The Mermaid Chair
by Sue Monk Kidd
The Mermaid Chair was written by Sue Monk Kidd, of The Secret Life of Bees fame. While her first book was very feminine focused, The Mermaid Chair is a love story. However, I found the same “girl power” very much present, despite the main storyline including two men.
The main character is a middle aged housewife who falls in love with another man. Not just any man, mind you—a monk. The reason, I’m sorry to say, that I didn’t like this book at all was because of the woman. I found her wholly unlikable. Kidd goes out of her way to stress the normalcy of the woman’s life, and the lack of flaws in her husband. For no other reason than boredom or a mid-life crisis, the woman disrupts her marriage and has an affair with a monk. This is a selfish woman, valuing her own immediate happiness over her husband’s and a man who has dedicated his life to God. Rather than experiencing guilt, regret, fear, nausea, or any other realistic feeling while betraying her marital vows, she instead describes her matching aqua lingerie and how sexy she feels that another man besides her husband finds her attractive.
No spoilers here, but as is the same in The Secret Life of Bees, the lesson in this book is to love yourself and your feminine strength above all else. If this selfish, destructive, impulsive woman is supposed to love herself, I can’t root for her.
Be sure and check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees here!
The main character is a middle aged housewife who falls in love with another man. Not just any man, mind you—a monk. The reason, I’m sorry to say, that I didn’t like this book at all was because of the woman. I found her wholly unlikable. Kidd goes out of her way to stress the normalcy of the woman’s life, and the lack of flaws in her husband. For no other reason than boredom or a mid-life crisis, the woman disrupts her marriage and has an affair with a monk. This is a selfish woman, valuing her own immediate happiness over her husband’s and a man who has dedicated his life to God. Rather than experiencing guilt, regret, fear, nausea, or any other realistic feeling while betraying her marital vows, she instead describes her matching aqua lingerie and how sexy she feels that another man besides her husband finds her attractive.
No spoilers here, but as is the same in The Secret Life of Bees, the lesson in this book is to love yourself and your feminine strength above all else. If this selfish, destructive, impulsive woman is supposed to love herself, I can’t root for her.
Be sure and check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of Sue Monk Kidd's novel The Secret Life of Bees here!