Mercury

July 11, 2016
Livesey’s latest (following The Flight of Gemma Hardy) is a fiercely intelligent exploration of the ways blindness—to ourselves, others, and the power of passion and grief—can divide and transform us. After his father dies of Parkinson’s, optometrist Donald Stevenson’s reserve deepens into what Viv, his wife of nine years, likens to the airless impenetrability of an astronaut’s suit. Viv’s teenage dreams of equestrian competition resurface when Mercury, an exceptionally promising thoroughbred, comes to board at the suburban Boston stable she helps run. Donald; Viv’s boss, Claudia; and Mercury’s owner, Hilary, assume that Viv accepts the obvious: Mercury is not hers to risk, compete on, or control. Facing their resistance to her growing obsession and increasingly distanced from Donald, Viv conceals the time and money she lavishes on the horse. When the stable is repeatedly broken into, she fears that telling Claudia or Hilary will lead to Mercury’s removal. Instead, she buys a gun. Seen primarily from Donald’s muffled, sometimes pedantic perspective, the novel unfolds patiently, through a chain of small and mostly well-intentioned deceptions that nevertheless yield catastrophe. Livesey’s skillful play with the title’s many meanings—trickster god of speed, diagnostic aid, minor planet, deadly poison—gives her narrative a rich imagery that interweaves seamlessly with its textured evocation of everyday life.

Margot Livesey's latest work explores blindness in both its literal and figurative manifestations. Narrator Derek Perkins performs wonderfully as Donald, a Scotsman who is transplanted to Boston. Donald is an ophthalmologist with perfect vision--except where his wife, Viv, is concerned. Donald fails to notice Viv's obsession with Mercury, a thoroughbred stallion she believes is her chance to make a name for herself. Narrator Nicol Zanzarella delivers Viv's sections in an agitated, sincere tone that is perfect for the high-strung middle-aged woman whose insights never touch on her own personal problems. Perkins and Zanzarella deliver convincing performances as a violent act brings devastation in this convoluted drama, which is less about a horse than about the erosion of trust due to secrets, lies, and willful blindness. Intense listening. S.J.H. � AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine