I picked “The Mermaid Chair” by Sue Monk Kidd off my mom’s infinite bookshelf several weeks ago because I loved “The Secret Life of Bees” by the same author so much that I figured I would simply have to love this is one just as much. However, after reading the whole thing (which took much longer than my usual book reading time lately) I thought to myself.. “meh.”
I found it to be a little pointless; a little too self-centered and dramatic for no real reason. Also, considering the title and pretty cover I was expecting and hoping for a lot more magic. I’m a huge fan of magical books (if you haven’t read “Blessed Are The Cheesemakers” and you’re a fan of magical fiction, I suggest you do so right now). I guess they say don’t judge a book by its cover, but I thought I’d be safe considering how wonderful Bees was. The good news is, I learned a lot of GRE vocabulary words and there was plenty of beautiful imagery throughout the course of the lead character’s self-indulgent mid-life crisis.
“From then on he’d been trying to decipher the emotional scribbles inside himself by writing them down. Oddly, they became accessible that way, transposed into something deeply felt.”
I marked several other pages for seemingly significant quotes at the time, but on second glance this is really the only one that still speaks to me.
I’m almost finished with “Born to Run” by Christopher McDougall now and I am LOVING it.
i am with you, i expected to love anything she wrote after bees but nooooo
the secret life of bees was amazing but i couldn't stand the mermaid chair. i, too, thought it would have some "magic" but was really disappointed.
I had the same exact reaction. After "Bees", Mermaid Chair didn't even compare. It was very uninspiring. Have you read The Help? I read it after seeing the movie and still absolutely loved it. finding a good book can be so hard sometimes!