The Heaven of Mercury: A Novel [Paperback]

Brad Watson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2003

Shortlisted for the 2002 National Book Award in Fiction: a dark, riotous Southern novel of sex, death, and transformation.

Brad Watson's first novel has been eagerly awaited since his breathtaking, award-winning debut collection of short stories, Last Days of the Dog-Men. Here, he fulfills that literary promise with a humorous and jaundiced eye. Finus Bates has loved Birdie Wells since the day he saw her do a naked cartwheel in the woods in 1916. Later he won her at poker, lost her, then nearly won her again after the mysterious poisoning of her womanizing husband. Does Vish, the old medicine woman down in the ravine, hold the key to Birdie's elusive character? Or does Parnell, the town undertaker, whose unspeakable desires bring lust for life and death together? Or does the secret lie with some other colorful old-timer in Mercury, Mississippi, not such a small town anymore? With "graceful, patient, insightful and hilarious" prose (USA Today), Brad Watson chronicles Finus's steadfast devotion and Mercury's evolution from a sleepy backwater to a small city. With this "tragicomic story of missed opportunities and unjust necessities" (Fred Chappell), "Southern storytelling is alive and well in Watson's capable hands" (Kirkus Reviews starred review). "His work may remind readers of William Faulkner, Toni Morrison, or Flannery O'Connor, but has a power—and a charm—all its own, more pellucid than the first, gentler than the second, and kinder than the third" (Baltimore Sun).

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Brad Watson's The Heaven of Mercury brings fresh, sly humor to the traditionally dark genre of Southern gothic. It's the story of the small town of Mercury, Mississippi, told through the lives of various inhabitants, including a white man, Finus, and his lifelong love, Birdie; and a black girl, Creasie, and her Aunt Vish--slave descendants who see Mercury as the zone of their captivity. All over Mercury, characters dream about moments in the past when they wish they'd had the courage to change the course of their lives. Watson’s (Last Days of the Dog-Men) ornate, lush prose will remind readers of Faulkner, but he has a much lighter touch. Mercury is a sad world of violent drunks, unpunished crimes, and unrequited love, but Watson’s wry observations work to dispel the gloom (a strict Christian woman wears "a tight brown bun in her hair like an onion God drew forth from her mind"). The Heaven of Mercury is an ambitious work from an important voice in American fiction--a voice with a distinctly Southern accent. --Ellen Williams --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Watson traces a dark but resonant journey through the world of the Southern gothic in his bleak, touching debut novel (after his hailed collection, Last Days of the Dog-Men), set in tiny Mercury, Miss., in the first quarter of the 20th century. He takes some risks in employing genre cliches, starting with the romantic triangle in which young, sensitive Finus Bates watches the girl of his dreams, Birdie Wells, marry a more determined suitor, the shallow but ardent earl Urquhart. That leaves Bates to marry Birdie's best friend, Avis Crossweatherly, and both marriages fail miserably as Watson tracks his two would-be lovers through the years. At 16, Birdie is a victim of her slick husband's infidelity, which starts when he finds her sexually inadequate and turns his attention to other women, until he finally falls in love with a woman living in a nearby town. Bates, meanwhile, realizes that Avis has engineered Birdie's marriage, leaving Bates vulnerable to her own rapacious pursuit. To escape his shrewish wife, he immerses himself in his work on his smalltown newspaper, where he pens eloquent obituaries ("Disappointments flock to us like crows," he writes in one). Watson's subordinate characters - including the compassionate town mortician, whose first experience of death involves necrophilia; former slave, medicine woman and midwife Aunt Vish, who knows all the dark secrets of the community; Creasie, a taciturn maid - are observed with cool irony and invested with humanity. Several deaths punctuate the narrative, and casual, virulent racism is rampant, sometimes balanced by a grudging interracial respect. Watson's prose is lush and sometimes a bit too orotund and faux-Faulknerian, but it fits the narrative theme of metamorphoses from one life to another, from earth to a land beyond.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393324656
• ISBN-13: 978-0393324655
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #877,831 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SO MANY HEAVENS..., January 2, 2003

By 

Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Heaven of Mercury (Hardcover)

The concept of heaven - whether one believes it exists or not - is one that has as many facets as there are souls to discuss it. Alice Sebold depicted one vision of it beautifully and brilliantly in her novel THE LOVELY BONES - Brad Watson has given us another literary treasure that touches the reader's heart just as deeply in his first novel, THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY.

Watson's book is, of course, about much more than an individual's vision and experience of heaven - it is a finely wrought, rich tapestry that gives us a living, breathing view of Southern life (although so much of what its characters feel and experience is universal), one that touches on emotions and truths so deeply, yet gently, that we know them as if they were our own. His writing is awesomely beautiful, yet honest and forthright - there is no superficiality here, and I never got the feeling that even a single word was put there to impress the reader. Watson is telling a story that he feels in his soul - and has filled this novel with characters that are so real that their presence can be felt in the room.

One of the beauties of his prose is how easily it rolls along, bearing not only the story and characters, but the reader as well, along with it. I found myself re-reading many a passage in wonder, amazed that I had traveled its length to arrive at the end, almost unaware of the journey. In developing his characters in the reader's mind's eye, the author employs incredibly distinctive voices - distinctive not only for their speech and thoughts, but in the narrative surrounding them.

What seems at first to be a surreal quality to Watson's writing reveals itself, upon further consideration, to actually be more of an `ultra-reality' - people, events, emotions and settings are placed so close to the reader's perception that they seem blurred and bent, adding to the mystical/mythical qualities of the tale. The characters' lives are seen not just through their own memories, but also through the memories of those around them, giving varied slants on events they hold in common - personal v. universal memory. Watson's depiction of the `heaven' or `hell' we experience after death - those of specific souls often overlapping - is presented in much the same fashion. It's a concept that might seem self-contradictory until one sees it laid out so beautifully and skillfully, in the context of the story - viewed thusly, it makes perfect and natural sense.

The story itself centers on the life of one Finus Bates - from his early years to the end of his life - and his life-long love for Birdie Wells. Theirs is a deep, close friendship - and a star-crossed love. The book follows their lives - and the lives of other citizens of the fictional town of Mercury, Mississippi - in non-chronological but perfectly sensible order, through friendships, marriages (each to another partner), trials, tribulations, and the ins and outs of everyday life. Far from being a boring picture of mundane lives in a small Southern town, THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY is a luminous portrayal of memorable individuals living through times of great change - from the early 20th century to the present day. As in most stories set in the South in these decades, race is definitely one of the players - and Watson tells it like it was (and is), doing so with great respect and love for all of those involved. As ugly as some of the things that have happened around the race issue might be, they must be viewed in an honest light if we are to learn from them. Only when we settle with the past can we advance.

THE HEAVEN OF MERCURY is an incredible reading experience - one that I can heartily recommend, full to the brim with amazingly good writing. I first read an excerpt from this novel (the chapter `The dead girl') that was included in the wonderful collection STORIES FROM THE BLUE MOON CAFÉ. I subsequently read Brad Watson's short story collection LAST DAYS OF THE DOG MEN (both highly recommended as well). The talent and promise I saw in these didn't lead me astray - this is an amazing novel (especially for a first effort), and I look forward to reading more.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best Books I've Read in Years, August 8, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heaven of Mercury (Hardcover)

It is so wonderful in our time to find something of such beauty, subtlety and richness as Brad Watson's Heaven of Mercury. The characters and scenes become part of your memory. There is a non-cliche understanding of the South that can only come from a person that is truly in touch with that place and history. Watson taps into all the dimensions of the human condition, with a comic edge like a razor blade. It is quite rare that I read a book that literally leaves me breathless. Brad Watson is one of the greats in the next generation of Southern writers. Thank you and bravo!

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Now Listen Up, September 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: The Heaven of Mercury (Hardcover)

This is one of the most beautiful books I've read in ages. Based on some of the reviews below, this is definitely a love it or hate it book. I'll tell you this much: if you love good fiction with pitch-perfect prose and dead-on dialogue, then this is the novel for you. Everyone says it reminds them of Faulkner or Marquez but this is completely original writing that gets to the meat of the human heart (no pun intended, as a human heart is actually a pivotal plot point). If you like formulaic writing and stitled dialogue this is not the book for you. You should read books like this, though. They're good for you. One of the best books of the year, if not THE best.