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An Audience of Chairs

3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 · rating details · 279 ratings · 35 reviews

Like beauty, madness altered perception, but instead of offering illusion, it offered delusion. Moranna leaned the tricks madness played on perception the hard way as experience showed her how persuasively madness distorted reality. Experience also showed her that if she hung on long enough, the panic would subside and the delusions would pass. There were many dawns on the...more Like beauty, madness altered perception, but instead of offering illusion, it offered delusion. Moranna leaned the tricks madness played on perception the hard way as experience showed her how persuasively madness distorted reality. Experience also showed her that if she hung on long enough, the panic would subside and the delusions would pass. There were many dawns on the ferry when the sight of the ugly smoke stacks reassured her. They were proof that once again she had won the showdown with the voice and had delivered herself to the dawn, wholly alive. (p. 286)

Joan Clark’s An Audience of Chairs opens with Moranna MacKenzie living alone in her ancestral Cape Breton farmhouse, waging a war with the symptoms of bipolar disorder and grieving the loss of her two daughters, taken from her over thirty years previously. There are few people remaining in her life, as Moranna cannot help but tax the patience of nearly everyone she encounters. Her long-suffering brother Murdoch has her best interests at heart, though he is fatigued by her enormous needs and pressured by his ambitious wife to invest less time in her. Pastor Andy politely sloughs off the peculiarly intelligent yet unpalatable sermons Moranna pens for him. Her neighbour Lottie knows what it is to be an eccentric and can be counted on to come through in a pinch. The local RCMP constabulary smooths over her legal scrapes. And her lover Bun, who lives with her when not working on the ferries between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, knows how to give her a wide berth on her “foul weather” days. Thanks to the assistance of these sometimes reluctant guardian angels, as well as to the carefully planned inheritance left by her father (not to mention her own sheer ingenuity), Moranna has managed to get by all these years despite small-town gossips and tormenting youths.

Through a series of flashbacks, we learn more about the devastating effects of Moranna’s mental illness on her life and that of her family. But An Audience of Chairs also gives us a glimpse into the mind of a true iconoclast and wild spirit, who has managed despite overwhelming odds to keep hope alive.

In her early years, Moranna’s accomplishments and beauty, along with the protection of a father who saw glimmers of his suicidal wife in his beloved daughter, allow her to struggle through childhood and adolescence in Sydney Mines relatively unscathed. She is a gifted pianist, a magazine covergirl, and a promising actress when she makes a brilliant marriage to an up-and-coming young journalist, Duncan. But she soon finds herself unmoored by motherhood, and the oddities that the people in her life have always chosen to overlook become more difficult to disguise with drama and wit when maternal expectations are placed upon her. Her staged life comes crashing down around her ears when she is left alone with her daughters and in a manic artistic phase risks their lives terribly. Her family can no longer explain away her eccentricities, her husband forsakes her, and she is institutionalized, her children taken from her forever.

No longer playing the roles of perfect daughter, wife and mother, the devastated Moranna falteringly gropes for purpose in her life. She returns to the inherited Baddeck farmhouse and, inspired by a vision she has of her great-aunt Hettie, whose stories of their Scottish ancestors once filled the youthful Moranna’s imagination with stories of valour, earns a small income as a woodcarver. She carves for tourist sales the courageous and larger-than-life people of her clan, to whose histories she clings in order to reinforce her belief in her pedigree as a lionheart, so much more comforting than the spectre of madness lurking in her maternal lineage.

She enthralls the audiences in her mind – in reality an audience of chairs – with daily virtuoso performances on the piano board, a silent keyboard upon which she does battle with her demons through the music of Chopin and Rachmaninov.

Through these and other ingenious – and often hilarious – strategies, Moranna has over the years constructed a life of delicate balance, all of which is jeopardized one day by a glimpse of television. Visiting town with Bun, she is astonished to see her now-grown daughter Bonnie being interviewed for a local station about a climatalogical lecture she is to give, to be soon followed by her wedding in Halifax. Moranna knows she must make what will certainly be a surprise appearance at the wedding. But this means a high-stakes gamble with everything she has–her pride, her precarious mental health, her hope for a measure of grace in the world.

Of An Audience of Chairs, Quill and Quire said: “Elegantly written and deeply grounded in place, this moving, compassionate novel is far more than a story of mental illness. Moranna’s quest is for peace, joy, and connection–the same yearnings that drive us all.”(less)

Hardcover, 368 pages

Published August 30th 2005 by Knopf Canada

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Mar 10, 2009 Peachy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: abandonment, canadian, inspirational, mental-illness, psychology, spirituality

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I had selected An Audience of Chairs from the bargain section, as filler to reach the free shipping mark, during one of my many online book-buying sprees last year, and accordingly did not expect much from it. It sat patiently waiting and collecting dust on my bookshelf, in hopes that I would one day give it the attention that it so rightfully deserved. In an effort to finally make a dent in the copious amount of unread books that are taking up the diminishing space on my oversized shelves, I fi...more I had selected An Audience of Chairs from the bargain section, as filler to reach the free shipping mark, during one of my many online book-buying sprees last year, and accordingly did not expect much from it. It sat patiently waiting and collecting dust on my bookshelf, in hopes that I would one day give it the attention that it so rightfully deserved. In an effort to finally make a dent in the copious amount of unread books that are taking up the diminishing space on my oversized shelves, I finally picked up this Canadian piece of fiction, and am I ever glad I did.

And so began my love affair with Moranna MacKenzie, the proud, self-absorbed, impetuous and free-spirited heroin of Joan Clark’s imagination. I am left with an impression of melancholy and bewilderment, now that her story has been told and she is no longer a part of my existence, as I have spent the last two days completely enthralled in hers. On more than a few occasions I found myself breathless, anxiously awaiting her next unbridled move that would only further her unfortunate descent into madness.

Although those closest to Moranna were quick to blame her mental illness for all that befell her, it was quickly apparent to me that it was also those accusers that needed to shoulder some of the blame. Her father failed her by keeping her mother’s illness a secret, as she might have found help for herself before having children, thus avoiding many of the hardships she was faced with. Secondly, the real tragedy of Moranna’s story is not her abandonment of her children, but her husbands abandonment of her, as she was sick and in need of help, while he was of sound mind and had vowed to be there for her in sickness and in health. Alas, it may be that her forced independence is what led her to a place of contentment, as her anger and will helped her to eventually weather the storm.

That being said, one of the most telling parts of the story, for me, was Moranna’s aversion to the story of the crucifixion of Christ, and his dying whilst taking responsibility for our sins. This cherished Easter story proved too much for her to bear, as she, in true form with her illness, was never able to take responsibility for any of the adversity or mistakes arising from her instability.

In the end, it is the unyielding empathy that Joan Clark affords this tragic character, and that I, as the audience filling one of those chairs, feels for her, that makes this story such an amazing and affecting journey into the complex, isolating and misunderstood abyss that is Manic-Depression.

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Dec 16, 2010 Nina rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canadian, east-coast, mental-health

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 17, 2013 Terri Durling rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book and just about everything about it. It captivated me and I wanted very much to find out the protagonist, Moranna's destination and how she got there. The beginning and ending were perfect "Picture a woman ..." showing her at two stages of her very complex life. She epitomized "eccentric" and I really did like Moranna despite all her flaws. In fact, this book for me was a real look into the life of a mentally ill person - a front row seat if you will in the "audience of chairs"...more

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Mar 10, 2013 John Hanson rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. One of the more annoying books I've read yet one of the more fulfilling.

The voices Clark chose bothered me. As a wannabe writer, tehy bugged me intensely. She uses a combination of third person present and past, fairly common, but she olso writes omnisciently. This is a wide spectrum of perspective, very close and personal to very high and impersonal, too wide for me. Yet, it fits the story. Moranna, our main character, is troubled by mental illness which she refuses to medicate. Her voice is wi...more One of the more annoying books I've read yet one of the more fulfilling.

The voices Clark chose bothered me. As a wannabe writer, tehy bugged me intensely. She uses a combination of third person present and past, fairly common, but she olso writes omnisciently. This is a wide spectrum of perspective, very close and personal to very high and impersonal, too wide for me. Yet, it fits the story. Moranna, our main character, is troubled by mental illness which she refuses to medicate. Her voice is wide and uncontrolled, maybe wider than the narrator's. This consistency drives home the unstable character and renders constant subliminal tension.

Now add telling exposition. Lots of it. This happened. That happened. She thought this. Blah, blah, blah. But don't be completely put off. While I wouldn't have written it like she did, and I complain about it, the almost constant annoyance of being told the story added to the tension just as the voice switcheroos did. And she covers a lot of ground, a lot of backstory. It's a quantity of material not easily shown in a readable novel. I told myself it would take 900 pages to write it like I would have.

I will claim both the above annoyances were planned to echo the character of Moranna. Ms. Clark wanted us to be annoyed. I say this because the first 40 pages and the last 40 pages don't see much of what I complain about. The voices are low level, mostly, and the prose is tighter; the character was tighter too. I try to imagine the story told in a showing style and I can't. I think she chose the very best options for the reader, and that was an intention to annoy.

The ending was very moving. The meeting of daughters, apologizing to Murdoch, calling Bun, piano playing, and removing the costume at the very end were all well foretold and supported. The ending made complete sense and the story felt solid and complete. And you know you can't have a complete, satisfying ending if the story wasn't told well. Moranna will stay with me a long time. Ms. Clark makes me want to scream. I can't give it less than four stars but I won't give it five. I fault the story for a star, not the writer.

Arrrgh!(less)

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Apr 09, 2009 Louise rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

An excellent and intriguing novel about Moranna, a mentally ill woman living alone in an old farmhouse in Cape Breton.

After losing her husband and two young daughters from a mistake she made, Moranna builds a life for herself. Taunted by people of the town for her rude outbursts and the weird clothing she wears, the townsfolk have nicknamed her 'Mad Mory'. Moranna fights to keep herself on an even keel and paces her feelings of high's and lo's. Moranna begins carving, what she thinks, are her lo...more An excellent and intriguing novel about Moranna, a mentally ill woman living alone in an old farmhouse in Cape Breton.

After losing her husband and two young daughters from a mistake she made, Moranna builds a life for herself. Taunted by people of the town for her rude outbursts and the weird clothing she wears, the townsfolk have nicknamed her 'Mad Mory'. Moranna fights to keep herself on an even keel and paces her feelings of high's and lo's. Moranna begins carving, what she thinks, are her long lost relatives out of cedar, spruce and other woods and sells her carvings in the summer months to the tourists. Her other passion is playing her 'piano board' to her audience of chairs in her kitchen.

From dust jacket:

"The story of Moranna MacKenzie, a woman who lives alone in a Cape Breton farmhouse, fighting the ups and downs of a mental illness and still grieving the loss of her two daughters who were taken from her over thirty years previously.

Although Moranna is known in the community as 'Mad Mory', she arranges her life carefully to keep herself on an even keel. She plays complicated concerti on a piano board, bakes bread, and carves wooden replicas of her Scottish ancestors to sell to summer tourists.

When he's not working the ferries between Cape Breton and Newfoundland, Moranna's lover, Bun, lives with her. These two aging misfits ask only to be left alone and to live as they choose. But when Moranna learns tht one of her long-lost daughters is to be married in Halifax, she is determined to attend. Her other daughter will likely be in attendance as well. Will either of them recognize her? Will they be happy to see her? And will Moranna stay sane enough to not cause a scene?

Moranna is simply unforgettable, and Joan Clark portrays her eccentric life with empathy and wit. The Cape Breton farmhouse is brought sharply to life as are the inhabitants of the small village in which she lives. Her struggle with mental illness provides the novel with both sadness and hilarity, even as it moves to its extraordinary end."

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Feb 13, 2011 Mady rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: bc, 2008, favourites

I just love Joan Clark's style! I could read anything written by her. She can make me feel so absorbed in a story that I can forget everything else!

1 like · like · see review

Jan 14, 2012 Margaret rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The life of one woman, Moranna. Like her mother before her, she is mentally ill and loses her husband and children because she had absentmindedly left the children on an island all alone and lost track of time. When the children are gone, her life begins to unravel even more.

The story is told with great skill in describing a person with a mental illness such as bipolar and paranoia.

The book stalled somewhere in the middle, but I'm glad that I stuck with it to the end. It was well worth the read...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Cheryl rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary, fiction, canadian, atlantic-provinces-lit

Moranna is a manic depressive living in Nova Scotia. Her two young daughters bonnie and Brianna were taken away from her in their early childhood because Moranna’s mind kept escaping. The book tells of how she fell ill and then struggled over many years to oversome that, and eventually re-runite with her long lost duaghters as they approach middle-age.
Clark’s style is deceptively simple. She simultaneously brings us into Moranna’s mind, while we watch her from outside and see the devastating eff...more

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Aug 14, 2012 Kenda rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Picture this: the first paragraph hooked me instantly and never let me go until the final paragraph (another "Picture this"). I instantly recognized the novel's unlikely heroine (uncomfortably at times) and read though the pages impatient for the parallel past and present to unite. This book made me laugh and weep, sometimes simultaneously and the heroine's inner resilience and strength took me from pity to pride. It has changed how I see myself and others and I think that is as much as any book...more

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Jan 15, 2012 Evelyn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

I liked this book because it takes place in Cape Breton and Halifax. It was fun to read about places that I have recently visited. The story pulled me in - a young woman who struggles with mental illness and severe depression. The writing sometimes came across as frazzled, but then I wondered if that was keeping with the nature of the main character's mental illness. A quick read; a good story.

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Oct 29, 2012 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really likes this book. It was completely absorbing. It was a very interesting take on mental illness. I liked then authors writing style and thoughts he did a great job of character development. I found myself so personally invested in Moranna's mental stability and her desire and longing to see her daughters that I literally had knots in my stomach for her when she went to her daughters wedding uninvited. I think that is the mark of a great author when you physically feel the emotions she is...more

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Oct 16, 2010 Tracy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book. The characters were very real, I came to really know them. The depiction of mental illness is very realistic - not sure where the author did her research. It portrayed the illness without making it something scary or to be pitied. A very strong female character. A very funny book, too.

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May 30, 2010 Wanda rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I loved this book about a bipolar woman living in the Maritimes. I grew to like her more and more as the book went on. There is no indication where the author did her research but it is very convincing that she understood her subject and made me feel such empathy for the difficult life she led.

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Aug 05, 2009 S.K. Whalen added it · review of another edition

This book certainly puts you right into the persons life, you think you are her. A great insite for depression, and mental disorders. Everyone has known someone like this women and it brings it all back, why people do what they do. Fabulous read.

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Jan 04, 2011 Anne T rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is an amazingly realistic story of a bipolar woman living in Canada and struggling with her demons. You eventually grow to like her and cheer her on as she fights to regain a relationship with her daughters. Excellent!

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Apr 26, 2011 Tracy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a book club book, and I really enjoyed it. I thought the character of Moranna was extremely well developed throughout the book. Although a bit nutty, she was totally lovable to the reader.

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Aug 11, 2010 Kiley rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A beautiful, uncliched, funny, tender portrait of a woman who struggles with, but is not ultimately defined by, mental illness.

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Dec 28, 2012 Marianna Hofmeister rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: can-lit

This is one of my all-time favourite books. We read it in book club and most people agreed, it's a keeper.

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Nov 19, 2012 Karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

The author provides amazing insight into the mind of a woman struggling with a mental illness.

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Jan 09, 2013 Megan Giffin scheffers rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my all time favourites. I passed the copy on and I wish I had kept it forever.

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Jun 26, 2010 Liane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010

I read this after loving Latitudes of Melt, and again, Joan Clark did not disappoint.

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Apr 04, 2010 Isabel added it · review of another edition

oh, this description of depression is too, too accurate!

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Apr 06, 2011 Dawn O'rourke rated it 3 of 5 stars

mental illness & local color in Newfoundland...

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Sep 25, 2008 Janet rated it 1 of 5 stars

I normally don't read books that are written about local people and places, but this one was given to me for Christmas by someone and I feel obligated to read it. To me, it's a typical story about a typical crazy Cape Bretoner (only this one is actually mentally ill). Not sure if I'll get through it or not. Let you know later...

Well, it's several months later and I still can't make my way through this book. I just don't care about the characters. The writing is okay, I'm just not interested in...more

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Aug 25, 2012 Susan Fitch rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My all time fav!

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May 23, 2011 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

great tale, rich characters

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Dec 12, 2012 Mary Lou rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Would read again.

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Aug 22, 2007 Cathy Graham rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this book and thought the character of Moranna was so well depicted. Joan Clark did a good job showing her as a sympathetic character who struggled with her manic depression. She was very real to me with her artistic temperament and ups and downs.

I enjoyed the setting of Cape Breton as I was on vacation there at the time so was able to fully appreciate and relate to the descriptions of the land and the people.

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Dec 28, 2007 Alexis rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book, set in Nova Scotia, tells the story of Moranna MacKenzie, a manic depressive. Moranna's life has had its ups and downs; a failed marriage, the loss of two children and numerous complications from her mental illness. All in all, I found this book to be very powerful and riveting. It's one of the best depictions of manic depression ever depicted in fiction. Moranna is unbelievably human and three dimensional.

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Sep 06, 2008 Susan rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A really interesting story told from the perspective of a bi-polar, manic woman living mostly in Nova Scotia. I've read another of Joan Clark's book but didnt' realize she was a Nova Scotian. Really well crafted story with enough plot and description to keep you interested and definitely not sappy. I'd recommend it.

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About Joan Clark

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Joan Clark BA, D.Litt (hon.) (née MacDonald)is a Canadian fiction author.

Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English maj...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Joan Clark BA, D.Litt (hon.) (née MacDonald)is a Canadian fiction author.

Born in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Clark spent her youth in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She attended Acadia University for its drama program, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree with English major in 1957.[1] She has worked as a teacher

Clark lived in Alberta for two decades and attended Edmonton's University of Alberta. She and Edna Alford started the literary journal Dandelion in that province in the mid-1970s. She eventually returned to Atlantic Canada, settling in Newfoundland.

Joan Clark's early work consisted primarily of literature for children and young adults, such as Girl of the Rockies (1968), The Hand of Robin Squires (1977), and The Moons of Madeleine (1987). By contrast, her 1982 short-story collection, From a High Thin Wire, is a decidedly mature and sometimes sexually charged work. This volume was revisited by Clark and republished with revisions in 2004. Clark has a reputation for continuously revising her works even after their initial printing.

Joan Clark's next publication for adult readers was The Victory of Geraldine Gull (1988), a novel examining the clashes of culture and religion between Cree, Ojibwa, and white communities in Niska, a village in Hudson Bay. The Victory of Geraldine Gull was a finalist for the GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD and the Books in Canada First Novel Award. Clark published a second collection of short stories, Swimming Towards the Light, in 1990. The following year she was presented with the Marian Engel Award, recognizing her entire body of work.

Eiriksdottir: A Tale of Dreams and Luck (1993) was the first of two novels by Clark based on the Viking presence in Newfoundland. The novel focuses on Freydis Eiriksdottir, daughter of Eirik the Red and sister to Leif ("The Lucky") Eirikson. The Dream Carvers (1995) follows the adventures of Thrand, a Norse child.

Clark wrote her first published novel as a young stay-at-home mother, writing in longhand during her infant son’s naptimes. “I had never written fiction before and was amazed that I had been walking around without knowing that there was a story inside my head. That joy of discovery has kept me writing ever since.”

Clark served on the jury at the 2001 Giller Prize.

Clark lives in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

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