The Mermaid Chair

by Sue Monk Kidd


WOW! After reading The Secret Life of Bees this book was terribly disappointing! Did she intend to write a Harelquin Romance novel?

The story starts out well with Jessie going to help with her mother and go home to Egret Island after many years of being away having an estranged relationship with her mother. While she is there she meets a monk ready to take his final vows (here is where the romance novel starts) and falls in love with him and there are many pages, about a CD worth, of love, loving, and romance which don't really tie into the story of her mother's ordeal. Instead it is a long drawn out way of showing how Jessie needs to find herself in order to make relationships in her life work, including the one with her husband. Without giving the ending away I will leave it at that and you can decide if you read it.


I enjoy her writing but this book just was not up to her usual standard of storytelling. It would have been a great read if she would have toned down the romance sections with the monk and focused on the root of the story, Jessie's turmoil, her mother's turmoil, the island nuances and friendships.



2 of 5 rating