"Becoming Mary Mehan" by Jennifer Armstrong

Originally marketed as two novellas, "The Dreams of Mairhe Mehan" and "Mary Mehan Awake", these stories have now been combined into a short book.  As a librarian, I tried to market the two original publications, and failed.  Having finally read them (yes, librarians push books they haven't read -- it's kind of inevitable when you have 15,000 books), I can see why they didn't appeal.  Which is not to say they are bad -- they aren't.  But they are significantly more adult-like than expected, given the length.  They are also quite different from each other in tone and style. 

The first half is about Mairhe Mehan, an uneducated Irish immigrant girl living in the slums of Washington, D.C. just before the start of the Civil War.  The text is rich and full of imagery, one might even say "James Joyce light", as Mairhe appears to have near psychic visions of the lives around her, particularly her brother.  The tale isn't so much linear as it is flowing.  Much like the lace Mairhe toils over, the narrative is full of weaves and weft and poetry.  In many ways, it is something to "experience" more than something to follow.  Ms. Armstrong's impressive research also comes into place.  She paints a detailed picture of place and time, right down to street names and ghetto smells.  The characters are fully drawn and the dialect perfection (although challenging to read at times).  In this book, Mairhe comes off as an ethereal creature, one that the author herself describes as an "unreliable narrator."  The appearance of Walt Whitman in the tale is surprising, but well done, and his presence creates a king of anchor for Mairhe, as well as a lyricism to the Irish tongue heard throughout (poets appreciate poets).

The second half is about Mary after the war.  I found it interesting that the most intense part of the story is avoided by the author.  We see the girl before, and the shattered young woman after, but the events in between are only seen as nightmarish flashbacks Mary tries to overcome.  Her new position is working in a household off of Lake Ontario for a good-natured naturalist and his wife,.  This part of the tale is much more linear, with everything spelled out, rather than alluded to.  The symbolism, however, is immensely powerful, as Mary, made into a ghost by her trauma, must find her way to the surface of life again. Plot descriptions say this part of the story is about love transforming her, but those who dislike romance need not fear.  This isn't a syrupy, drippy, "OMG I love you" tome.  It is far more subtle than that.  In my humble opinion, this isn't a tale about love making the difference, but about love being there when Mary is finally ready to live again.  In any case, this story, too, has a beauty, but it is more about clarity than the haunting, dark atmosphere of the first tale.

A short read, I deeply enjoyed it.  I hope you will, too.