Mercury
Margot Livesey. Harper, $26.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-06-243750-1
Livesey’s latest (following The Flight of Gemma Hardy) is a fiercely intelligent exploration of the ways blindness—to ourselves, others, and the power of passion and grief—can divide and transform us. After his father dies of Parkinson’s, optometrist Donald Stevenson’s reserve deepens into what Viv, his wife of nine years, likens to the airless impenetrability of an astronaut’s suit. Viv’s teenage dreams of equestrian competition resurface when Mercury, an exceptionally promising thoroughbred, comes to board at the suburban Boston stable she helps run. Donald; Viv’s boss, Claudia; and Mercury’s owner, Hilary, assume that Viv accepts the obvious: Mercury is not hers to risk, compete on, or control. Facing their resistance to her growing obsession and increasingly distanced from Donald, Viv conceals the time and money she lavishes on the horse. When the stable is repeatedly broken into, she fears that telling Claudia or Hilary will lead to Mercury’s removal. Instead, she buys a gun. Seen primarily from Donald’s muffled, sometimes pedantic perspective, the novel unfolds patiently, through a chain of small and mostly well-intentioned deceptions that nevertheless yield catastrophe. Livesey’s skillful play with the title’s many meanings—trickster god of speed, diagnostic aid, minor planet, deadly poison—gives her narrative a rich imagery that interweaves seamlessly with its textured evocation of everyday life. (Sept.)
Details
Reviewed on: 07/11/2016
Genre: Fiction
Compact Disc - 978-1-4417-4705-1
Downloadable Audio - 978-1-4434-5324-0
Downloadable Audio - 978-0-06-257171-7
MP3 CD - 978-1-4417-3835-6
Other - 352 pages - 978-0-06-243753-2
Other - 336 pages - 978-1-4434-4897-0
Paperback - 432 pages - 978-0-06-249696-6
Paperback - 352 pages - 978-0-06-243751-8
Paperback - 320 pages - 978-1-4434-4896-3