, and has a way of tapping into emotions everyone has (or at least I do), such as - "I didn't know then what I wanted, but the ache of it was palpable."

I might have liked this more had I not just come off reading Glass Castle and Shanghai Girls, stories where the stakes were seriously high and mothers were choosing not to feed their daughters or selling them off to the highest bidder. Jessie's mom cutting off her finger seemed just a little eccentric by comparison and I found myself a little annoyed at how everyone was treating it like a tragedy of the highest degree.

In reality, there's a lot to relate to about The Mermaid Chair. Jessie's suffering from some unknown emotional affliction, seeking answers, carrying around the guilt of her father's death and of abandoning her home. The resolution actually was a surprise to me. I just wish it hadn't felt so much like a romance novel. Apparently a movie was made in 2006 starring Kim Basinger. Hadn't heard of it. Has an awful awful poster. Anyway. I know I'm not making this book sound too great and since I finished it 3 weeks ago, it hasn't really stayed with me. But summer is coming (I guess it's been here for a while for you Floridians) and I could easily see someone spending an afternoon on the beach reading it. So there you have it - if you're looking for heavy drama, you're in the wrong place, but if you just want an entertaining summer-y trifle, you'll probably enjoy it.