Hardie Grant Books

Book title: The Sea in the Metro by Jayne Tuttle

Reviewer: Charlotte Snedden

Poignant, funny, tragic and enjoyably crude, Jayne Tuttle’s The Sea in the Metro manages to deeply explore challenging concepts in an engaging, raw reflection on her time living in Paris. Jane has given birth to her and her husband's first child (lovingly referred to as the ‘Chunk’) in a country far from their family. Here, the constant rush of people and ever evolving art scene has left her struggling to stay afloat both financially and creatively. Attempting to write a novel in between family and financial commitments leaves her constantly stressed, impacting her relationships as she tries to navigate a different culture with her newfound motherhood.

Despite not having read Tuttle’s two previous memoirs (Paris or Die and My Sweet Guillotine), her snappy writing makes it easy to immediately jump into the novel and pick up on her numerous years navigating French culture, as well as the various tragedies she has overcome. References to Monoprix and Orangina (amongst many others) firmly situate the reader right into the heart of Paris, accompanied by the realistic depiction of the city as one both intensely romantic, but also filthy (“glum buildings, greyed with pollution and tedium”).

The struggle of navigating feminism and motherhood is particularly gripping, where Tuttle both laments the way the Chunk has changed the gender roles within their family, but also attempts to understand the way gender is both challenged and followed in French culture, where daycare is provided by the government and their non-focus on breastfeeding “feels like female liberation”. Towards the beginning of the novel, a particularly captivating internal debate occurs following a friend's refusal to take on regular child caring duties for the Chunk, as Tuttle tries to wrap her mind around the concept that “a woman, a mother, could say non.”

Despite being able to work and continue to have a social life, Tuttle delves deeply into the idea that “mother is a presence greater than the woman herself” and questions what this looks like in modern times, where despite society having progressed from prior attitudes towards motherhood, there still seems to be inseparable linkage between the two. So rarely acknowledged by wider society, the gruesome depictions of her body and its functions following pregnancy are fascinating and horrifying, where Tuttle both loves the ability her body provides to nourish the Chunk, while also lamenting “I am a cow, being milked on tap”. In just one half of a single page, Tuttle’s depiction of post-birthing complications is horrific and intensely memorable.

Having also lived overseas, Tuttle’s ceaseless juggling between the want to settle in Paris and the longing for home are heartbreakingly accurate and immediately relatable to many others who have faced the same predicament. Reflections of being away from family and lamenting the loss of connection (particularly for the Chunk) constantly pass over Tuttle’s mind and her fear to give up their life and have to start anew are candid and captivating.

It is easy to recommend The Sea in the Metro. Between interesting commentaries on gender and what home truly is, Tuttle’s stirring writing is engrossing and provides a fascinating portrait on motherhood in Paris.

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Reviewer’s bio:

Charlotte’s writing has previously been published in ARNA, Gems Zine, Kill Your Darlings and the anthology novel Everything All At Once (Ultimo Press). She is a WestWords Academian, has also won the Ultimo Prize and been shortlisted for the Inner West’s Young Creative Awards.

As a musician, Charlotte has performed throughout Sydney, received her AmusA in Musical Theatre (Distinction) and released her original music online.