Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Mermaids in the Basement by MIchael Lee West begins just as everything is falling apart for Renata DeChavannes.  Still coping with the death of her mother and stepfather in a plane crash, she opens a tabloid to see her famous filmmaking director groping a highly popular actress, her job as a screenwriter has just gone down the toilet, and to top it off, she has a misadventure in a dressing room that results with one side of her hair being brutally chopped off.  That’s when she knows it’s time to leave Hollywood and go back home to Point Clear, Alabama to let her head settle.  If it’s rest that she’s looking for, she can forget it.  Her father is remarrying for the fourth time and at the engagement party she sends the fiance to the hospital and into a coma.  And that’s just the beginning.

Renata is staying with her grandmother Honora, and her former nanny Gladys, and Honora’s next-door neighbor and best friend Isabella D’Agostino, who practically lives at the home as well.  It is these women who are the strength of the book.  It very much has a Steel Magnolias feel to it.  The women are rich, privileged, witty, irreverent, and full of warmth.  They are fiercely loyal to each other and to Renata.

Renata had always assumed that her mother and father, Shelby and Louie, had divorced because of Louie.  Because of a note Shelby left behind before her death, Honora decides that it’s time that Renata knew the truth about her parents, in particularly Shelby’s role in their seperation.  It’s this discovery that moves the story along, as Shelby sifts through the information and narrations of each character.

Mermaids in the Basement is packed full of Southern wit and charm, extravagant parties, amazing food, and misadventures.  I enjoyed all of the characters.  They were all convincingly real and unique.  And the story had me turning the pages to discover with Renata the truth about her family.

Mermaids in the Basement did get confusing at times.  Each character narrates the book, but there is no indication that we’ve switched narrators and it takes a few moments to realize who is talking.  I do wish that it would have been more clear cut.  There were also some times where, when we switched narrations, I thought they were speaking directly to Renata, but used language and descriptions as though she wasn’t there, such as using her name instead of saying ‘you,’ describing characters who I thought were in the room, and recapping things she already would have known.  Because there are so many characters and different narrations, I had to stop and remind myself of who people were and their back story, so I did feel as though the flow was disrupted. But once I feel into the rhythm of the book, it got much easier.

I enjoyed my time with Renata’s misadventures and her quirky, but yet very warm, Southern family.  Perhaps you will too.

Visit Michael Lee West’s website.  Up next, a interview with Michael Lee West that you’ll want to stick around for!  When scrumptious chocolate covered strawberries were served at a party, I literally wished I was there (well, until Isabella spiked them with Valium!).  Michael shares an amazing recipe for chocolate covered strawberries with us – thank goodness minus the Valium.

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