After receiving a quite thoughtful email from a friend who had read my musings about the current best-seller, The Mermaid's Chair, I felt compelled to comment a bit more about why this book proved to be a disappointment for me.
As I'd said previously, Sue Monk Kidd's spiritual memoir - Dance of the Dissident Daughter - rang so true and engaged me the whole way through. Not so with The Mermaid's Chair. I felt that the writing plodded along in the beginning and then patriarchy (pleasing the powers-that-be...SELL BOOKS)won out in the end. Don't get me wrong - it's not the least bit difficult to imagine that a woman coming into spiritual consciousness could become confused by the meeting of the mystical and physical passion. It's just that SMK's emerging style seemed to me to be that of feminist and seeker of no-easy-answers. She reduced her protagonist, Jessie, to a self-indulged naval gazer who seemed to rapidly develop amnesia of her 20 year old marriage to a ...rather great guy! Give me a break. Of COURSE this is 'real life' and happens each and every day in (sadly) hundreds of marriages. It's also WRITTEN about each and every day into hundreds of novels, movies , and soap operas. So...I expected more from SMK and I sincerely hope that in her next, inevitable novel, she will take a chance on a much more creative path and light the way for those who would like to see a fresh twist on the age-old drama of adultrous temptation.
~ Sonja
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment