The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd

February 9, 2006
Book suggested by Barb, and meeting hosted by Lucia.

We talked about a number of themes that came into play in this book including the following:

• How Jess became absorbed into the life of her loved ones and lost, but needed to find, her own identity again. Most of us agreed that parenting, particularly for women, forces us (our choice, though) to put aside our own interests to take care of the needs of our families. Some of us liked the scene where she took vows to honor and love herself from that point forward.


• How Jess's father's suicide, particularly his method that included notifying others of his intentions, affected his loved ones, particularly Jess and her mother. We also discussed whether his actions were selfish or selfless, cowardly or courageous.


• We all agreed that infidelity was not an answer to Jess's mid-life crisis. Two of us thought unfavorably of the infidelity theme to the point where we were turned off to the book even though it was an easy read. We were all disappointed in the way Jess treated her model husband, and even more disappointed in his readily forgiving her.


• We did not focus on the religious and mythological symbolism presented in the book, but we did find it distasteful, and somewhat unbelievable, that one monk had numerous secretive sexual encounters, and another monk participated in a suicide. The finger removal was gross irregardless of its connection to religion and legend.


• We discussed the relationships Jess had with her mother, her daughter, and the other women on the island.

Sue Monk Kidd's website: http://www.suemonkkidd.com/