The Mermaid Chair: A Novel

by Sue Monk Kidd | Women's Fiction |
ISBN: 0670033944 Global Overview for this book
Registered by DMA7 of Union, New Jersey USA on 8/4/2005
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3 journalers for this copy...
Journal Entry 1 by DMA7 from Union, New Jersey USA on Thursday, August 4, 2005
From Barnes and Noble....

Inside the church of a Benedictine monastery on Egret Island, just off the coast of South Carolina, resides a beautiful and mysterious chair ornately carved with mermaids and dedicated to a saint who, legend claims, was a mermaid before her conversion." "When Jessie is summoned home to the island to cope with her eccentric mother's seemingly inexplicable act of violence, she is living a conventional life with her husband, Hugh, a life "molded to the smallest space possible." Jessie loves Hugh, but once there, she finds herself drawn to Brother Thomas, a monk who is soon to take his final vows. Amid a rich community of unforgettable island women and the exotic beauty of marshlands, tidal creeks, and majestic egrets, Jessie grapples with the tension of desire and the struggle to deny it, with a freedom that feels overwhelmingly right and the immutable force of home and marriage." "Is the power of the mermaid chair only a myth? Or will it alter the course of Jessie's life? What transpires will unlock the roots of her mother's tormented past, but most of all, it will allow Jessie to make a marriage unto herself." The Mermaid Chair is a novel about mermaids and saints, about the passions of the spirit and the ecstasies of the body. It illuminates the awakening of a woman to her own deepest self

Journal Entry 2 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Friday, August 12, 2005
Thanks so much, DMA! Every time I see this book in the bookstore, I want to buy it! But I remembered you said you were sharing with me, so I restrained myself!

Thanks lots :)

Journal Entry 3 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Sunday, August 28, 2005
Too tired to write a journal entry right now. I left my house in Denver at 6:00 AM on Saturday. Flew to Washington, D.C., met my husband there (he flew in from Chicago), and then flew to Zürich, Switzerland, where we landed at 8:00 in the morning on Sunday. We have managed to stay up the whole day and it's now late enough (8:30!) that we can go to sleep :) Anyway, I read this book on both planes and finished it today. . .while trying to stay awake. I did it!

The whole reason I brought this on this trip is because it's on the wishlist of one of the Swiss BookCrossers :) I'll hopefully write a real journal entry before handing it off!

Thanks, DMA!

Journal Entry 4 by Antof9 from Lakewood, Colorado USA on Monday, August 29, 2005
I've had a good night's sleep, and don't feel jet-lagged. Mostly. I may crash later, but right now I'm good :)

So. . . .where to begin this journal entry? I'll start by saying it was a very odd book :) It's interesting, because in some ways it's very obvious that it's the same author as "Secret Life of Bees". It's Southern, has a lot of Catholicism-mixed-with-other-stuff, has odd familial relationships, and dreams/memories, etc. However, I didn't feel like it was the same book with new characters, as I often do when I read two books by the same author within a short time of each other.

The relationship between Jessie and Hugh was very interesting to me. The description early on, after receiving upsetting news over the phone was very touching.
Hugh reached out his arm, and my shoulder slipped into the groove beneath his collarbone while my head glided into the nape of his neck, an oiled, automatic movement as old as our marriage.
I really liked some of these descriptions of their marriage. The comfortability, the knowing what each is thinking, etc. I was disappointed that Jessie at some point thought she wanted something else, when really she was just bored with her life and had an empty nest. . . and very sad memories of her dad.

I would have liked to have known Kat and Hepzibah better. I felt like they were pretty important characters, but we only got surface descriptions of them, making them just 2 eccentric old ladies. And I think they were more than that.

I'm still upset about the whole pipe thing. I just don't get it. It seems to me that it would be very obvious to a parent that their child would assume guilt as Jessie did, and . . .well, I didn't like it.

I'm not sure what else to say. Between a bit of jet lag, reading this book while I was falling asleep (on the planes, and on the ground trying to stay awake), and not wanting to give spoilers, that may be all the brilliance I have to add :)

Journal Entry 5 by Sunneschii from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Monday, August 29, 2005
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!!!

Dear Ant, that's so nice that you brought all these gifts all the way from the US!:-)

I hope I will read the book soon... but actually, there's quite a bg Mt TBR :-)))

Journal Entry 6 by Sunneschii from Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Saturday, September 8, 2007
I've finally came around to read this book. As far as I can remember, I liked it better than "The Secret Life of Bees". But I still had some troubles with it. Sometimes it was just too much fruitcake for the soul.
I also had some troubles reading her affair with With, but that's solely my problem, has nothing to do with the book.


Journal Entry 7 by Sunneschii at Café Gloria (OBCZ) in Zürich, Zürich Switzerland on Friday, January 11, 2008

Released 16 yrs ago (1/11/2008 UTC) at Café Gloria (OBCZ) in Zürich, Zürich Switzerland

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