The Brides of Rollrock Island by Margo Lanagan finds strength as a character exposé. The true morals of the book revolve around the ideas of rejection, isolation, and revenge, but Misskaela, the protagonist, really embodies the heart and soul of the narrative. Growing up, she was teased by her peers, and they never really outgrew it. She lives a relatively lonely life, vowing to make the women of the town pay for their mistreatment of her. When she discovers that she possesses the power to communicate with seals, she lures them ashore where they transform into humans.
Misskaela has sex with the first one she talks with, a seal man who becomes the father of her seal baby. She has to give the baby back to him eventually though because, as a mixed species, he cannot survive on land. True to her word, Misskaela devotes her newfound skill set to exact revenge against the townswomen. She draws many seal-human women ashore and convinces the townsmen to fall in love with and marry them, leaving all the human women alone. After a while (and several births) the seal women revolt against the men for keeping them away from the sea, and they take their children and swim away.
Misskaela has a questionable relationship to personal responsibility. She spends her time pointing the finger at the people around her who have treated her badly -- and they really have abused her, -- but she ignores the role which her attitudes and decision play in that neglect. If she bothered to extend some empathy and try to understand their perspective she may find that comprise is possible. After years and years of isolation, however, her identity is firmly entrenched in victimhood. She needs to consider herself the only correct one, which leads her take a moralistic approach to relationships. She believes they all deserve to be punished for making her feel the way she feels today and suffer the indecencies that she has, so she takes it upon herself to punish them. Her own motivations, however, are incorrect because they are rooted in hatred and jealousy. Misskaela would benefit from taking responsibility for her own pessimistic point of view and her unwillingness to forgive.
