Customer Reviews

The Mermaids Singing

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I don't really understand the negative reviews posted in response to this novel. The debut effort of Lisa Carey, "The Mermaids Singing" is a multi-generational, matrilineal saga of three very different but very similar Irish women. The matriarch, Cliona, her daughter Grace, and her granddaughter Grainne, speak their stories to the reader in individual first-person narratives. This can be somewhat confusing, especially as Grace passes away quite early in the novel, but this confessional style is intriguing, affording the reader not only the understanding of what happens to each character, but also how that character affects those around them.

Many reviewers comment on the overabundance of sex throughout the novel, but when taken in context, it makes perfect sense not only in the lives of the characters, but in the times they were coming of age. Strangely, the theme of sex unites all three characters. For Cliona, sex is an abstract concept obscured by religious dogma; for Grace, sex is an act through which she can rebel and attain what she wants; for Grainne, sex is an act through which she can feel something other than her pain. Anyone who attended Catholic school will understand these women's motivations.

The prose is lyrical and caustic. Even though these women often speak their minds, the way they do so causes a lot of self-doubt and regret. Too late they realize that their words have fueled actions and feelings that cannot be taken back. Carey writes wistfully of Ireland, and the beauty that lives there balanced with its desolation and isolation.

While this book won't change history, it's a moving and enjoyable read of the lives of these interesting women. Highly recommended.

The Mermaids Singing had so much promise. The author is a poet at heart, using language skillfully, but needs help in character development. It was really hard to see where one character ended and another began. Grace and Grainne were so focused on sex that their lives became meaningless and self-centered. The images of the sea and mermaids was beautifully done, but one wonders why the author didn't take more time in adding depth to the characters so that they were believable. The book did not live up to its promise, even with all the lovely images.

Cliona, a traditional-minded Irish woman immigrated from Inis Murdoch to Boston, where she worked as a maid for an upper-class family. An unlikely sexual encounter leads her to become pregnant with her daughter, Grace. Grace grows up feeling that she is unwanted by her mother who she views as weak, intolerant, and subservient to others. Cliona, on the other hand, wants to protect her beautiful, strong-willed daughter from the dangers that face young girls, and wants to keep her from making the same mistakes that she made as a girl. After a disaster leads to friction with the family that Cliona works for, and a widower from Ireland offers Cliona the opportunity to return home to be the mother of his children and help him manage his inn, Cliona drags Grace back to Ireland against her will.

After several years of moping, Grace finally meets and falls in love with Seamus. The two marry and Grace gives birth to a daughter, Grainne, but can never overcome her longing to return to the United States. This homesickness culminates in a late-night escape, in which Grace flees Ireland and returns to America, denying her curious daughter any knowledge of who her father is. Grainne grows up, therefore, thinking that her father was just one of the many men who passed in and out of her father's life. However, when Grace dies of breast cancer, Cliona reemerges to bring fifteen year-old Grainne back to Ireland against her will, in the same way that she once dragged Grace back. Grainne becomes intrigued by the notion that her father, a man with whom her mother once shared a transcendant love with, is still alive and wants to see her, and tries to find him. In the meanwhile, she can only cope with the loss of her mother by starving herself and withdrawing from virtually everyone on the island.

This story could have easily degenerated into a Lifetime movie script, with its plot about three generations of women tracing their roots back to Ireland. However, Carey's lyrical, vivid prose and seemingly genuine love of her characters, makes it instead a vivid and moving portrayal of love and betrayal and loss. The story is narrated alternately by each of the three women, with Grace's story being told in third-person as her death is depicted at the beginning of the book. As another reader pointed out, sexuality is a strong theme running throughout the book as Carey compares and contrasts each woman's experience of sex. Cliona, the traditionalist, seems to view sex as a shameful act of indulgence, for which she was punished by giving birth to Grace. Grace, on the other hand is wild and free-spirited, and has passionate sex with both Michael, the son of her mother's employers, and Seamus, her husband. For her sex is both an expression of love and a pleasure in itself. Grainne, finally, feels inadequate in the shadow of her temptress mother. She experiments with boys, and, left unsatisfied is still waiting for the right one to come along with whom to "go all the way" with.

I higly recommed this book that tells a story of love and lust and loss and betrayal as these three women in their own way, gradually come to terms with one another.

This is a beautiful story of the relationships between mothers and daughters.

Grainne and her mother Grace live in Boston. Grace is dying of breast cancer, and they move to a small cottage by the sea during her last few weeks. Grainne is terrified of losing her mother and retreats. The only way the two of them communicate at the end of Grace's life is through notes and poetry that they leave one another on the refrigerator door.

After Grace's death, Grace's mother, Cliona, comes to fetch Grainne and take her back to Ireland, back to the family that Grace took Grainne from when Grainne was only three years old. Grainne has no memory of this family, and no memory of the ruggedly beautiful island, Inis Muroch, where her family lives. Lonely and angry, Grainne clings to the only thing she has control over: her hunger. She wills herself not to eat, because as long as she is hungry, she can't feel the pain of her mother's death. Grainne waits to meet her father, who has also retreated, as he is terrified of meeting his daughter.

Told through the voices of Grainne, Grace, and Cliona, this story shares two powerful mother/daughter relationships, and gives the reader insight to both sides of the relationship.

I've read this book four times and I just keep lingering over each sentence, each paragraph and enjoy how tantalizingly well written this novel is. Reviewers here who've let the visceral sides of these characters ("sex starved", their words not mine) get in the way of seeing them as fully developed people, are missing out a highly enlightening character driven novel. The mundane and mythic dimensions of these three lives are comingled like salt and seawater! I too read this book the summer of 1999 and recommended it to everyone who asked me for a "good book", and as I worked in a library at the time, made more than a few recommendations!

The Mermaids Singing is a beautifully written book that tells the story of three generations of women. Alternating between different voices, the characters chart their lives, the mistakes they've made and the pain they've caused one another. Mixing in age-old Irish myths of the sea and the mermaids who dwell there, the author weaves a moving and highly entertaining narrative that had me pressing this book upon my friends and family and longing to be by the sea. An impressive debut novel, I look forward to watching the author's growth.

I loved _In the Country of the Young_, and expected a similar tale of magic, ghosts, and love to be found in _The Mermaids Singing_. Instead, this is a book with beautiful writing and almost no plot. It consists mostly of the reminiscences of three generations of women who go around acting nasty to one another, and seeking meaningless sex. I couldn't connect with any of the characters or make myself care about their situations. However, make sure to read the rest of the reviews on this page; a lot of people found _Mermaids_ very moving, and just because it's not my cup of tea doesn't mean it's not yours.

I found THE MERMAIDS SINGING wonderful and enchanting - Carey manages to blend realism and true emotions with myth, displaying a talent rare in first authors. I found myself wanting to rush to find out what would happen next, but slowing down for the sensuous rhythms of the book. Not sure what troubled people so much about Grace - why does every character in a book have to be pure good - I thought she was a fascinating woman with real depth, not perfect by any means, but strong and willful and interesting - just look at the reponses she's elicited. I can't wait for more from Lisa Carey!

Very realistic portrayal of mother-daughter relationships and how unspoken thoughts and feelings are so often misinterpreted by those around us, and the extreme importance of voicing those thoughts and emotions. It's a very well written, descriptive book which totally involves the reader from beginning to end, even to hearing the mermaids singing! I look forward to Ms Carey's next book.

I loved this book. Honestly, I picked it up in some discount area and I can't imagine my life without it. Silly, maybe but true. I thought it was amazing as a teenager and saw it in a whole new light after losing my aunt to cancer. I've read it many times and I just think it's the best book. It's all about what's not said & the dangers in not speaking up, about how valuable time is and life in general.

I just love the whole thing. I loaned it out so many times, I had to buy another copy just for myself again.