The Mermaid's Sister
By: Carrie Anne Noble / Narrated By: Kate Rudd
Length: 7 hrs and 36 mins
Wanted to love it, but…?
Seriously, after listening to Gretchen and the Bear and having my socks knocked off by the writing and the character development? Oh gosh, how eagerly I dashed off to see what-all else Carrie Anne Noble had written. That The Mermaid’s Sister was a Kindle Unlimited Read and Listen for free? Heavens, I was there!!!
Welllll…?
When Rick Lewis wrapped it all up with his “Audible hopes you enjoyed this program”, could I say that I had?
I think not.
First off, this isn’t my first Kate Rudd performance, but it was THE most annoying. I get that this is a story of teens and all that, but good cow! Rudd’s overwrought voice perfectly matches our heroine Clara as her emotions run off the skids. I get it, I get it: Her beloved sister is turning into a mermaid blah blah must get her back to the Sea King afore she dies blah, but when you’ve got histrionics regarding THAT and you add Clara obsessing about her unDYing love for their friend O’Neill, he who must love Maren cuz she was so awesome before she did the mermaid thing? And then you throw in conflagrations galore and a few kidnappings? Oy, I was so ready for it to be done cuz Rudd was blasting it all out for everything it was worth. She does all sorts of vocal gyrations and overacting, and I could just see her puffing her chest out and bellowing for O’Neill as the boisterous young man/love interest even as I could see her pulling her hair out as Clara wailed about how she’d never have O’Neill, and why was she thinking of someone whom she was raised with, like a brother, THAT way? Too much; I think Rudd just got into her acting chops and let them run away with her. Blah blah SAG-AFTRA blah.
What it is: The wise herb woman known as Auntie has raised Clara, brought by a stork, and Maren, found in a conch shell, as sisters. When sixteen, Maren starts morphing into a mermaid, a creature she was destined to be (Tho’ we’re never told WHY her father the Sea King sent her off/lost her, is waiting for her now that she’s becoming a mermaid). Auntie has the hots for Scarff the traveler, and Clara and Maren have the hots for O’Neill, the young man Scarff found as an infant beneath an apple tree. Now, the three young people were raised as a family unit, sisters and brother, so it kinda grosses me out how thoroughly Clara has the hots for O’Neill even though I KNOW none of the three are related. Gross!
ANYWAY—soon it becomes apparent, as Maren lives in a tub of salt water, that she will die if she’s not taken to the ocean. O’Neill and Clara set off and are soon beset by mayhem and misery, kidnapped by a traveling act who display Maren in their freak show tent. This whole time, Clara moans about her love for O’Neill, O’Neill sits around and does nothing, keeps telling Clara to WAIT before doing ANYthing, and the voiceless Maren wiggles her hips at O’Neill and sticks her tongue out at Clara cuz that’s apparently all a mermaid does. Soon, the traveling act, the Phipps family, are brought to ruination due to their own vices and disgusting natures, but is it too late for Maren? who, conveniently, has shrunken to doll size as she’s about ready to expire.
Hmm, is that too much of a spoiler? Well, I can’t help it, I just gotta tell you that I saw RAVES for this, so I totally realize that I’m going to be in the minority here. EsPECially as the writing is beautiful; it’s just that the plot, the characters, were NOT. In Gretchen and the Bear, the characters were shown to grow by the choices they made, the actions they took. And while all was desperate, they ACTED, they didn’t simply sit back as everything repeatedly hit the fan; we saw them manage their outsized teen emotions and do the right things, the hard things. Here, we have teens getting all frantic about their teen-things, and we have author Noble TELLING us what they’re feeling and how they’re growing.
Don’t tell me; show me them doing SOMEthing that’s not waiting around for the right moment, which never comes.
This was all rather frustrating as it started off with such a sweet premise of sisters parting, a hint of magic thrown in. Nope, just Clara all atwitter about how Maren will always be the love of O’Neill’s life, O’Neill being a lump (A very talkative lump), and Maren who turns into a caricature. Add to that Auntie and Scarff having a confusing history, and Rudd shrilling m’ ears off, and?
Sorry Rick Lewis, I miss you so, but I could NOT tell your recording that I Enjoyed This Program.
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