Mermaid Chair (Kaitlyn Baranowski)

The Mermaid Chair, Sue Monk Kidd, Penguin Books, 332 pages

I decided to read this book because my sister really liked it and she recommended it to me. Also, it is written by the author of The Secret Life of Bees and I really enjoyed reading that book.

The main character in this book, Jessie, has it pretty good. She has a gorgeous and devoted husband, a wonderful daughter, and a big house. But suddenly, her mother goes off the “deep end” and chops off one of her fingers for a mysterious reason she refuses to tell. Jessie is forced to move back to her mother's house and as she's there, she goes through a deep and spiritual journey that causes her to question everything in her life. As she goes back to her old home, she also faces her old childhood, and is yet again forced to face her father's death which she has guiltily carried with her for her whole life. In this book, Jessie learns more about her father's death and that she was not responsible for it in the way she believed all these years… Next door to her mother's house is a monastery where Jessie meets a monk, Brother Thomas, whom she falls deeply in love with. Jessie discovers a new life and who she really is with Thomas that she never knew existed before.

I believe the audience for this book is older girls and women because it teaches us that the most important relationship a woman can have is a relationship with her soul and to be true to who she really is.

The author's writing style is very descriptive and easy to read. Kidd writes as if talking through the main character's thoughts. “I marvel at how good I was before I met him, how I lived molded to the smallest space possible, my days the size of little beads that passed without passion through my fingers. So few people know what they're capable of,” (pg 1). Once in a while, Kidd would have a chapter dedicated to another character's point of view so the reader gets an overall better understanding for the book, and to add more depth to the book.

First passage: “Everything began to rearrange itself then. It wasn't the pipe that had caused the fire. I sat at the dresser for several minutes while Mother slept across the room, and I let the knowledge pour over me: I was not to blame,” (pg 85). This passage really surprised me. I was really happy that Jessie was relieved of her guilt of her father's death. I was also confused because if she wasn't to blame for her father's death, who was?
Second passage: “She scooted her chair close to mine and pushed her lips against my ear the way children do when imparting secrets. 'You love one of the monks,' she whispered,” (pg 139). This passage shocked me because I didn't know how Benne knew about Jessie and Thomas. It really made me believe that Benne was gifted with a sixth sense even though she was mentally challenged.
Third passage: “Her face appeared dazed. Her hand lifted as if she were a student asking permission to speak. Blood was everywhere. Soaked across the front of her pale nylon gown. Winding in streams down her forearm. Pelting the floor,” (pg 244). This passage shocked me because I couldn't believe Jessie's mother cut off another finger. It only made me question her reasoning more and made me want to find out her secret she kept refusing to tell.

I believe the theme of this book is that it is important for everyone to figure out who they really are and what they are capable of in life. Example one: “All my life, in nameless, indeterminate ways, I'd tried to complete myself with someone else--first my father, then Hugh, even Whit, and I didn't want that anymore. I wanted to belong to myself,” (pg 318). This shows how Jessie went on a journey of self-discovery and found out who she really is. Example two: “I never could make them understand that what I needed was somehow to be alone with myself. In a spiritual way, I mean. He'd called that aloneness a solitude of being,” (pg 308). This passage shows exactly what Jessie searched for throughout the entire story. She wanted to discover who she really was; she wanted to discover her solitude of being.

I would give this book an A minus. This book was really easy to understand and the author had an interesting writing style.. Also, I thought the theme was easy to grasp and easy to relate to. Lastly, this book constantly revealed new surprises encouraging the reader to keep reading.