Product Description

A dazzling novel of passion and spirituality—the instant blockbuster bestseller from the author of The Secret Life of Bees

Sue Monk Kidd’s phenomenal debut, The Secret Life of Bees, became a runaway bestseller that is still on the New York Times bestseller list more than two years after its paperback publication. Now, in her luminous new novel, Kidd has woven a transcendent tale that will thrill her legion of fans. Telling the story of Jessie Sullivan—a love story between a woman and a monk, a woman and her husband, and ultimately a woman and her own soul—Kidd charts a journey of awakening and self-discovery illuminated with a brilliance that only a writer of her ability could conjure.

“Book clubs, start your engines. . . . [The Mermaid Chair] is a tapestry strengthened by bonds between women that bridge pain and loss.”
—USA Today
“The pages all but turn themselves.” —Parade
“Soulful in its probing of the human heart.” —San Francisco Chronicle
“Kidd draws connections from the feminine to the divine to the erotic that a lesser writer wouldn’t see, and might not have the guts to follow.” —Time
“It’s hard to put this book down for things like eating and sleeping.” —Elle

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14567 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Amazon.com
Sue Monk Kidd's The Mermaid Chair is the soulful tale of Jessie Sullivan, a middle-aged woman whose stifled dreams and desires take shape during an extended stay on Egret Island, where she is caring for her troubled mother, Nelle. Like Kidd's stunning debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees, her highly anticipated follow up evokes the same magical sense of whimsy and poignancy.

While Kidd places an obvious importance on the role of mysticism and legend in this tale, including the mysterious mermaid's chair at the center of the island's history, the relationships between characters is what gives this novel its true weight. Once she returns to her childhood home, Jessie is forced to confront not only her relationship with her estranged mother, but her other emotional ties as well. After decades of marriage to Hugh, her practical yet conventional husband, Jessie starts to question whether she is craving an independence she never had the chance to experience. After she meets Brother Thomas, a handsome monk who has yet to take his final vows, Jessie is forced to decide whether passion can coexist with comfort, or if the two are mutually exclusive. As her soul begins to reawaken, Jessie must also confront the circumstances of her father's death, a tragedy that continues to haunt Jessie and Nelle over thirty years later.

By boldly tackling such major themes as love, betrayal, grief, and forgiveness, The Mermaid Chair forces readers to question whether moral issues can always be interpreted in black or white. It is this ability to so gracefully present multiple sides of a story that reinforces Kidd's reputation as a well-respected modern literary voice. --Gisele Toueg

From Publishers Weekly
Every aspect of this audiobook, from the enchanting music that marks the story's dramatic moments to the narrator's intimate delivery, draws listeners into Kidd's mystical world. Set on Egret Island, a fictional barrier island off the coast of South Carolina, the novel focuses on 42-year-old Jessie, a Southern housewife who embarks on a journey of self-discovery after learning that her mother, who's still distraught over her husband's death 33 years earlier, has cut off her own finger. Foss speaks with grace and tenderness, deftly capturing the myriad characters who enter Jessie's life, including her love interest, an introspective attorney turned monk who's about to take his finals vows. Perhaps the book's most important character, however, is the land itself, and Foss wisely gives as much weight to Kidd's detailed depictions of the island's lush flora and fauna as to the characters themselves, never rushing through the descriptions and always reading these passages with an appropriate note of reverence.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine
Critics generally agree that despite some thematic similarities, The Mermaid Chair is a sophomoric slump compared to Kidd’s bestselling debut novel, The Secret Life of Bees (2002). Kidd, who’s also authored several inspirational books, draws on her theological background to depict her characters’ awakening states. Despite complimenting some beautiful passages describing the Southern landscape, critics quickly ridiculed the novel’s enlightened romance—for Jessie, one of "transgression and betrayal," but "also mystery and what felt like holiness." The novel’s glacial pace and awkward mermaid symbolism only detracted from what could have been a poignant love story. If you’re a fan, however, perhaps there is enough pain and sacrifice to keep you reading.

Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Great read that makes you think
This is a great book. 5 stars. It makes you look inside yourself and think about your life's goals, destiny, the destination where your life's flow is taking you, are you on a right track, are you in charge of your own life, what makes you happy and unhappy, mother-daughter relationship, etc.

The ending is a positive one, it gives hope, but at the same time it's not a typical Hollywood-style "happy end".

Mindless entertainment
This book is the most generic of Beach Books. Light and fluffy, with some Made For TV Movie drama thrown in (should she leave her husband? Why is her mother crazy?), it's engaging enough to be able to finish but I found it impossible to really like. The characters are standard (Crazy Mom, Sexy Other Guy, Hip Collegiate Daughter and the protagonist, while obviously supposed to be sympathetic and "deep," comes off as too beige, self-important and indecisive to respect.

If this book is lying around and you need to kill a few hours, go for it. But don't look for anything of intellectual value or moral character.

The Mermaid Chair: The Seat of Questions of Ethics
The story begins with Jesse Sullivan returning home to Egret Island to care for her aging mother who had just purposefully cut off her finger. Discovering that her mother had done this as part of a mysterious ritual, Jesse ultimately discovers secrets about her family's past, as well as about what she wants from her own life. The Island, described in detail as if it were a main character itself, is crucial and effective to the presentation of characters and ideas. The Mermaid Chair, also central to the plot of this story, as well as to the small town, is discovered to have been vital in Jesse's own family's history. The "Thorn Birds"- style subplot adds an enjoyable romance to the story. Ms Kidd combines mysticism and legend to give this story an eerie tone. This is a wonderful story which questions the importance of ethics when they conflict with saving others.