LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZELONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN’S PRIZE FOR FICTION“Bold, virtuosic, addictive, erotic – there is nothing like The Pisces. I have no idea how Broder does it, but I loved every dark and sublime page of it.” —Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up … years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube on Venice Beach, but Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety — not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection.
Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy’s understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn. A masterful blend of vivid realism and giddy fantasy, pairing hilarious frankness with pulse-racing eroticism, THE PISCES is a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman: a figure of Sirenic fantasy whose very existence pushes Lucy to question everything she thought she knew about love, lust, and meaning in the one life we have.
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Ugh
Navel gazing, self absorbed least likeable heroine ever! Dog killer as a cherry on top. That’s some nasty hours I’ll never get back!
its not fantastic but if you like magical realism you will like this. It is not Alice Hoffman level, but good and the main character has a unique voice.
It was a unique read.
This is a brilliantly written novel about a fairly unsympathetic heroine who thankfully does show some signs of growth over the course of it — the trick is whether you can stick with her, despite all her bad behavior. I did, because the writing was just so damned funny and imaginative. There’s brilliant use of Sappho and mythology (and academia). I couldn’t help but wonder if it had started as sort of an angry feminist reverse take on The Little Mermaid, though that’s never mentioned, so maybe not. Broder’s Lucy tells eye-popping truths that most writers glide right past. (You never read so many bad sex scenes in your life, and even the good ones are far from the cliched good sex scenes in most novels.) It’s the PORTNOY’S COMPLAINT of obsessed, desperate women willing to put up with just about anything, even potentially being murdered, for what they think of as love — except it’s really more about having an emotional hole that can’t be filled. (There are a lot of holes and things filling them or failing to fill them in this book, including the ocean itself.) I wasn’t surprised to hop over to Amazon and see a lot of terrible reviews because it definitely isn’t for everybody. But I enjoyed it. If you think you might enjoy brilliant, edgy fiction about troubled people telling darkly funny and/or appalling truths, go for it.
It started strong but once the merman was introduced, it was just seriously gross. I had to stop reading because of the animal abuse. 🙁
I love daring reads, and this one definitely is one of the most bizarre and challenging novels I have read in a long time. The Pisces is a beautifully strange tale of a woman on the verge desperately trying to find connection with the world and herself, who finds some magic in her life in the form of-attention-a merman lover! Lucy is an exciting protagonist, and the setting of the Californian Venice Beach just adds to the mood of sadness and delirium of the story. This novel mixes erotica, mythology, humour, and tragedy, and is at the same time odd and relatable in a fascinating way. Even when some of the parts are quite disturbing, I couldn’t put the book down. I recommend you The Pisces if you are looking for something provocative, unexpected, and a bit kinky.
You may love it – you may want to throw the book against the wall. I did both at times.
The Pisces by Melissa Broder is an experience. It’s unapologetic, it’s in your face – and wow those sex scenes do not pull their punches.
It has self-involved characters, particularly the protagonist.
It’s characters are self-destructive, particularly the protagonist.
The mantra of the characters is ‘how important it is to have a boyfriend,’ particularly the protagonist.
I normally dislike any of these attributes, particularly the latter, but I loved this tale.
Why is this tale likeable with such atrocious characters, particularly the protagonist?
First of all, Melissa Broder’s talent shines through. I suspect she could write a grocery list and imbue it with literary value.
This is not bad romance, so bad its good.
This is good romance, so good that it overcomes every part that might be bad.
To understand what Melissa Broder is trying to do here, realize that the characters are addicts
The main character starts the tale by joining a love addiction support group, and remains in that group throughout.
She and the other characters proceed to do atrocious things, over and over again.
But imagine if this was a tale of alcoholics or drug abusers? We’d be frustrated with them – but we’d understand their behavior. They have a sickness that they’ve not yet been able to overcome.
But these women making these horrible decisions chasing that high of courtship? It’s a bit harder to empathize with, but when you see them as addicts – it makes a little more sense.
And Melissa Broder does not pull her punches. The characters make the horrible decisions, and the main character makes her own horrible decisions, and they do not stop.
So read this book, but beware – it’s intense
This book is considered the counterpart to The Shape of Water – Romance with a merman.
I’d recommend The Shape of Water to anyone, but The Pisces? I’d recommend reading a chapter or two, seeing if it is for you. It was for me.
I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway.
The main character is Lucy. She has just broken up with her long time boyfriend. With so much emotional trauma, she’s left her home in Arizona to stay at her sister’s Venice Beach mansion to pet sit their dog while they travel for the summer. As part of her deal with her sister, she’s going to a therapy group with a bunch of women to try to help her recover from the break up. But then she meets a Merman. And that’s where it all goes to hell in a handbasket. I really like the first half but the merman porn and just the story tanked in the second half.
The cover is so truly beautiful and eye-catching. The Pisces had so many different weird pieces, some of them working some of them not. Some of the author’s various descriptions on life and human emotion were worded so well, they hit very close to the heart, especially in the beginning of the story. Other parts of this book were so raw and racey, containing lots of sex scenes and extremely reckless characters. At certain plot points, it was hard for me to continue reading because there was animal neglect/abuse, it ended up bringing about a bigger plot change but still, I wanted to know what happened in the end. There was also a gruesome sex scene where the main character has her menstrual cycle, that was also very hard to get past. I was in awe at how self-absorbed and dangerous some of the female characters were, it blew me away.
This book definitely wasn’t what I was expecting. I did like how the story played out at the end, even if the last paragraph was worded a little confusing, as to not just bluntly give away the ending, I did not like the last sentence. I gave this book 2 stars because overall that’s just how I felt about it.
I want to thank the author and the Goodreads Giveaway Program anyways, for this free print copy I won. Thank you!
I’ll start off by saying that I found something hypnotic about this book because though there were times that I wanted to put it down I just couldn’t. You see, there are times where I wish to slap Lucy as I find myself loathing her as I feel that she is merely neurotic, degrading herself and appears to be pathetic, but then I see myself relating to her as all she truly wants is to be wanted, desired and loved. She’s a woman with needs that haven’t been taken care of, and let’s be honest; we all want to be satiated.
Enter Theo who does one heck of a job satisfying Lucy’s needs, but whom by the end of the story has me seething with anger, but maybe I just read too much into the end or perhaps I took it the wrong way. I wish I could elaborate but if I were to do so then I would be sharing spoilers, and that’s something I merely cannot do.
The author did an outstanding job in writing the progression and degree of growth that occurred within Lucy. You’re either going to hate it or love it, but if you are looking for a happily ever after then, this is just not for you. -The Voluptuous Book Diva
{I received a galley from Penguin Random House and made no guarantee of a favorable review. The opinions expressed herein are unbiased and my own.}
I received an advanced copy of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review. I have to say that this is the slowest book I have read in a very long time, and I read about 150 books a year. I am 50 pages into the story and I have no idea where this book is going. I just can’t read any more! The main character is whining and complaining the whole way through! Yuck! Who wants to read a whole book where that is the whole book! I picked this book because it sounded very different and interesting, but 50 pages in, and she just met the guy, and she has been complaining the whole way. I can’t read anymore.
Lucy is dealing with heart break and the possibility of a life as a lonely and lost spinster for the rest of her life in The Pisces by Melissa Broder. Will she end up regretting her rash decisions, or will life be made sweeter for it?
Lucy has been sort of stagnant in life for the past couple of years. She has been working on her dissertation for thirteen years and she has lost her passion and her direction with it. She has been in a relationship with Jamie for years, and she feels as though nothing will come of that. When they first started dating, she was happy and content to just have a relationship. Having someone that she can share time with, but also being able to be as a separate entity. But after years of being with Jamie, she now wants the things that she said that she never wanted. She wants marriage and children. However, Jamie does not want more and is content with what they have.
Lucy decides that she is not content to stay where she is in life. It is time to make some changes. She breaks up with Jamie, but immediately realizes that it was a mistake. But she can’t go back. Jamie feels as though they need space as well. But their concepts of space are skewed. Jamie has moved into another relationship and Lucy is not having it. How could he just be in another relationship? Where did this come from?
After getting into some trouble concerning Jamie and the new girlfriend, Lucy goes to spend the summer at her sister’s beach house. She starts doing group therapy, but is it really working? She spends her time attempting to date, to get over Jamie, but the selection that is offered to her just isn’t right. Until one night, while sitting on a rock in the ocean, a swimmer comes to her from the ocean and they start to get to know each other.
Lucy was a little annoying at first. She wanted to make some life changes but as soon as she did and realized that it meant Jamie was going to be making changes and moving on she wanted to back track. I wanted to smack her in the back of the head and tell her she should have thought about that before she decided to leave. As I read further though it seems that Lucy made the right choice after all and finds herself and begins to move forward in life for the first time in a long time.
This book was interesting. I understood and felt the emotion of Lucy’s as if it were my own. Well written and intriguing, I found this book to be a little strange, but I like strange. It was a good read and receives four stars.