Friday, February 21, 2014

Beginning ~ with sneakers


The Mermaids Singing ~ by Lisa Carey, 1998, fiction (Ireland)
It is only at night that she has the strength to wander.  Rising quietly, so as not to disturb her lover, Grace pulls a sweater over her pajamas, slips her feet into running sneakers.  Stephen had bought her the sneakers to wear in the hospital after she refused to put on the regulation blue foam slippers.  She is not a runner but she likes the height of them, the curve of the soles which roll her forward like a boat lifted by waves.  She wraps a scarf around her gruesome bald head.

She passes through the cottage quickly, without looking at the tacky furniture — leftovers from someone else's life.  Stephen had rented this place so Grace could be near the sea.  Sometimes she calls it "the hospice," in an attempt to be the blunt, witty sort of dying person she would like to be.
Updated ~ Vonnie left a question in the first comment:  "Is this book about mermaids? If so, I'm adding this to my list!"  I should have told you more about the book.  It's about three generations of women and "the Island of the Mermaids" off the coast of Ireland.  Here's a synopsis from the publisher.
Somewhere off the west coast of Ireland lies Inis Murúch — the Island of the Mermaids — a world where myth is more powerful that truth and where the sea sings with the healing and haunting voices of women.  It is here that Lisa Carey sets her lyrical first novel, weaving together the voices and lives of three generations of Irish and Irish-American women.

Years ago, Clíona — strong, proud, and practical — sailed for Boston, determined to one day come home.  But when the time came to return to Inis Murúch, her daughter Grace — fierce, beautiful, and brazenly sexual — resented her mother's isolated, unfamiliar world.  Though entranced by the sea and its healing powers, Grace became desperate to escape the confines of the island, one day stealing away with her small daughter Graínne.

Now Graínne — motherless at fifteen after Grace's death — is about to be taken back across the ocean by Clíona, repeating the journey her mother was forced to make years before.   She goes to meet a father she has never known, her heart pulled between a life where she no longer belongs and a family she cannot remember.  On the rocky shore of Inis Murúch, she waits for her father and begins to discover her own sexual identity even as she struggles to understand the forces that have torn her family apart.
So Grace in those opening lines definitely does die, probably near the opening of the book.  And then we journey to Ireland with the grandmother and granddaughter.



Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays.  Click here for today's Mister Linky.

11 comments:

Vonnie said...

Is this book about mermaids? If so, I'm adding this to my list!

My Post

gautami tripathy said...

I am intrigued.....


Here is my Book Beginning post!


Bonnie Jacobs said...

Vonnie, I went back and added a synopsis from the publisher. The novel is about three generations of women on "the Island of the Mermaids" off the coast of Ireland. I hope you'll come back and read the information I've added.

Catherine @ Book Club Librarian said...

This sounds like my kind of book. I'm adding it to my TBR list.

My Friday post: http://www.bookclublibrarian.com/2014/02/friday-focus-friday-56-book-beginnings_21.html

Sandra Nachlinger said...

I enjoy books about generations of women so I'm sure I'd like this one. I'll add it to my TBR list.
Here's the link to my Friday post: CAKE.

Ginnie said...

Bonnie: I think I am losing it !!
I got "Leaving Home" from the library after reading your recommendation and then half-way though it I realized I'd already read it. Oh, old age .....

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Ginnie, I've decided it's okay for us elderly folks to "lose it" occasionally. When you said Leaving Home, I thought of the book Leaving Church. Does that mean I'm losing it, too? Probably.

For everyone else, I shared Leaving Home last Friday, but haven't yet read it.

http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2014/02/beginning-with-fur-coat.html

I shared Leaving Church back in 2007, except I went to hear the author speak in Atlanta only a few months ago.

http://bonniesbooks.blogspot.com/2007/06/leaving-church-memoir-of-faith_26.html

Elizabeth said...

Ohhhh..this sounds good. Thanks so much for sharing.

I am including an entire review and giveaway for my book beginning since I haven't read anything new for the past two weeks. :)

Elizabeth
Silver's Reviews
My Book Beginnings

Haze said...

Well, it sounds like the women could be descendants of mermaids, even if there isn't any actual mermaids in the book. Maybe. =) It's definitely piqued my interest.

Vonnie said...

Aww, you didn't have to put up a synopsis. That's the whole point of Teaser Tuesdays. You're suppose to give it a tease. But thank you anyways for giving us more info on the book. It has been added to my list :D

Vonnie's Reading Corner

Bonnie Jacobs said...

Yeah, Vonnie, but this wasn't a Teaser Tuesday post. It was Book Beginnings on Friday. I realized when I posted it that I had rushed to put it up and hadn't made a single comment about the book. Thanks to your questions, I had a good excuse to go back and fix that.