Review: The Mermaid Chair By Sue Monk Kidd

I give this story 5 stars, not just for the complex characters and powerful emotional plot, but also for the author's very own talent.

So the story begins with this character named Jessie, who grew up on a small island in the middle of the ocean called Egret Island. At the age of nine years old Jessie’s father had passed away in a boating accident that she’s sure she caused; this event had shaped her life since. The island had become one big grave around her, for her father, her mother, and herself. She discovers art in her childhood and recreates scenes of boat accidents, not causing concern but remorse and facinsation in the islanders. In her college years she decides to start a new chapter and try to sell her art; scenes displayed in boxes, (Not shadow boxes, the character seems to be irritated at the idea that her art might be viewed as this.) Jessie then, after meeting her husband, not puts her art to the side, but more likely makes it a smaller aspect of herself; bound within her house with her art studio. She becomes a loving wife and a loving mother causing a new chapter to reshape her life. It is then when her daughter moves away for college that Jessie goes into a sort of mute chapter in her life. One night the phone wakes her and her husband, it is an islander from Egret Island, Jessie's mother's friend, trying to contact Jessie because her mother has gotten into incident that she had inflicted upon herself. Jessie then returns to Engret Island to care for her mother. The Island, her parents, her old life, herself now, has been unearth from their graves causing Jessie to go upon a journey into it all.

Whit O'Conner was once an attorney who once represented conservation and environmental groups, helping them go against developers and industrial polluters. He had been married; had a wife who was pregnant with their first child the last he saw her. His wife and daughter had passed away in a tragic accident. After grieving Whit had decided to venture off to Egret Island to join the island's monastery and become Brother Thomas in search for God's existence. He lives with much older monks within the monastery and is met with all of their unique personalities, rather they be silly and lovable, or overbearing but still very caring. He becomes the monastery's rookery monk and discovers in the wilderness of the island God's eternal vastness in the smallest parts of nature and life. Upon being there for awhile he is met with the decision: Take his vows and leave behind the world in the peace of God's stillness and live out his years at the monastery that he came to love, or leave and go back into the world and continue life.

This story was more than just a forbidden romance, this is a story that involves self-discovery, self-acceptance, discovery of truth, sacrifice, love, guilt, endurance, being daring and going for what you want, love, and need; along with understanding how boundless mermaids are.

The author, Sue Monk Kid, had great control and command of her complex characters. She had successfully delivered the value that she had wanted the reader to grasp through her words. This is one of the reasons why I love this book so much, you can see the author's talent clearly and wonderfully as you read.

I've grown to love Jessie, Whit, Nelle (Jessie's mother), Joe (Jessie's father), Hugh (Jessie's husband), other islanders on Engret Island, Max (The island's famous dog), and the island itself. I would be lying if I didn't admit that this story inspired me greatly.

I rate this story five stars, it was very alive, emotional, and powerful. I highly suggest as a great spring and summer read.