My Thoughts on The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

Mermaids, Monks and Missing fingers...

You've got a woman who paints mermaids and has to go back to her childhood home to try to figure out the reasoning and psyche of a mother who just chopped off her finger in a monestary kitchen, a reluctant monk who is hiding from himself and the world, sultry southern afternoons spent in a hidden rookery, along with goddess lore and ritual. Oh, and a puzzling plot centered around a dark childhood secret...all the makings of a perfect summer read. Who could want more, right?

To be perfectly honest, I probably would have picked this book up, glanced through it and put it back on the shelf, leaving it for some other person in an the Atlanta airport (ironic since the story is set in Atlanta, I know) searching for something interesting to read...if it hadn't been for the title and the beautiful cover. I'm a sucker for packaging, such a serious character flaw.

I would have missed out.

In The Mermaid Chair, Kidd takes us on such a vivid and wondrous journey through not only the swampy tides of Egret Island, but the deep and muddled tides of the soul as well. Intertwining goddess myth and ritual with mysteries of the heart, she unveils a story of self-realization and spirit rebirth that is easily identified with.

Visually, the novel is stunning. Teaming with images of hot, sultry afternoons spent paddling a skiff in a nature preserve where glorious birds abound and insects drone. You want the images to go on and on. You want to get lost in them, especially since they are the backdrop for a secret rendezvous (and by the way, you want to get lost in that too).

One could argue that this is nothing more than a step up from a sugary Harlequin, and there are some aspects of the plot that lend themselves to a formulaic plot of internal torment and subsequent seduction. But Kidd's descriptive narratives and soul searching passages elevate the story, make it something more touching and contemplative.

Those that would argue this is simply a beach read romance clearly are missing the very heart of the themes and symbols Kidd so bewitchingly weaves in. Mermaid goddesses, enthralling water rituals, the bonds of women, strained relationships between mothers and daughters, loss of identity, death and rebirth, water and it's associated fertility...it's all in there. Throw in the mystery plot of some dark deed once committed and you have a thought provoking read.

The Mermaid Chair takes us through one woman's version of having love, finding love and reconciling extremes. She captures the feeling all so perfectly in her passage, "I slid my hand away and felt my heart go. Like fingers turning loose of the side of a boat. Dropping through layers of water." So achingly painful, so agonizingly vivid.