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The Unraveling of Mercy Louis
In this intricate novel of psychological suspense, a fatal discovery near the high school ignites a witch-hunt in a Southeast Texas refinery town, unearthing communal and family secrets that threaten the lives of the town’s girls.
In Port Sabine, the air is thick with oil, superstition reigns, and dreams hang on making a winning play. All eyes are on Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls’ basketball team. Mercy seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. There is her grandmother, Evelia, a strict evangelical who has visions of an imminent Rapture and sees herself as the keeper of Mercy’s virtue. There are the cryptic letters from Charmaine, the mother who abandoned Mercy at birth. And then there’s Travis, the boy who shakes the foundation of her faith.
At the periphery of Mercy’s world floats team manager Illa Stark, a lonely wallflower whose days are spent caring for a depressed mother crippled in a refinery accident. Like the rest of the town, Illa is spellbound by Mercy’s beauty and talent, but a note discovered in Mercy’s gym locker reveals that her life may not be as perfect as it appears.
The last day of school brings the disturbing discovery, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect. When Mercy collapses on the opening night of the season, Evelia prophesies that she is only the first to fall, and soon, other girls are afflicted by the mysterious condition, sending the town into a tailspin, and bringing Illa and Mercy together in an unexpected way.
Evocative and unsettling, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis charts the downfall of one town’s golden girl while exploring the brutality and anxieties of girlhood in America.
In Port Sabine, the air is thick with oil, superstition reigns, and dreams hang on making a winning play. All eyes are on Mercy Louis, the star of the championship girls’ basketball team. Mercy seems destined for greatness, but the road out of town is riddled with obstacles. There is her grandmother, Evelia, a strict evangelical who has visions of an imminent Rapture and sees herself as the keeper of Mercy’s virtue. There are the cryptic letters from Charmaine, the mother who abandoned Mercy at birth. And then there’s Travis, the boy who shakes the foundation of her faith.
At the periphery of Mercy’s world floats team manager Illa Stark, a lonely wallflower whose days are spent caring for a depressed mother crippled in a refinery accident. Like the rest of the town, Illa is spellbound by Mercy’s beauty and talent, but a note discovered in Mercy’s gym locker reveals that her life may not be as perfect as it appears.
The last day of school brings the disturbing discovery, and as summer unfolds and the police investigate, every girl becomes a suspect. When Mercy collapses on the opening night of the season, Evelia prophesies that she is only the first to fall, and soon, other girls are afflicted by the mysterious condition, sending the town into a tailspin, and bringing Illa and Mercy together in an unexpected way.
Evocative and unsettling, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis charts the downfall of one town’s golden girl while exploring the brutality and anxieties of girlhood in America.
320 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2015
62 people are currently reading
2788 people want to read
About the author
Keija Parssinen
5 books48 followersKeija Parssinen is the author of the novel The Ruins of Us, which was published in the US (HarperCollins), UK (Faber& Faber), Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Italy (Newton Compton Editori) and around the Middle East. The novel earned a Michener-Copernicus award, was long-listed for the Chautauqua Prize, was chosen as Book of the Month by National Geographic Traveler, and was selected as a Best Book of the Middle East Region 2013 by Turkey’s Today’s Zaman newspaper. In fall 2019, it was published in Arabic by the Syrian Ministry of Culture. Her second novel, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, won an Alex Award from the American Library Association, was chosen as Book of the Month by Emily St. John Mandel, and was selected as a Best Book of the Year by the Kansas City Star, Lone Star Literary Life, Missouri Life and Vox Magazine.
Her short fiction, essays and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in the New York Review of Books Daily, Gulf Coast, The Southern Review, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Review of Books, the Lonely Planet travel-writing anthologies, World Literature Today, Slate, The Arkansas International, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Slice Magazine, Salon, Five Chapters, New Delta Review, Marie Claire, Off Assignment, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by fellowships and residencies from Hedgebrook, the Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, Playa Summer Lake, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, and the Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, where she was a My Time Fellow. Keija was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years before her family moved to Austin, Texas.
Her short fiction, essays and reviews have appeared or are forthcoming in the New York Review of Books Daily, Gulf Coast, The Southern Review, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Review of Books, the Lonely Planet travel-writing anthologies, World Literature Today, Slate, The Arkansas International, The Brooklyn Quarterly, Slice Magazine, Salon, Five Chapters, New Delta Review, Marie Claire, Off Assignment, and elsewhere. Her work has been supported by fellowships and residencies from Hedgebrook, the Corporation of Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, the Vermont Studio Center, Playa Summer Lake, the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities, and the Writer’s Colony at Dairy Hollow, where she was a My Time Fellow. Keija was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years before her family moved to Austin, Texas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 238 reviews
September 15, 2015
In the description of this novel it says it is a chilling book of psychological suspense, because of a discovery made. While this discovery is very sad, what I found the most chilling was the way the girls were treated in this town. Port Sabine, Texas, on the Gulf coast is a oil refinery town trying to recover from an explosion that devastated many years earlier. Mercy and the Lady Rays basketball team are the hope of the town, and Mercy herself is revered fro her basketball talent. But below the surface this is a town of religious fanatics, purity balls and Mercy herself being raised by her very religious grandmother is convinced the world is soon to end. The discovery is a catalyst, a witch hunt and in many ways that is what it turns out to be. Girls under some kind of supposed sinister spell, the devil is roaming and this is the penalty.
A very interesting read, many layers, narrated by Mercy and Illa, a young girl, team manager who takes care of her mother who was severely injured in the explosion. As naive as Mercy is, Illa sees the whole picture and while one hopes that Mercy will overcome her problems, it is Illa who in many ways makes this possible. This book is immensely readable, way more than I thought it would be, there was so much going on beneath the surface, so many secrets being revealed that the pages flew by. The book ends without all the answers I would have liked but I loved getting there and loved that the author trusted the reader enough to figure out what mattered and what didn't. Very good and different read.
A very interesting read, many layers, narrated by Mercy and Illa, a young girl, team manager who takes care of her mother who was severely injured in the explosion. As naive as Mercy is, Illa sees the whole picture and while one hopes that Mercy will overcome her problems, it is Illa who in many ways makes this possible. This book is immensely readable, way more than I thought it would be, there was so much going on beneath the surface, so many secrets being revealed that the pages flew by. The book ends without all the answers I would have liked but I loved getting there and loved that the author trusted the reader enough to figure out what mattered and what didn't. Very good and different read.
April 30, 2015
3.5 stars: Keija Parssinen uses two teenage girls to tell her story. As a result, the novel is somewhat simplistically written (no profound locution or insights). For this novel, it worked for me because Parssinen is telling a complicated story of religion, small town politics, and the power of adult influences/expectations on adolescent girls.
Mercy is the girl’s basketball hero growing up in a small town and an extremely Christian religious environment. Most of the town expects The Rapture to occur soon. To add to Mercy’s pressured environment is her deeply religious grandmother who is raising her with religious zealousness. Mercy’s coach uses Mercy to further her own profession.
Illa is a diminutive girl, who admires Mercy from afar. She’s the girl’s basketball team manager. Illa’s mother is an invalid due to an explosion at the town’s controversial chemical plant, and Illa is her sole caregiver.
On the last day of school, a small fetus is found in a grocery store dumpster. For the whole summer, all teenage girls are looked upon as being the one responsible. Religion and town politics get involved. The girls of the town feel judged and pressured.
It’s an interesting coming-of-age novel that explores modern day pressures of young girls. It’s also a very scary look at strict religious upbringing. Plus, Parssinen examines mass hysteria (which includes speaking in tongues). It’s a fast read. It’s disturbing. Parssinen provides some fodder for how our society impacts teen girls.
Mercy is the girl’s basketball hero growing up in a small town and an extremely Christian religious environment. Most of the town expects The Rapture to occur soon. To add to Mercy’s pressured environment is her deeply religious grandmother who is raising her with religious zealousness. Mercy’s coach uses Mercy to further her own profession.
Illa is a diminutive girl, who admires Mercy from afar. She’s the girl’s basketball team manager. Illa’s mother is an invalid due to an explosion at the town’s controversial chemical plant, and Illa is her sole caregiver.
On the last day of school, a small fetus is found in a grocery store dumpster. For the whole summer, all teenage girls are looked upon as being the one responsible. Religion and town politics get involved. The girls of the town feel judged and pressured.
It’s an interesting coming-of-age novel that explores modern day pressures of young girls. It’s also a very scary look at strict religious upbringing. Plus, Parssinen examines mass hysteria (which includes speaking in tongues). It’s a fast read. It’s disturbing. Parssinen provides some fodder for how our society impacts teen girls.
February 10, 2015
I ripped through this book in two days, captivated by the small, creepy, entirely believable world of Port Sabine created by Keija Parssinen. From the first few pages I felt a stake in what would happen to Mercy Louis, the basketball playing teenage girl whose God-fearing grandma protects her from the larger world, and the inevitable clashes as Mercy yearns for those things - love, affection, respect - she senses her grandmother is also preventing from reaching her. Every character is unique, fully realized, and plays a part in Mercy's journey, from the bullying mayoral candidate to the quiet team manager who feels more comfortable seeing life through a camera viewfinder. Totally enjoyed this and now I have to go back and read her Parssinen's first book!
January 17, 2015
Keija Parssinen is an incredible writer and storyteller. "The Ruins of Us" was simultaneously beautiful and shattering, and "The Unraveling of Mercy Louis" possesses a similar quality but with even more mystery and edge. This novel is one part The Crucible, one part Eleanor and Park, and a little Louise Erdrich, too, in terms of rich settings and family dynamics. Parssinen transports you to teenaged life in small town Texas, and presents the evangelical and psychic/psychological with nuance and thoughtfulness. As different as my life is, the fear of being a young female in this town felt very real and immediate to me. Highly recommend!
February 12, 2015
An amazing read - full of suspense, poetically written, fully satisfying in every sense. "The Unraveling of Mercy Louis" is a literary thriller and underneath all the twists and turns, a story about mothers and daughters. The characters and their relationships are rich and complex and Parssinen tackles tough issues with insight and sensitivity. As a side note, I absolutely loved the role that basketball plays in the book - almost like a character itself. The author also paints a portrait of high school that is terrifyingly familiar.
August 18, 2016
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen is one of those rare gems that hits every note in prose, in social relevance and in story telling. It is the kind of book that will, by its very nature convince you of the darkness in the world around you, and the even bleaker and deeper darkness of the human heart. You will read this book and say to yourself that these people cannot exist, but they do. You will tell yourself that it is only because they are uneducated or religious fanatics and not like you, but we know that this is not true. Finally you will tell yourself that you would never behave in this manner, but in the cold recesses of your soul, you know that is not true either.
"...Gripping the edge of the dumpster, he hoists himself up. Nothing too nasty down there, as far as he can see, mostly big black trash bags like the two he just tossed. He lowers himself down, again holding his breath, cursing his wimpy lung capacity. He's about to tear into one of the bags when something catches his eye. A cardboard Lone Star case, streaked in red like it's been painted. Almost immediately he understands it's not paint. It's the distinctive dark red of dried blood. Tentatively, he reaches for the box and parts the flaps. There, lying on a bed of balled-up toilet paper, is the tiniest baby he's ever seen, about the size of a banana, matchstick arms and legs pulled tight to its tummy. And just as he knew the red was blood, he knows the baby is dead..."
It is the last day of school in the small town of Port Sabine, in the Gulf of Texas and as the convenience store clerk makes his discovery, every young girl in town is going to become a suspect. This small refinery twon has already been through one disaster and now the scrutiny of the surrounding state comes to bear on them as the tiny baby is found. Before this, the town had a great love affair with it's young girls, especially the championship basketball team and their star player Mercy Louis.
Mercy seems destined to achieve greatness with her skill on the court but her private life is filled with challenges that seem to keep her pinned to this small oil town. No father or mother in her life and raised by her evangelical grandmother, Mercy is kept under strict control. Unlike her best friend Annie whose reputation is as tainted as Mercy's is pure. Her grandmother Evelia has visions of the end of the world and is determined to keep Mercy's virtue for when she is delivered before God. Something she was nothing able to do with her own daughter, Charmaine, Mercy's mother.
Also in this small town is the young girl, Illa Stark, whose life consists of taking care of her invalid mother and being the brunt of the bullying by the girl's basketball team. She is their manager but never part of the team. Illa is spellbound by Mercy and her beauty though she is never sure if her obsession is one of loneliness or a sexual stirring. A note she finds in Mercy's locker one day opens her eyes that perhaps not all is perfect in the life of Mercy Louis.
The long hot summer brings little news as to who left the baby, stuffed into the empty beer container, at the the bottom of the dumpster. Clues point toward it being a young girl, high school age and soon all eyes turn on the girl's basketball team. When Mercy collapses with a mysterious spasm on the court for all to see in the opening night of the new season, the suspicions grow. When another girl of the team seems to have the same symptoms, the town sees it as divine punishment. God is singling out the sinners.
Politicians and religious zealots take action and soon every girl in this small Gulf town is under suspicion.
"...Maw Maw sniffles softly. 'There is no greater evil in the world than a wrong done to a child,' she says, and I wonder if she's thinking of me or the LeBlanc baby. 'I'm scared for this town.' She looks ahead into the night that is just starting to come alive, sounds sharpened by the blanket of darkness. 'With every sin comes retribution..."
For everyone who rushes to comment on social media about one thing or another of which they have no true knowledge...this book is for you. For every self-righteous Christian, Muslim, Agnostic and basic judgmental dumbass out there, this book is for you. This is a novel of unspeakable injustice and it is about the murder of a baby as well. The injustice is not the death of the infant but the reaction of the town to it and how they hold responsible a group of young women who had the misfortune of being....young women.
"...One night, when a sophomore named Katie Dirks skates up to deliver Illa's diet cherry limeade, some tubby punk in a Ford truck heckles her, invoking the LeBlanc baby, her mother, her short shorts and nice ass. As the girl counts out Illa's change, she says: 'You'd think being a girl was the fucking crime..."
I first became aware of Keija Parssinen's writing in the novel, The Ruins of Us and like The Unraveling of Mercy Louis; The Ruins of Us is a small novel that appeared without much fanfare and marketing from it's publisher. I found it at the local library one day, liked the title and picked it up. The book took me in, gripped me tight and held me under its control for three days. It illicted every emotion in me and in the end, stained me. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis will do very much the same. You will go from anger to spite, to judgment and then to understanding and then to judgement again. But in the end, you will not be able to deny the very humanity of it all.
If you think you want to read a book by an author you haven't read before than treat yourself. But understand, this is not a young adult novel full of silly teenage love crushes. This is instead, a stark and real look at young women and the world they live in. A world peeled back in all it's brutal layers by a tragedy and a town unable to cope with the horror that one of their own could have done such a thing.
It is a damn good book!
"...Gripping the edge of the dumpster, he hoists himself up. Nothing too nasty down there, as far as he can see, mostly big black trash bags like the two he just tossed. He lowers himself down, again holding his breath, cursing his wimpy lung capacity. He's about to tear into one of the bags when something catches his eye. A cardboard Lone Star case, streaked in red like it's been painted. Almost immediately he understands it's not paint. It's the distinctive dark red of dried blood. Tentatively, he reaches for the box and parts the flaps. There, lying on a bed of balled-up toilet paper, is the tiniest baby he's ever seen, about the size of a banana, matchstick arms and legs pulled tight to its tummy. And just as he knew the red was blood, he knows the baby is dead..."
It is the last day of school in the small town of Port Sabine, in the Gulf of Texas and as the convenience store clerk makes his discovery, every young girl in town is going to become a suspect. This small refinery twon has already been through one disaster and now the scrutiny of the surrounding state comes to bear on them as the tiny baby is found. Before this, the town had a great love affair with it's young girls, especially the championship basketball team and their star player Mercy Louis.
Mercy seems destined to achieve greatness with her skill on the court but her private life is filled with challenges that seem to keep her pinned to this small oil town. No father or mother in her life and raised by her evangelical grandmother, Mercy is kept under strict control. Unlike her best friend Annie whose reputation is as tainted as Mercy's is pure. Her grandmother Evelia has visions of the end of the world and is determined to keep Mercy's virtue for when she is delivered before God. Something she was nothing able to do with her own daughter, Charmaine, Mercy's mother.
Also in this small town is the young girl, Illa Stark, whose life consists of taking care of her invalid mother and being the brunt of the bullying by the girl's basketball team. She is their manager but never part of the team. Illa is spellbound by Mercy and her beauty though she is never sure if her obsession is one of loneliness or a sexual stirring. A note she finds in Mercy's locker one day opens her eyes that perhaps not all is perfect in the life of Mercy Louis.
The long hot summer brings little news as to who left the baby, stuffed into the empty beer container, at the the bottom of the dumpster. Clues point toward it being a young girl, high school age and soon all eyes turn on the girl's basketball team. When Mercy collapses with a mysterious spasm on the court for all to see in the opening night of the new season, the suspicions grow. When another girl of the team seems to have the same symptoms, the town sees it as divine punishment. God is singling out the sinners.
Politicians and religious zealots take action and soon every girl in this small Gulf town is under suspicion.
"...Maw Maw sniffles softly. 'There is no greater evil in the world than a wrong done to a child,' she says, and I wonder if she's thinking of me or the LeBlanc baby. 'I'm scared for this town.' She looks ahead into the night that is just starting to come alive, sounds sharpened by the blanket of darkness. 'With every sin comes retribution..."
For everyone who rushes to comment on social media about one thing or another of which they have no true knowledge...this book is for you. For every self-righteous Christian, Muslim, Agnostic and basic judgmental dumbass out there, this book is for you. This is a novel of unspeakable injustice and it is about the murder of a baby as well. The injustice is not the death of the infant but the reaction of the town to it and how they hold responsible a group of young women who had the misfortune of being....young women.
"...One night, when a sophomore named Katie Dirks skates up to deliver Illa's diet cherry limeade, some tubby punk in a Ford truck heckles her, invoking the LeBlanc baby, her mother, her short shorts and nice ass. As the girl counts out Illa's change, she says: 'You'd think being a girl was the fucking crime..."
I first became aware of Keija Parssinen's writing in the novel, The Ruins of Us and like The Unraveling of Mercy Louis; The Ruins of Us is a small novel that appeared without much fanfare and marketing from it's publisher. I found it at the local library one day, liked the title and picked it up. The book took me in, gripped me tight and held me under its control for three days. It illicted every emotion in me and in the end, stained me. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis will do very much the same. You will go from anger to spite, to judgment and then to understanding and then to judgement again. But in the end, you will not be able to deny the very humanity of it all.
If you think you want to read a book by an author you haven't read before than treat yourself. But understand, this is not a young adult novel full of silly teenage love crushes. This is instead, a stark and real look at young women and the world they live in. A world peeled back in all it's brutal layers by a tragedy and a town unable to cope with the horror that one of their own could have done such a thing.
It is a damn good book!
February 6, 2017
I really liked this book. It felt more lifetime-movie-ish in the wrap-ups at the end than I expected, but then reading the extra insights about how her righteous rage inspired the book reinforced how much there is to appreciate about it, in particular because none of that judgemental rage shows through in the tone of the book itself; it was beautiful, loving, kind ... and touch- and sex-positive. I loved how much love, admiration and attraction there was between boys and girls, girls and girls, mothers and children and teachers. I hate that I'm making this book sound like something I'd make a barforama face at and not pick up ... it's not like that: honest!
Entertaining, accessible, poetic ... politically important without being politically preachy (which is why I rated it 5 stars rather than 4: because there should be way more stories like this BUT THERE AREN'T).
Some similar subject matter to The Fever, but not really the same kind of book at all. Definitely interested in reading more from this writer.
Entertaining, accessible, poetic ... politically important without being politically preachy (which is why I rated it 5 stars rather than 4: because there should be way more stories like this BUT THERE AREN'T).
Some similar subject matter to The Fever, but not really the same kind of book at all. Definitely interested in reading more from this writer.
December 16, 2015
One of the weirder books I've read this year. Set in Port Sabine, an oil town on the Gulf of Mexico that seems to be modeled on Port Arthur, Texas, Parssinen's novel is an eerie and unsettling look at a life shaped by sports, religion, and most of all, lies.
Mercy Louis is the star player on her high school basketball team. She lives with her grandmother, whose brand of religion is a lot bigger on eternal suffering than it is on grace. Her strict morals have been pounded into Mercy's head so hard for so long, her grandmother doesn't need to be physically present for Mercy to hear her voice, judging her actions and warning her of the consequences.
So instead of chasing boys, Mercy has cultivated a close relationship with her best friend, Annie. Annie's behavior isn't always in line with Mercy's beliefs, and eventually something will have to give. It may not be possible for Mercy to live up to all of her grandmother's expectations—and trying may cause her to lose her grip on reality.
Parssinen's book would probably be cathartic for a reader who escaped a fundamentalist background. She does a great job capturing the kind of conservative Christian culture in which girls are blamed for boys' lack of self-control and taught their only value is an intact hymen. For those of us who believe women have intrinsic value unrelated to their sexuality, the traditions (and the assumptions behind them) of Mercy's community are downright chilling.
I have to admit, I struggled with this one a bit as I read it, because I felt like there were about five too many loose ends, and I could never be sure which parts of the narration I could trust. However, now that I've spent some time pondering it, I see how much there was to chew on despite the vagueness. There's a lot going on here—I haven't even mentioned, for example, that there's a second narrator, or that a bunch of girls in the town develop tics and twitches a la Salem circa 1692. And I've been purposely skirting any reference to the grisly discovery made by a gas station cashier taking a break behind the store.
See what I mean? It's a lot to pack into one 300-page novel. But if you're in the mood for something a little creepy, if you enjoy stories of religion run amok, if you're looking for a book that will make you see feminist issues with fresh eyes, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis should have a place on your list.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
Mercy Louis is the star player on her high school basketball team. She lives with her grandmother, whose brand of religion is a lot bigger on eternal suffering than it is on grace. Her strict morals have been pounded into Mercy's head so hard for so long, her grandmother doesn't need to be physically present for Mercy to hear her voice, judging her actions and warning her of the consequences.
So instead of chasing boys, Mercy has cultivated a close relationship with her best friend, Annie. Annie's behavior isn't always in line with Mercy's beliefs, and eventually something will have to give. It may not be possible for Mercy to live up to all of her grandmother's expectations—and trying may cause her to lose her grip on reality.
Parssinen's book would probably be cathartic for a reader who escaped a fundamentalist background. She does a great job capturing the kind of conservative Christian culture in which girls are blamed for boys' lack of self-control and taught their only value is an intact hymen. For those of us who believe women have intrinsic value unrelated to their sexuality, the traditions (and the assumptions behind them) of Mercy's community are downright chilling.
I have to admit, I struggled with this one a bit as I read it, because I felt like there were about five too many loose ends, and I could never be sure which parts of the narration I could trust. However, now that I've spent some time pondering it, I see how much there was to chew on despite the vagueness. There's a lot going on here—I haven't even mentioned, for example, that there's a second narrator, or that a bunch of girls in the town develop tics and twitches a la Salem circa 1692. And I've been purposely skirting any reference to the grisly discovery made by a gas station cashier taking a break behind the store.
See what I mean? It's a lot to pack into one 300-page novel. But if you're in the mood for something a little creepy, if you enjoy stories of religion run amok, if you're looking for a book that will make you see feminist issues with fresh eyes, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis should have a place on your list.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
December 28, 2015
Wow. I have to admit that I am intimately connected with this story; Port Sabine, Texas is a fictitious amalgam of the area that constitutes the Golden Triangle in southeast Texas - the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange - and it is the area in which I was raised. It closely borders the state of Louisiana and, as such, lots of Cajun and Creole influences cross over into the area; I'm sure I never realized how unique an area it really is, until after I'd moved away for college and discovered that my hometown environment was a little different from that of most everyone else. As such, I had no trouble immersing myself in this tale; in fact, there were moments when I could substitute the faces of high school friends and their family members into the roles of the characters in this novel.
For me, this novel was an illuminating way to revisit or examine the culture and traditions of this part of the country with a different perspective; I can relate to the subject matter, but I now see it through a different lens. The overbearing religiosity of Mercy's grandmother, the scandal of Annie's "purity ball" and her questionable status as a virgin, the importance of high school sports to the community, and the good 'ol boys - the refineries, politicians and money-pushers - are all elements that create a lot of tension, emotion and contribute to the way of life for the residents of this area. Author Keija Parssinen nails it and if you've ever wanted a glimpse into this world (and you should, because it's pretty wild) this is your ticket. You could liken this experience to that of the residents of Appalachian coal mining towns: everyone has a family member who works for "the company" and no one wants to jeopardize what "the company" does for the community...well, when they're not killing people in accidents or working them to death. Instead, everyone entertains themselves with small town gossip and drama, especially if you have some good dirt on an influential member of town.
The writing is fantastic, Mercy's journey is captivating and the characters are solidly built; no matter where you're from or how you were raised, there is definitely a story to be enjoyed here. Through Mercy's experiences, readers are reminded that it's not all about the wins and losses but more about the way we play the game; sometimes, what's best for us in the long run may not be what we expected.
For me, this novel was an illuminating way to revisit or examine the culture and traditions of this part of the country with a different perspective; I can relate to the subject matter, but I now see it through a different lens. The overbearing religiosity of Mercy's grandmother, the scandal of Annie's "purity ball" and her questionable status as a virgin, the importance of high school sports to the community, and the good 'ol boys - the refineries, politicians and money-pushers - are all elements that create a lot of tension, emotion and contribute to the way of life for the residents of this area. Author Keija Parssinen nails it and if you've ever wanted a glimpse into this world (and you should, because it's pretty wild) this is your ticket. You could liken this experience to that of the residents of Appalachian coal mining towns: everyone has a family member who works for "the company" and no one wants to jeopardize what "the company" does for the community...well, when they're not killing people in accidents or working them to death. Instead, everyone entertains themselves with small town gossip and drama, especially if you have some good dirt on an influential member of town.
The writing is fantastic, Mercy's journey is captivating and the characters are solidly built; no matter where you're from or how you were raised, there is definitely a story to be enjoyed here. Through Mercy's experiences, readers are reminded that it's not all about the wins and losses but more about the way we play the game; sometimes, what's best for us in the long run may not be what we expected.
July 5, 2015
Great writing, fully realized characters and complex relationships make this one of the best novels I've read this year. This is as much a coming-of-age tale as it is a literary thriller. The starting point of the story is a crime, but the focus is Mercy Louis, high school basketball star in a small town in Texas. Raised by a savagely religious grandmother, she is cripplingly innocent and inadequately equipped to handle normal teen stuff, not to mention letters from her absent drug addict mother. Add to this a dead fetus found in a dumpster and strange affliction that grips the town's teenage girls, and you have a whole town in a state of feverish anxiety (yes, there are some similarities with Megan Abbott's The Fever).
I sometimes feel a little detached when reading novels about experiences radically unlike my own. People talking about rapture and purity balls in all seriousness is completely alien to me, but Parssinen creates such a believable context for it that I became wholly immersed in the story. The misogony and religious superstition is dark and disturbing, all the more so because it is mostly perceived as entirely normal by the characters, but there is enough human kindness for a happy ending to seem plausible.
I sometimes feel a little detached when reading novels about experiences radically unlike my own. People talking about rapture and purity balls in all seriousness is completely alien to me, but Parssinen creates such a believable context for it that I became wholly immersed in the story. The misogony and religious superstition is dark and disturbing, all the more so because it is mostly perceived as entirely normal by the characters, but there is enough human kindness for a happy ending to seem plausible.
February 24, 2015
The plot of Keija Parssinen’s debut novel, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, bears some striking resemblances to a release from last summer, The Fever by Megan Abbott. Both books are set in a smallish town and focus on a coterie of teenage girls afflicted, one by one, with a mysterious illness. In both towns, there is the question of an environmental pollutant and the intense reactions of the town’s inhabitants. Both novels attempt to submerge the reader into the stew of the anxiety, fear and suspicion engendered by the girls’ condition; both stories offer a view into the adolescent mindset and its passions. But if The Fever left you detached and cold as it did me, don’t let that keep you from The Unraveling of Mercy Louis. Parssinen’s novel succeeds on every level and kept me enthralled in every way Abbott’s did not.
Mercy Louis is the star basketball player on her high school team. Rebuilding her confidence after a terrible championship game, she also has the upcoming apocalypse to consider. Her evangelical grandmother, who has raised Mercy since her drug-addicted mother left, has predicted the end of the world and she instructs Mercy how to be among the chosen. Mercy, for her part, is a believer, and yet, her day-to-day world is focused on normal teenage preoccupations: her best friend Annie, the basketball team, her developing crush on a guitar-playing smooth-talker. The sexual tensions between the characters are encompassing and confused, as those among burgeoning sexual beings are, and Parssinen presents the crosshatch of their feelings and affections. Mercy has remained “pure” yet loves Annie with an intensity bordering on sexual; the wallflower Illa worships Mercy, and Annie escapes her unhappy home life through promiscuity, all the while encouraging Mercy’s attachment.
The story is framed by two local events, past and present. The town is still recovering from the refinery blast that crippled Illa’s mother, and still enduring the air pollution produced by the town’s main business. Also, as the novel begins, the corpse of a premature infant is found in the garbage at a convenience store. The police investigate and soon, the focus turns to the students at Mercy’s school. Townspeople are enraged and the girls, all girls, become suspect. Always throughout the book, there is the myriad of expectations presented to females, the struggle to be all of the things their gender requires.
Thematically, the novel gives so much to mull over but it’s also a page-turning suspenseful tale with a Gothic flavor. I appreciated the patience Parssinen displayed, the nuances she laid out and especially, the areas she intentionally left murky. Race is a factor, but never over-played. The mystery of Mercy’s mother unfolds slowly and deliberately. Mercy’s sexual awakening is fraught with doubt and confused allegiances. In everything, there is a bit of mystery.
Parssinen’s town of Port Sabine is a vivid, emotive place, the sights and smells of nature pressing in from all sides. She captures the nuances of small town life eerily and perfectly. The narrative moves back and forth from Mercy’s perspective to Illa’s, and the pairing of these characters works well. Both are missing mothers: Mercy’s left town and Illa’s is a shell of her former self after her accident. In another time, the mothers were the best of friends, and as their story comes to light, Mercy and Illa find a lost part of themselves. Each character’s world is a live and desperate place. Outside, the town is becoming unhinged and when the tension builds to a shocking act of brutality, the dye is cast for both girls to make big changes.
A riveting and touching read, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a novel about growing up, about modern expectations for our girls, about fear and the brutality that often goes with it, about love, about talent, about finding a truth that works for you. And it’s a story that won’t soon leave your consciousness.
Mercy Louis is the star basketball player on her high school team. Rebuilding her confidence after a terrible championship game, she also has the upcoming apocalypse to consider. Her evangelical grandmother, who has raised Mercy since her drug-addicted mother left, has predicted the end of the world and she instructs Mercy how to be among the chosen. Mercy, for her part, is a believer, and yet, her day-to-day world is focused on normal teenage preoccupations: her best friend Annie, the basketball team, her developing crush on a guitar-playing smooth-talker. The sexual tensions between the characters are encompassing and confused, as those among burgeoning sexual beings are, and Parssinen presents the crosshatch of their feelings and affections. Mercy has remained “pure” yet loves Annie with an intensity bordering on sexual; the wallflower Illa worships Mercy, and Annie escapes her unhappy home life through promiscuity, all the while encouraging Mercy’s attachment.
The story is framed by two local events, past and present. The town is still recovering from the refinery blast that crippled Illa’s mother, and still enduring the air pollution produced by the town’s main business. Also, as the novel begins, the corpse of a premature infant is found in the garbage at a convenience store. The police investigate and soon, the focus turns to the students at Mercy’s school. Townspeople are enraged and the girls, all girls, become suspect. Always throughout the book, there is the myriad of expectations presented to females, the struggle to be all of the things their gender requires.
Thematically, the novel gives so much to mull over but it’s also a page-turning suspenseful tale with a Gothic flavor. I appreciated the patience Parssinen displayed, the nuances she laid out and especially, the areas she intentionally left murky. Race is a factor, but never over-played. The mystery of Mercy’s mother unfolds slowly and deliberately. Mercy’s sexual awakening is fraught with doubt and confused allegiances. In everything, there is a bit of mystery.
Parssinen’s town of Port Sabine is a vivid, emotive place, the sights and smells of nature pressing in from all sides. She captures the nuances of small town life eerily and perfectly. The narrative moves back and forth from Mercy’s perspective to Illa’s, and the pairing of these characters works well. Both are missing mothers: Mercy’s left town and Illa’s is a shell of her former self after her accident. In another time, the mothers were the best of friends, and as their story comes to light, Mercy and Illa find a lost part of themselves. Each character’s world is a live and desperate place. Outside, the town is becoming unhinged and when the tension builds to a shocking act of brutality, the dye is cast for both girls to make big changes.
A riveting and touching read, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a novel about growing up, about modern expectations for our girls, about fear and the brutality that often goes with it, about love, about talent, about finding a truth that works for you. And it’s a story that won’t soon leave your consciousness.
April 22, 2015
Not too often, there are books that come around which make you sad when you have finished it. After all this time and emotion I've invested, for it to end and go on to the next book, I feel like I'm abandoning these characters. I want to let it sink in and appreciate the value of it all. This was a good one, but I only rate it 3.5 stars....Here's why:
First we have Mercy, the golden girl and an all-around great kid. She is kind and respectful. She's a typical teenage girl struggling with her body and her thoughts of giving in to everything she works so hard for. As the star of her high school varsity basketball team, these guides are what she tries to live by:
1. Be NOT proud.
2. Stick to the meal plan EVERY day.
3. Be twice as good as other girls.
4. You get out what you put in.
5. NO boy gets the privilege of your flesh until marriage.
6. Get a full D-I scholarship.
7. Live to meet the end without dread.
Yes, number 7: Instilled in her by her Holy Rollin', bible thumpin' religious grandmother Evelia, AKA Maw Maw. The religious tones of this book is what brought it down a half star for me. Sometimes I wanted to spit nails every time a tirade of Maw Maw's came out like a storm cloud and then dumped harshly down upon Mercy or anyone near Maw Maw. Since this book was set in the year 1999, Maw Maw believes the rapture is coming as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day 2000.
Next we meet Illa (pronounced with a long I as in Lilla) who is just the cutest thing. She is a bit of an outcast, sometimes misunderstood, but has a genuine spirit and is the sole caretaker of her mother Meg, who was injured in an accident years ago. She loves photography, enjoys being the manager of the high school's basketball team. And she loves and idolizes Mercy in her own way.
There's Annie, Mercy's best friend. She's a self-centered little rich girl who's been around the block a few times...or dozen. But I believe she's the way she is due to her father's tyrancy and egotistical ways.
As I sit here with a front-row seat into the lives of these women and girls, I learn how Parssinen has a way with words. They are impactful and engaging. One quote I'd like to mention, during a shared moment between Mercy and Illa: "How do you get back to a feeling? You can't just buy a ticket?" Or this one, between Meg and her long-time friend: "I was mad at your going away. Why would I be mad at you for coming back? Like getting run over by a car twice, no thank you."
There is one major question that remains to this story, and it goes unanswered. I won't give anything away, but that is the other reason for the eliminated last star. If you would have had that Ms. Parssinen, it would have been a slam dunk from me for sure! :)
First we have Mercy, the golden girl and an all-around great kid. She is kind and respectful. She's a typical teenage girl struggling with her body and her thoughts of giving in to everything she works so hard for. As the star of her high school varsity basketball team, these guides are what she tries to live by:
1. Be NOT proud.
2. Stick to the meal plan EVERY day.
3. Be twice as good as other girls.
4. You get out what you put in.
5. NO boy gets the privilege of your flesh until marriage.
6. Get a full D-I scholarship.
7. Live to meet the end without dread.
Yes, number 7: Instilled in her by her Holy Rollin', bible thumpin' religious grandmother Evelia, AKA Maw Maw. The religious tones of this book is what brought it down a half star for me. Sometimes I wanted to spit nails every time a tirade of Maw Maw's came out like a storm cloud and then dumped harshly down upon Mercy or anyone near Maw Maw. Since this book was set in the year 1999, Maw Maw believes the rapture is coming as the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Day 2000.
Next we meet Illa (pronounced with a long I as in Lilla) who is just the cutest thing. She is a bit of an outcast, sometimes misunderstood, but has a genuine spirit and is the sole caretaker of her mother Meg, who was injured in an accident years ago. She loves photography, enjoys being the manager of the high school's basketball team. And she loves and idolizes Mercy in her own way.
There's Annie, Mercy's best friend. She's a self-centered little rich girl who's been around the block a few times...or dozen. But I believe she's the way she is due to her father's tyrancy and egotistical ways.
As I sit here with a front-row seat into the lives of these women and girls, I learn how Parssinen has a way with words. They are impactful and engaging. One quote I'd like to mention, during a shared moment between Mercy and Illa: "How do you get back to a feeling? You can't just buy a ticket?" Or this one, between Meg and her long-time friend: "I was mad at your going away. Why would I be mad at you for coming back? Like getting run over by a car twice, no thank you."
There is one major question that remains to this story, and it goes unanswered. I won't give anything away, but that is the other reason for the eliminated last star. If you would have had that Ms. Parssinen, it would have been a slam dunk from me for sure! :)
January 24, 2016
In terms of theme and subject, this book has been compared to The Fever, by Megan Abbott, which was one of my favorite new releases of last year. I gave All The Stars to The Fever, but I didn't like this one anywhere nearly as much. However, I recognize that others might like it, and it's possible that this book will satisfy those who didn't enjoy The Fever, and vice versa. So, I'm not going to go into a lot of detail in this review, but just provide a quick rundown of pros and cons.
Pros:
-Subject of mass psychogenic illness in adolescent girls is fascinating (See also: The Crucible, The Fever, the Salem Witch Trials...)
-Said subject relates to important theme of societal fear and regulation of, and preoccupation with, female sexuality.
-Intriguing setting of small Texas oil refinery town raises issues of Erin Brockovich-style environmental public health hazards; worker exploitation; class/race/gender divide in town culture and economics. Also, "Friday Night Lights" phenomenon of fetishizing high school sports and athletes because there's not much else going on.
All that sounds great, right? But -
Cons:
-Main adolescent characters suffer from "Dawson's Creek Syndrome" in that they think/talk/behave in elevated idealized way incongruent with actual stages of human development.
-Abundant flat or stereotypical character types, e.g. the rebellious "slutty" rich girl, the saintly good girl, the Disney Prince sensitive musician teen boyfriend, the Boss Hogg evil exploitative capitalist politician, the fringe-dwelling medicine woman Boo Radley scapegoat, and worst of all, the religious fanatic Cajun storytelling vision-seeing grandmother, who was like a worse and more exaggerated and embarrassingly ill-written version of the mother in the movie of Stephen King's Carrie. (The proper Old Guard, Sissy Spacek-starring Carrie.)
-Unnecessary and irritating/distracting use of different POVs in chapters narrated by two protagonists, Mercy and Illa.
-Overly resolved, unrealistic, idealized, too-clean happy ending with loose ends tied up to unsatisfyingly handed-down-to-the-reader-on-silver-platter degree.
To my mind, these cons "unraveled" an otherwise promising novel, making it read like a more YA work. (I'd recommend the book to that audience.) I still finished it, and rather quickly, but left disappointed. Did not have these problems with Abbott's book! But still perhaps worth a read if you're really drawn to the theme and subject to the degree necessary to transcend these flaws.
Pros:
-Subject of mass psychogenic illness in adolescent girls is fascinating (See also: The Crucible, The Fever, the Salem Witch Trials...)
-Said subject relates to important theme of societal fear and regulation of, and preoccupation with, female sexuality.
-Intriguing setting of small Texas oil refinery town raises issues of Erin Brockovich-style environmental public health hazards; worker exploitation; class/race/gender divide in town culture and economics. Also, "Friday Night Lights" phenomenon of fetishizing high school sports and athletes because there's not much else going on.
All that sounds great, right? But -
Cons:
-Main adolescent characters suffer from "Dawson's Creek Syndrome" in that they think/talk/behave in elevated idealized way incongruent with actual stages of human development.
-Abundant flat or stereotypical character types, e.g. the rebellious "slutty" rich girl, the saintly good girl, the Disney Prince sensitive musician teen boyfriend, the Boss Hogg evil exploitative capitalist politician, the fringe-dwelling medicine woman Boo Radley scapegoat, and worst of all, the religious fanatic Cajun storytelling vision-seeing grandmother, who was like a worse and more exaggerated and embarrassingly ill-written version of the mother in the movie of Stephen King's Carrie. (The proper Old Guard, Sissy Spacek-starring Carrie.)
-Unnecessary and irritating/distracting use of different POVs in chapters narrated by two protagonists, Mercy and Illa.
-Overly resolved, unrealistic, idealized, too-clean happy ending with loose ends tied up to unsatisfyingly handed-down-to-the-reader-on-silver-platter degree.
To my mind, these cons "unraveled" an otherwise promising novel, making it read like a more YA work. (I'd recommend the book to that audience.) I still finished it, and rather quickly, but left disappointed. Did not have these problems with Abbott's book! But still perhaps worth a read if you're really drawn to the theme and subject to the degree necessary to transcend these flaws.
May 21, 2016
The novel has a slow burn. It heats up at a steady pace that traps the reader in a satisfying, tense read. The raw and disturbing crime Parssinen sets up at the novel’s start has nothing on the fraught drama of Mercy Louis’s coming of age. This is a book I was riveted to in the most literal sense, carrying it from room to room so I could steal into the pages during odd moments. Its magnetism is in its realism and relatability and the smudged and dirty hope we get to polish into something precious at the novel’s close.
April 1, 2017
Finished without answers but was still good
September 20, 2015
Oh, Mercy Louis – how I love you. You dribbled your way into my heart and I have so many feelings about you and your journey that I don’t know where to start. I suppose I’ll start with a quick synopsis about this wonderful book by Keija Parssinen. It’s about a small refinery left reeling from an environmental incident and their golden girl basketball star, Mercy Louis. Mercy is the quintessential good girl living – smart, talented, and with an incredible worth ethic. Oh, and she lives with her extremely religious grandmother who is sure the end of the world is only a few months away (cue Y2K panic). But perfection can only last so long and Mercy’s final year of high school brings with it the trials and tribulations of being 17. This is where the book really gains momentum and we get to go along for the ride to witness her unraveling.
It should come as no surprise that a book set in rural Texas would include elements of superstition, especially given Mercy’s grandmother’s reputation, but the undercurrent of religion in this book is both subtle and obvious if you know what to look for. I’m left with the impression that it would take a few re-reads to fully identify the multiple layers that exist, for the true story of Mercy Louis and her hometown of Port Sabine lurks below the surface.
For full review, visit The Book Wheel.
It should come as no surprise that a book set in rural Texas would include elements of superstition, especially given Mercy’s grandmother’s reputation, but the undercurrent of religion in this book is both subtle and obvious if you know what to look for. I’m left with the impression that it would take a few re-reads to fully identify the multiple layers that exist, for the true story of Mercy Louis and her hometown of Port Sabine lurks below the surface.
For full review, visit The Book Wheel.
August 20, 2019
beautiful portrait of rural Texas, the witch-hunt metaphor for reproductive rights tied in beautifully with evangelism and racism.
January 1, 2016
Sigh. Not only do we have two POVs, we have two different types: one first person, one third. It's not just adjusting to the new person, it's adjusting to a different writing. Sigh. And, of course, when you're writing in the first person, the first trick should be to make the characters sound different - not the case here. Mercy's voice is too sophisticated, to writerly, much better suited for a third person voice than first. Illa's makes sense the way she's written, but not Mercy.
So, the plot. There are a few competing hooks: the basketball focus, the Bible-belt Purity Ball and church life, the town's decline, the refinery's affect on the environment and, finally, mother-daughter dynamics for both Illa and Mercy. Add in a tinge of Cajun folktales and this is quite the jam-packed book. At times I wished for just a little less range.
ARC provided by publisher.
So, the plot. There are a few competing hooks: the basketball focus, the Bible-belt Purity Ball and church life, the town's decline, the refinery's affect on the environment and, finally, mother-daughter dynamics for both Illa and Mercy. Add in a tinge of Cajun folktales and this is quite the jam-packed book. At times I wished for just a little less range.
ARC provided by publisher.
March 4, 2015
Literary and page-turning at the same time. Keija Parssinen tells the bizarre and beautifully written tale of Mercy Louis from the POV of Mercy (first) and the soon-to-become-very-involved manager of her high school basketball team (third).
There is so much here: the thrill of sport, a coach's place in a teen's life, first love, the complexity of lifelong friendships, difficult mother/daughter relationships, religion, Y2K fear, environmental and financial distress, fear of the community outlier, teenage sexuality and pregnancy and health complications so unusual I had to look them up because I didn't believe they existed, but guess what: They do.
Every time I thought I knew what would happen next, I was wrong. Highly recommend.
There is so much here: the thrill of sport, a coach's place in a teen's life, first love, the complexity of lifelong friendships, difficult mother/daughter relationships, religion, Y2K fear, environmental and financial distress, fear of the community outlier, teenage sexuality and pregnancy and health complications so unusual I had to look them up because I didn't believe they existed, but guess what: They do.
Every time I thought I knew what would happen next, I was wrong. Highly recommend.
March 19, 2015
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is one of those books that is incredibly hard to categorize…which is a good thing in my view! It’s a mash-up of coming of age, suspense, sports, economic tension, Southern culture (it’s set in Texas, but feels more like Louisiana), and religion gone wrong…all gorgeously written. It completely surprised me and I loved it, mainly because it included five things that I’m a total sucker for…
To continue reading this review, visit my blog: http://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/fict...
To continue reading this review, visit my blog: http://www.sarahsbookshelves.com/fict...
July 16, 2018
This is a slow burn of a book, but it kept pulling me along. It had the pace and plot of a young adult fiction novel, but it had the complexity of something for adults. I was most impressed with Parssinen's writing style, which is assured and lively. I loved her use of Yusef Komunyakaa's poem "Slam Dunk and Hook," which is a poem I often use in my classroom. I also felt there was an interesting correlation between this novel and The Art of Fielding in the way both use sports as a trope.
There are a few mysteries at the book's core, and most of them get revealed. (I still can't figure out one part of the book, which frustrates.) But there is a satisfying ending and theme: "In the end, all that really mattered was whether or not you had a person who loved you well when you were young" (313). I love that.
There are a few mysteries at the book's core, and most of them get revealed. (I still can't figure out one part of the book, which frustrates.) But there is a satisfying ending and theme: "In the end, all that really mattered was whether or not you had a person who loved you well when you were young" (313). I love that.
July 5, 2019
This book didn’t really work for me, but I’m not sure exactly why. I liked the atmosphere the author created- I could imagine this poor Southern town easily, and you feel the town’s hysteria building with each new shocking event. I also think the book deals with some really poignant issues in unique ways. However, the characters don’t feel like people I know - no one speaks like Mercy, and why does Illa devote her life to this girl she doesn’t really know? There are way too many things going on here - an industrial explosion, a dead baby, mass hysteria, and demon purging. So many things, in fact, that even the author didn’t know how to resolve this story. It’ll be a great book club discussion, but it won’t be one I’ll recommend.
July 13, 2015
On the last day of school in 1999 Port Sabine, a fetal corpse is found in a dumpster near the high school. The discovery rocks the deeply religious oil refinery town, and every female student is viewed with suspicion. One of the girls embroiled in this mystery is Mercy Louis. A basketball star with stunning good looks and a virtuous reputation, she is the town’s golden girl. But behind her luminous exterior lurks a difficult personal life. After being abandoned by her mother, Charmaine, who is widely viewed as a junkie and a slut, she has been raised by her strict evangelical grandmother, who is desperate to keep Mercy from following in Charmaine’s footsteps.
Amid the witch hunt for Baby Doe’s mother, Mercy must deal with cryptic letters from the mother she has never met; a rift with her rebellious best friend, Annie; the overwhelming expectations of her grandmother and her coach; and a boy, Travis, who shakes the foundation of her beliefs. And at the periphery of everything is Illa Stark, the basketball team’s manager. A lonely wallflower who was forced to grow up too fast when a refinery explosion rendered her mother unable to walk, she is captivated by Mercy’s grace and talent.
After a life-altering summer, the tension culminates on the opening night of the basketball season, when Mercy collapses on the court and begins to display strange symptoms that the doctor can’t explain. Soon, other girls develop the same mysterious affliction, and panic spreads through the community.
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen packs quite a punch. Although I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked it up, it has become one of my favorite books of the year, so far. Here are five reasons why I loved it and want everyone to read it.
1. Deeply religious Southern oil refinery town. Port Sabine, a Southern Texas town near the Louisiana border is portrayed vividly, with its conservative values and fraught relationship with the refinery that both provides the town’s lifeblood and causes serious health issues for its workers.
2. Criticism of the patriarchy. As you might expect from such a conservative Southern religious community, the people of Port Sabine are not the most progressive when it comes to how they treat their women and girls. This novel is a biting indictment of the attitude that a girl's virtue is her most valuable asset.
3. Fantastic coming of age story. Being 17 is hard no matter what your personal circumstances are. But add an absent mother who finally wants contact, a grandmother who is more focused on the Rapture (Y2K fear, y’all!) than loving you, a first love that challenges everything you have been taught, a judgmental community, and the unique stress small-town athletic champions face, and you have a real doozy of a coming-of-age story.
4. Dual perspectives. The story is told from alternating perspectives. In addition to Mercy’s first-person narration, we also get third-person chapters from Illa’s perspective as she deals with taking care of her house-bound mother, pursues a photography competition, and keeps tabs of Mercy. Although she has taken a back seat in many discussions of this book, she is a really wonderful, fully realized character.
5. Notes of other fantastic books and movies. Like The Fever by Megan Abbott, this book has a mysterious condition that sweeps through a group of girls. And its portrayal of the challenges facing girls growing up in Southern towns reminded me of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Finally, its takedown of slut-shaming called Mean Girls to mind.
I really loved The Unraveling of Mercy Louis and would highly recommend it to readers who love Southern coming-of-age stories with a touch of feminism.
See the original review on Books Speak Volumes.
Amid the witch hunt for Baby Doe’s mother, Mercy must deal with cryptic letters from the mother she has never met; a rift with her rebellious best friend, Annie; the overwhelming expectations of her grandmother and her coach; and a boy, Travis, who shakes the foundation of her beliefs. And at the periphery of everything is Illa Stark, the basketball team’s manager. A lonely wallflower who was forced to grow up too fast when a refinery explosion rendered her mother unable to walk, she is captivated by Mercy’s grace and talent.
After a life-altering summer, the tension culminates on the opening night of the basketball season, when Mercy collapses on the court and begins to display strange symptoms that the doctor can’t explain. Soon, other girls develop the same mysterious affliction, and panic spreads through the community.
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis by Keija Parssinen packs quite a punch. Although I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I picked it up, it has become one of my favorite books of the year, so far. Here are five reasons why I loved it and want everyone to read it.
1. Deeply religious Southern oil refinery town. Port Sabine, a Southern Texas town near the Louisiana border is portrayed vividly, with its conservative values and fraught relationship with the refinery that both provides the town’s lifeblood and causes serious health issues for its workers.
2. Criticism of the patriarchy. As you might expect from such a conservative Southern religious community, the people of Port Sabine are not the most progressive when it comes to how they treat their women and girls. This novel is a biting indictment of the attitude that a girl's virtue is her most valuable asset.
3. Fantastic coming of age story. Being 17 is hard no matter what your personal circumstances are. But add an absent mother who finally wants contact, a grandmother who is more focused on the Rapture (Y2K fear, y’all!) than loving you, a first love that challenges everything you have been taught, a judgmental community, and the unique stress small-town athletic champions face, and you have a real doozy of a coming-of-age story.
4. Dual perspectives. The story is told from alternating perspectives. In addition to Mercy’s first-person narration, we also get third-person chapters from Illa’s perspective as she deals with taking care of her house-bound mother, pursues a photography competition, and keeps tabs of Mercy. Although she has taken a back seat in many discussions of this book, she is a really wonderful, fully realized character.
5. Notes of other fantastic books and movies. Like The Fever by Megan Abbott, this book has a mysterious condition that sweeps through a group of girls. And its portrayal of the challenges facing girls growing up in Southern towns reminded me of Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward. Finally, its takedown of slut-shaming called Mean Girls to mind.
I really loved The Unraveling of Mercy Louis and would highly recommend it to readers who love Southern coming-of-age stories with a touch of feminism.
See the original review on Books Speak Volumes.
June 8, 2016
In “The Unravelling of Mercy Louis”, author Keija Parssinen weaves such disparate elements as girls’ high school basketball, small-town misogyny, religious fundamentalism, political corruption and first love into a gripping, suspenseful, allegorical retelling of the story of the Salem witch trials. While Parssinen’s tale takes a while to build steam, and can seem at times overstuffed in its juggling of thematic elements, once the book takes off, it becomes a page-turning, yet deeply-felt coming-of-age novel that just happens to also be a successful mystery.
“Unravelling” has many influences and echoes, from Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” to H.G. Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights” to Stephen King’s “Carrie” (even to his wife Tabitha’s novel “One on One”). It is the story of the eponymous high school basketball star, Mercy Louis, a 17-year old girl preparing to enter her senior year of high school in a backward Texas town in the year 1999, where girls are prized for their virginity and pure athletic prowess (and failing in either can lead to suspicion, ostracization and violence). Mercy’s mother abandoned her at birth, so she is being raised by her religious fanatic grandmother, Maw Maw (a character whose irredeemable nature and ignorant bullying at times threatens to capsize the narrative), who mistrusts Mercy’s love of basketball and is looking for any opportunity to ban her granddaughter from playing the game. Maw Maw’s strict upbringing of Mercy has so far met with little resistance from the girl, but as Mercy enters the summer before her senior year, a falling out with her best friend and teammate, Annie, and the budding romantic interest of a young man from her neighborhood threaten to unbalance the fragile equilibrium of her young life. Add to that the town hysteria and witch hunt over the discovery of an aborted baby found in a dumpster behind a convenience store, a mysterious illness that begins to afflict Mercy and the other girls at the school, and the reverberations of a long-ago explosion at the refinery that drove the town’s economy, and you have the makings of a compelling novel.
While the flyleaf copy for the book emphasizes its “psychological suspense”, Parssinen’s uniformly fine writing attempts to ground her story in the mundane details of daily life in a small town, where the local Sonic fast-food drive-in is the hub of teen social life, and a fear of budding female sexual awakening among the townsfolk leads to the execrable Purity Balls. Where ignorance and bigotry clothe themselves in religion and civic boosterism, the better to disguise their craven and vicious natures. And where violence against women isn’t just perpetrated by men, and takes psychic as well as physical forms. Yet, the author knows well the old Camus quote, “Happiness, too, is inevitable”, and makes sure that joy and hope aren’t completely suffocated by the realities of life in Port Sabine, Texas. For while the sins of the fathers (and mothers) threaten to overwhelm and defeat the newest generation of girls, those same potential victims are rejecting the strictures of their community and banding together to embrace a better way; the “unravelling” of the title may just be the first step towards weaving a newer, triumphant tapestry.
“Unravelling” has many influences and echoes, from Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” to Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible” to H.G. Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights” to Stephen King’s “Carrie” (even to his wife Tabitha’s novel “One on One”). It is the story of the eponymous high school basketball star, Mercy Louis, a 17-year old girl preparing to enter her senior year of high school in a backward Texas town in the year 1999, where girls are prized for their virginity and pure athletic prowess (and failing in either can lead to suspicion, ostracization and violence). Mercy’s mother abandoned her at birth, so she is being raised by her religious fanatic grandmother, Maw Maw (a character whose irredeemable nature and ignorant bullying at times threatens to capsize the narrative), who mistrusts Mercy’s love of basketball and is looking for any opportunity to ban her granddaughter from playing the game. Maw Maw’s strict upbringing of Mercy has so far met with little resistance from the girl, but as Mercy enters the summer before her senior year, a falling out with her best friend and teammate, Annie, and the budding romantic interest of a young man from her neighborhood threaten to unbalance the fragile equilibrium of her young life. Add to that the town hysteria and witch hunt over the discovery of an aborted baby found in a dumpster behind a convenience store, a mysterious illness that begins to afflict Mercy and the other girls at the school, and the reverberations of a long-ago explosion at the refinery that drove the town’s economy, and you have the makings of a compelling novel.
While the flyleaf copy for the book emphasizes its “psychological suspense”, Parssinen’s uniformly fine writing attempts to ground her story in the mundane details of daily life in a small town, where the local Sonic fast-food drive-in is the hub of teen social life, and a fear of budding female sexual awakening among the townsfolk leads to the execrable Purity Balls. Where ignorance and bigotry clothe themselves in religion and civic boosterism, the better to disguise their craven and vicious natures. And where violence against women isn’t just perpetrated by men, and takes psychic as well as physical forms. Yet, the author knows well the old Camus quote, “Happiness, too, is inevitable”, and makes sure that joy and hope aren’t completely suffocated by the realities of life in Port Sabine, Texas. For while the sins of the fathers (and mothers) threaten to overwhelm and defeat the newest generation of girls, those same potential victims are rejecting the strictures of their community and banding together to embrace a better way; the “unravelling” of the title may just be the first step towards weaving a newer, triumphant tapestry.
January 8, 2016
It begins with a baby in a dumpster. What follows is a spellbinding exploration of the patriarchy at work and how a town can turn against itself, tearing down the children it’s supposed to protect in its search for “justice”. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a suspenseful, brutal coming of age story, one that author Keija Parssinen executes with sharp skill.
This is the kind of book that creeps up on its readers—aside from the eventful prologue, the author sets the scene amid the lazy, sweltering Texas summer, and rather than moving into a murder investigation, allows those opening images to rankle and fester. We meet Mercy Louis , her Holly Rolling grandmother, and the people of Port Sabine. As the novel progresses, a growing sense of dread and urgency builds up, and the plot gains momentum, careening towards climax. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a sneaky book; I didn’t expect to be sucked in the way I was, and this became a one-sitting read, uncomfortable and unputdownable.
The jacket copy of the book describes Port Sabine’s mentality as a “witch hunt”, and it’s entirely accurate. Once the medical examiner rules the baby’s death a homicide, and once the police pinpoint the high school, literally every teenage girl in town becomes a suspect. Hysteria descends, as does panic. Fingers are pointed and secrets revealed, and it becomes every girl for herself. As Parssinen comments, it soon becomes a crime in Port Sabine just to be a girl.
So much of The Unraveling of Mercy Louis revolves around girls and the way society approaches them and their sexuality, and the author’s sharp takedown of the patriarchy is breathtaking.
Here we have a town so enraged they’re roaming the streets, ready to assault and batter anyone the police take in for questioning—never mind that the mother of this baby is probably terrified, probably alone, and probably in a difficult situation. Here we have girls being told they’re worthless if they have sex before marriage, who are forced to wear special clothes like a scarlet letter if they break their Purity Covenant, so everyone knows they’re trash. Here we have a young woman blamed for her rape and then forced to carry the baby to term and marry her rapist. Here we have girls so desperate to keep themselves away from blame, they turn on each other just to protect themselves.
This is the world of Port Sabine, the terrain Mercy Louis has to navigate and somehow grow up in. This is patriarchy and religious fanaticism at work, and Parssinen lays it out for readers in unsettling, stark clarity.
Of course, though the murdered baby is always present in the story, sometimes it only lurks on the sidelines. Much of the novel is about basketball and new love and old friends and family secrets. At its heart, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a coming of age novel, but the darkness of the town’s obsession with “purity” is always just beneath the surface.
It wan’t until I finished that I realized how brilliant this book is, how skillfully Keija Parssinen put everything together, from the very beginning. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is an immersive, humid read. Completely addictive and with startlingly astute social commentary, this novel impressed me very much.
This is the kind of book that creeps up on its readers—aside from the eventful prologue, the author sets the scene amid the lazy, sweltering Texas summer, and rather than moving into a murder investigation, allows those opening images to rankle and fester. We meet Mercy Louis , her Holly Rolling grandmother, and the people of Port Sabine. As the novel progresses, a growing sense of dread and urgency builds up, and the plot gains momentum, careening towards climax. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a sneaky book; I didn’t expect to be sucked in the way I was, and this became a one-sitting read, uncomfortable and unputdownable.
The jacket copy of the book describes Port Sabine’s mentality as a “witch hunt”, and it’s entirely accurate. Once the medical examiner rules the baby’s death a homicide, and once the police pinpoint the high school, literally every teenage girl in town becomes a suspect. Hysteria descends, as does panic. Fingers are pointed and secrets revealed, and it becomes every girl for herself. As Parssinen comments, it soon becomes a crime in Port Sabine just to be a girl.
So much of The Unraveling of Mercy Louis revolves around girls and the way society approaches them and their sexuality, and the author’s sharp takedown of the patriarchy is breathtaking.
Here we have a town so enraged they’re roaming the streets, ready to assault and batter anyone the police take in for questioning—never mind that the mother of this baby is probably terrified, probably alone, and probably in a difficult situation. Here we have girls being told they’re worthless if they have sex before marriage, who are forced to wear special clothes like a scarlet letter if they break their Purity Covenant, so everyone knows they’re trash. Here we have a young woman blamed for her rape and then forced to carry the baby to term and marry her rapist. Here we have girls so desperate to keep themselves away from blame, they turn on each other just to protect themselves.
This is the world of Port Sabine, the terrain Mercy Louis has to navigate and somehow grow up in. This is patriarchy and religious fanaticism at work, and Parssinen lays it out for readers in unsettling, stark clarity.
Of course, though the murdered baby is always present in the story, sometimes it only lurks on the sidelines. Much of the novel is about basketball and new love and old friends and family secrets. At its heart, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a coming of age novel, but the darkness of the town’s obsession with “purity” is always just beneath the surface.
It wan’t until I finished that I realized how brilliant this book is, how skillfully Keija Parssinen put everything together, from the very beginning. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is an immersive, humid read. Completely addictive and with startlingly astute social commentary, this novel impressed me very much.
April 11, 2015
See my full review at my blog about literary fiction by women, Read Her Like an Open Book. http://wp.me/p3EtWm-vz
Seventeen-year-old high school senior Mercy Louis is a star in her hometown of Port Sabine, Texas. She is the best basketball player in the school’s history and one of the best in the state. She is popular despite being a quiet and serious young lady with little social life. For, as much as she may be admired, everyone knows her story: her teenager mother, Charmaine Boudreaux, abandoned her and ended up a drug addict in Houston; her father is a ne’er do well named Witness Louis who has had nothing to do with her beyond her creation.
Mercy has been raised by her grandmother, Evelia Boudreaux, a dour, single-minded fundamentalist who has made it her mission to prevent Mercy from repeating the humiliating sins of her mother.
Mercy has been shaped by the dual (and dueling) visions of her grandmother and her ambitious basketball coach, Jodi Martin, who recognizes that Mercy is a once-in-a-lifetime player who can bring the coach, the school, and the town great acclaim while earning herself a Division I scholarship and the chance to escape the hothouse of Port Sabine, a ragged, oil refinery-dominated town on the Gulf Coast.
Mercy has been under their full-court pressure for so long that her unraveling is inevitable; the only questions are when and how. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis answers those questions in a probing and suspenseful story that has been described as a cross between Friday Night Lights and The Crucible.
The story is told through dual narratives: Mercy tells her story in 1st person, while basketball team manager and secret admirer Illa Stark narrates her chapters in a close 3rd person, giving us an inside and outside view of Mercy and her circumstances.
....
The catalyst that sets all these conflicts in motion is the discovery of an aborted fetus in a dumpster behind a local convenience store. The police and citizens are obsessed with determining who “murdered” the baby, and suspicions run rampant. Beau Putnam uses the situation to complain about the police investigation and lack of leadership in Port Sabine. Tensions from the refinery explosion and fears that the town’s major employer is polluting their air and water make Port Sabine’s residents even more fractious.
...
The quality of Parssinen’s writing keeps The Unraveling of Mercy Louis from turning into an overstuffed melodrama. She keeps the two narratives moving and she weaves the various plotlines together adroitly.
Seventeen-year-old high school senior Mercy Louis is a star in her hometown of Port Sabine, Texas. She is the best basketball player in the school’s history and one of the best in the state. She is popular despite being a quiet and serious young lady with little social life. For, as much as she may be admired, everyone knows her story: her teenager mother, Charmaine Boudreaux, abandoned her and ended up a drug addict in Houston; her father is a ne’er do well named Witness Louis who has had nothing to do with her beyond her creation.
Mercy has been raised by her grandmother, Evelia Boudreaux, a dour, single-minded fundamentalist who has made it her mission to prevent Mercy from repeating the humiliating sins of her mother.
Mercy has been shaped by the dual (and dueling) visions of her grandmother and her ambitious basketball coach, Jodi Martin, who recognizes that Mercy is a once-in-a-lifetime player who can bring the coach, the school, and the town great acclaim while earning herself a Division I scholarship and the chance to escape the hothouse of Port Sabine, a ragged, oil refinery-dominated town on the Gulf Coast.
Mercy has been under their full-court pressure for so long that her unraveling is inevitable; the only questions are when and how. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis answers those questions in a probing and suspenseful story that has been described as a cross between Friday Night Lights and The Crucible.
The story is told through dual narratives: Mercy tells her story in 1st person, while basketball team manager and secret admirer Illa Stark narrates her chapters in a close 3rd person, giving us an inside and outside view of Mercy and her circumstances.
....
The catalyst that sets all these conflicts in motion is the discovery of an aborted fetus in a dumpster behind a local convenience store. The police and citizens are obsessed with determining who “murdered” the baby, and suspicions run rampant. Beau Putnam uses the situation to complain about the police investigation and lack of leadership in Port Sabine. Tensions from the refinery explosion and fears that the town’s major employer is polluting their air and water make Port Sabine’s residents even more fractious.
...
The quality of Parssinen’s writing keeps The Unraveling of Mercy Louis from turning into an overstuffed melodrama. She keeps the two narratives moving and she weaves the various plotlines together adroitly.
April 1, 2015
Mercy Louis is a star, Illa is not. Mercy lead the basketball team to the championship game last season where they had an unheard of loss that weighs on her since. Illa is the team manager who passes through most of her days feeling utterly invisible. The book alternates between the two girls as they go through the last summer of high school and into their senior year. Both have complex relationships with their guardians with Mercy's grandmother convinced 12/31/1999 will be the end of days and Illa's mother trapped in a failing body after an explosion at the plant that had been the backbone of their small town.
The book opens with a grisly discovery by a store clerk of a dead baby. The discovery leaves all the town's girls marked as suspects based merely on the fact that they are females. This event is followed by a mysterious condition affecting teen girls starting with an uncontrollable tic in Mercy's arm. There are many themes here including the danger of religious fervor, the suffering of the town and its economy after the plant accident, and the confusing time of first loves.
I'm not sure if this is marked Young Adult, but it felt like it based on the text and not just because teens are at the forefront of the story. There's nothing wrong with that, some wonderful books are marketed as YA, but it seems to hold the book back. There are too many themes, all explored with too cursory of a stroke. Some things felt too cliche (ex. the plan developed by Mercy's hyper-religious grandmother) and I never felt the depth of character or plot that make me love a book. I was definitely more interested in Illa's path than Mercy's but neither compelled me to read excitedly, instead I picked up the book in an effort to reach the finish. It wasn't a bad book, but (in my humble opinion, an honest one not influenced by having gotten an advanced copy of the book for free from the publisher) it wasn't good either. Three (of five) stars.
Who might like this? I'd think it would do best with a younger crowd. It does have some sex in it, so if that's a problem then steer clear. It might appeal to people interested in how a powerful message can attract devotees who make dangerous decisions justified by complete, unquestioning belief. There's plenty of plot here so I think it would interest those who like action/plots but be less appealing to readers who focus more on fully fleshed out characters. It isn't a hard read so could be read in public situations (ex. on a train, in a coffee shop, etc)
The book opens with a grisly discovery by a store clerk of a dead baby. The discovery leaves all the town's girls marked as suspects based merely on the fact that they are females. This event is followed by a mysterious condition affecting teen girls starting with an uncontrollable tic in Mercy's arm. There are many themes here including the danger of religious fervor, the suffering of the town and its economy after the plant accident, and the confusing time of first loves.
I'm not sure if this is marked Young Adult, but it felt like it based on the text and not just because teens are at the forefront of the story. There's nothing wrong with that, some wonderful books are marketed as YA, but it seems to hold the book back. There are too many themes, all explored with too cursory of a stroke. Some things felt too cliche (ex. the plan developed by Mercy's hyper-religious grandmother) and I never felt the depth of character or plot that make me love a book. I was definitely more interested in Illa's path than Mercy's but neither compelled me to read excitedly, instead I picked up the book in an effort to reach the finish. It wasn't a bad book, but (in my humble opinion, an honest one not influenced by having gotten an advanced copy of the book for free from the publisher) it wasn't good either. Three (of five) stars.
Who might like this? I'd think it would do best with a younger crowd. It does have some sex in it, so if that's a problem then steer clear. It might appeal to people interested in how a powerful message can attract devotees who make dangerous decisions justified by complete, unquestioning belief. There's plenty of plot here so I think it would interest those who like action/plots but be less appealing to readers who focus more on fully fleshed out characters. It isn't a hard read so could be read in public situations (ex. on a train, in a coffee shop, etc)
June 15, 2015
Ms. Parssinen has really got the heartbeat down on small towns in Texas, where high school sports are the biggest thing going on. Mercy Louis is in her junior year of high school, the star player of the championship girl's basketball team. She is a being raised by her grandmother, who is extremely religious beyond the extreme. She claims to be a seer and she is convinced that the Rapture will happen at the end of the year.
A store keeper finds something on the last day of school, that shakes this small bayou town to the core. It happened right across the street from the high school. The Mayor and Sheriff have vowed to solve this crime as soon as they can. They launch an all out "witch hunt" on every young woman in town. The girls are all scared they will be accused of this crime and with all the talk going around it sounds like the accused will never see a trial. These small minded people are going to take care of the guilty in their own way. The town is full of speculations and rumors, the Sheriff is convinced that it's an high school girl who is responsible. for this crime.
There's crime that happened to the town a few years back that destroyed lives and which is still being committed due to greed and cover up. Which is taking a toll on many people.
Ms. Parssinen keeps you on your toes, you think one person is guilty and then another. She kept me guessing till the end. The ending is fantastic, There are several different plots going on at the same time and they tie together perfectly. I loved this book and I highly recommend it. less
A store keeper finds something on the last day of school, that shakes this small bayou town to the core. It happened right across the street from the high school. The Mayor and Sheriff have vowed to solve this crime as soon as they can. They launch an all out "witch hunt" on every young woman in town. The girls are all scared they will be accused of this crime and with all the talk going around it sounds like the accused will never see a trial. These small minded people are going to take care of the guilty in their own way. The town is full of speculations and rumors, the Sheriff is convinced that it's an high school girl who is responsible. for this crime.
There's crime that happened to the town a few years back that destroyed lives and which is still being committed due to greed and cover up. Which is taking a toll on many people.
Ms. Parssinen keeps you on your toes, you think one person is guilty and then another. She kept me guessing till the end. The ending is fantastic, There are several different plots going on at the same time and they tie together perfectly. I loved this book and I highly recommend it. less
September 17, 2015
Keija Parssinen’s The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is stunning. It is so beautifully wrought you feel it is a privilege that she shared it with us. Set on the cusp of Y2K, the novel tells of Mercy Louis, star basketball player at her high school in Port Sabine, Texas, a costal refinery town. Mercy is controlled by her zealot Maw Maw, who is convinced the rapture will occur at the stroke of midnight, December 31, 1999. Mercy loves her grandmother (and fears her) so she buys into this notion, while spending the summer training for her senior year basketball season, taking flack from her seriously flawed best friend, and falling in love. Parssinen weaves a fabric of lies, deceit, love, hate, betrayal, illness, and, ultimately, triumph. Saying that last is giving away nothing, for we all know the world did not end on 12/31/99. And through this intricately plotted novel, we are treated to some gorgeously beautiful writing. Phrases like “the anarchy of summer,” “his soul a hall of mirrors stretching inward forever,” and “the full-throated freedom of summer” are irresistible. This is beautiful, poetic writing. The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is poetic, and yet it is gritty as well. Port Sabine is no paradise, and its inhabitants are no saints. But this marvelous book teaches us the power and meaning of love.
October 22, 2015
An unusual coming of age novel, a mix of mystery, sports, gender, religion, and Southern atmospherics. I came to love the main character, Mercy Louis, a star high school basketball player, raised by her ultra religious grandmother in an oil refinery town in south Texas. Mercy is focused, hardworking and determined to make the most of her difficult circumstances by getting a basketball scholarship to a top school.
Mercy's struggle lies with the conservative values of her town, where girls are judged and scapegoated for moral transgressions. Until she is stricken by a mysterious twitching illness, Mercy has been considered a paragon of virtue. But now the townspeople aren't so sure. Mercy's journey is about accepting her mother, understanding the limitations around her, seeing through the false values imposed on her community by the oil industry and finding a way to become independent and successful on her own terms. The unique thing is, this happens in the form of funky Southern mystery.
Mercy's struggle lies with the conservative values of her town, where girls are judged and scapegoated for moral transgressions. Until she is stricken by a mysterious twitching illness, Mercy has been considered a paragon of virtue. But now the townspeople aren't so sure. Mercy's journey is about accepting her mother, understanding the limitations around her, seeing through the false values imposed on her community by the oil industry and finding a way to become independent and successful on her own terms. The unique thing is, this happens in the form of funky Southern mystery.
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