'A Mercy' combines themes of brutality and tenderness

Posted: November 29, 2008 - 11:30pm
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  Savannah Morning News

In the natural order of things, parents sacrifice for their children.

If there is hunger, a mother will feed her child and go hungry herself. If it's raining, a father will be drenched while the child stays sheltered. Parents work long hours to make sure the child has a good education and a sunny future.

And sometimes, a parent will do the unimaginable to save her child's life. In the new book "A Mercy" by Toni Morrison, a girl forever mourns her mother's decision while those around her nurse their own griefs.

It is 1690 and Rebekah Vaark is gravely ill. If Mistress dies, it won't be good for the farm, or for the three women servants who live there. If Mistress dies of the pox, Lina fears that she and Sorrow and Florens will be taken by the Anabaptists. They'll take the farm, too, and everything Mistress and Sir worked hard for.

A trader by profession, Jacob Vaark never wanted a farm, but he was pleasantly surprised when a distant uncle left him a plot of land. Suddenly wanting roots, Jacob paid for Rebekah's passage and married her, straight off the ship that brought her across the ocean. Soon, babies came but none of them survived except Patrician, the little girl who put light in Rebekah's eyes.

But Patrician was gone, as were the brothers who followed her in birth and to the grave. And so was Jacob, dead of the pox. He left his wife an almost-finished mansion, a tumble-down farm, and three slave women. Jacob never wanted slaves, but when he was offered first Lina, then Sorrow, then little Florens in exchange for debt, he knew he could give them a kind home.

As Mistress lay, delirious, Lina had no choice but to send Florens out to find the blacksmith who could save Mistress' life. The blacksmith was a freed-man and Lina knew that he had coupled with Florens, which was bad. Still, she knew he could save Mistress, so she sent a love-struck girl to fetch him.

No matter where he was, Florens was sure she could find the blacksmith. Wearing Sir's boots and carrying a wax-sealed letter from Mistress, Florens set off to bring him to the farm. She had hopes that they would be together after he saved Mistress. The blacksmith would never send her away in the way that her own mother did.

It's been said about author Toni Morrison's work that you'll either love it or hate it.

I loved it.

"A Mercy" is tender and brutal, quiet and urgent, with a cast of characters that will make you forget you're reading a novel. I loved the contemplative Lina, and Rebekah, who seemed to so resigned. Morrison gives Florens the perfect touch of "teen-with-attitude," which made her heartbreaks all the more painful.

If you're looking for a short novel that will, at the end, make you want to turn around and experience it again, get "A Mercy" and sacrifice some time. You won't be sorry.


"A Mercy" by Toni Morrison; Alfred A. Knopf; $23.95;

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