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not_another_ana's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I had felt, for a long time, that if I started crying I would not stop—that if I finally ripped, there would be nothing to stop my guts from falling out. I was scared of what might come out of me: the things I would see, what others would see. I was scared the feelings would eat me.
The explosive end of a long term relationship has left Lucy depressed, with a restraining order, and court ordered therapy. Fleeing the desert for sunny California, on her sister's insistence, all she has to do is attend group therapy, housesit, take care of Dominic, the sweetest little dog, and perhaps work on her thesis on Sappho. But healing isn't easy, specially when you don't believe you're the problem, and it's easy to get distracted. Things get out of control when a mysterious surfer with a secret catches Lucy's obsessive attention, sending her on a different path altogether.
The summary calls this "a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman" but that's not what this is really about. This is sad girl lit fic. It's navel gazey, it's existential. You either get it or you don't, there's no inbetween. Did I like this? Did I enjoy this? I'm not sure, but I can't say I hated it. Lucy is a difficult character. She's unlikeable, on a downwards spiral, but this condition makes her able to see the world in a different way and to probe at the status quo. Through her exaggeration of reality shine little pearls of wisdom and reflections about life. Mostly this book, to me, showed that recovery isn't lineal. It's hard work, and it's normal to backslide and crash and burn.
The merman bit was interesting but I would have liked it to go farther.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Suicide, Infidelity, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, and Blood
bellebeaumont95's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
To want what you had—now, that was an art, a gift maybe.
This was sort of a brutal read. I both recognized myself in Lucy and felt repelled by her, often simultaneously. It's very much a deep dive into neurosis, a little addictive, with interesting, tiring, funny, disgusting, moving writing spread throughout. Mostly I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending, since it's always tragic when depression has a death toll.
This was sort of a brutal read. I both recognized myself in Lucy and felt repelled by her, often simultaneously. It's very much a deep dive into neurosis, a little addictive, with interesting, tiring, funny, disgusting, moving writing spread throughout. Mostly I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the ending, since it's always tragic when depression has a death toll.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Addiction, Body shaming, Sexual content, Mental illness, Animal death, Suicide attempt, and Blood
Moderate: Misogyny, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Car accident
cass_masters's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Beautifully written, pure smut, filled with self-loathing. Great sex scenes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Self harm, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Abortion
carly_reads's review against another edition
dark
3.75
It kinda takes a lot to make me viscerally uncomfortable, but Melissa has a gift. Her characters’ inner monologues are always so unique. I really like that this book is a statement on the expectations around love and the question of who deserves our love. I generally like Melissa’s writing style, but maybe don’t pick this one up if you don’t enjoy unlikable and/or boy/relationship-crazy characters. The animal cruelty/death piece was also a touch too much for me, but I suppose that’s on me for not checking the content warnings. All that to say, this was a very quick read for me and I’ll definitely read her next book lol
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide
Moderate: Suicide attempt
Minor: Blood and Self harm
addythebookbat's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Loveable characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Excrement, Infidelity, Self harm, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Animal death, Body shaming, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, and Vomit
tamarareadsbooks's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Self harm
leotolstoy's review against another edition
4.75
felt like being punched in the face repeatedly … as the front quote on my copy says: “no one writes about love like melissa broder” and that’s so real. so many things absolutely floored me. my only gripe is the straightwashing of sappho but even that i can semi-forgive because of the absolutely beautiful intertwining of myth and real life. truly a wonderful book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts and Suicide
Moderate: Suicide attempt and Self harm
mayareads's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Can we ever escape our obsessions? How do you choose reality when fantasy is so much more appealing?
Lucy, the titular Pisces, does this thing where she projects narratives onto everyone else in her life. She constructs elaborate fantasies where she is the main character, and then inevitably is crushed by the shame and disappointment when reality does not follow the narrative she chose for it. She is a magnificent unreliable narrator.
The pisces is a book about that process: the way we write the story of other people and how they see us in our heads and then feel blindsided when those narratives are entirely fictional. How do we choose to accept the mundane when the fantasy promised something sublime?
Lucy, the titular Pisces, does this thing where she projects narratives onto everyone else in her life. She constructs elaborate fantasies where she is the main character, and then inevitably is crushed by the shame and disappointment when reality does not follow the narrative she chose for it. She is a magnificent unreliable narrator.
The pisces is a book about that process: the way we write the story of other people and how they see us in our heads and then feel blindsided when those narratives are entirely fictional. How do we choose to accept the mundane when the fantasy promised something sublime?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicide, Self harm, Blood, and Emotional abuse
pipchiappa's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Genuinely a laugh-out-loud funny read that is both heartbreaking and hopeful. With painfully relatable reflections on love, relationships, and sex Broder leaves us with the final question of ‘do we actually need love?’ A lot of realism and a bit of magic, this is one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Toxic friendship, and Self harm
apaine's review against another edition
dark
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide attempt, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Self harm
Minor: Pregnancy and Death of parent