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cheye13's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Unlike many earlier readers, I didn't pick this up for hot mermaid sex; I picked this up because those earlier readers said it was a wild ride. It disappoints on both fronts: first of all, the merman sex, while indeed hot, doesn't happen until a full halfway through the book, and is preceeded by quite a bit of terrible human sex. Second, it was more realism than it was ridiculous.
This novel did help me narrow down my ennui of millennial literary fiction. So much of that niche relies on "shock" fiction, but the "shock" is through explicit realism, which isn't shocking at all when you've lived it. Tragic public bathroom hookups, terrible first-anal-attempt stories, graphic discussion of suicide – I can accidentally overhear all that in a nightclub line on a weeknight.
Graphic: Animal death, Blood, Sexual content, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Addiction, Excrement, Forced institutionalization, Suicide attempt, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Abortion, Medical content, Self harm, and Vomit
edenrxse's review against another edition
3.0
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
missbreathing's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
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“The Pisces” follows Lucy, who spends the summer in Venice Beach to recover from her recent breakup and work on her doctoral thesis. In the process, she falls in love with a merman.
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The blend of realism and fantasy was so well done that it almost hurt my head to follow. Honestly, the merman stuff is done really really well.
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I was definitely warned about the merman + human sex, but, oddly enough, that wasn’t what disturbed me? The sex was definitely explicit and at times uncomfortable, so do keep that in mind! But it was actually being inside the MC’s head that weirded me out. It could be very triggering, sometimes cringey, but mostly just dark and oppressive.
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In the beginning, I thought this would be one of my favorite reads of the year. The prose is smart and funny and peppered with subtle hints of feminism. The writing is stunning! I also really liked the ending. But there was a point about halfway through where I just wanted it to end. It’s slow paced, and while I understand the stylistic choice, I think the story would have benefitted from less meandering.
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I’m glad I read this, but I wish I had known how sad it was going to be. Please check the trigger warnings for this one, as there are a LOT of potentially triggering things in it.
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Animal death, Sexual content, Blood, Excrement, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Vomit, Alcohol, Self harm, and Drug use
Minor: Abortion and Car accident
lipstickitotheman's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Quotes I Liked
-"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." Chapter 3
-" But as soon as I saw him coming, I thought, Oh God no. He sort of looked like his picture, but more the monkey aesthetic than the hot one. Also, he had an additional werewolf essence that the photo had not captured." Chapter 13
-"Before the donuts, I didn't even know I wanted to die. Now, I attributed my crying to joy. I hadn't known that I'd wanted joy either. I had not ever known that I could have it. Now I was crying because it felt like a miracle--not only that I could want to live at all but that I actually could." Chapter 44
Graphic: Sexual content and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Death, Grief, Infidelity, Mental illness, and Self harm
Minor: Adult/minor relationship and Death of parent
lavender_lake's review against another edition
- 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
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt
Moderate: Self harm
recollections's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
"life was okay, though. life was maybe even kind of cute. you simply had to expect nothing from it. that’s what the stoics believed—zeno and seneca, those ancient fuckers."
Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Grief, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, and Animal death
erickaonpaper's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Sexual content
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Self harm, Addiction, and Animal death
Minor: Infidelity and Excrement
trisjannessa's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
If this was any less well written, I never would've been able to make it through with this MC because...wow I hated her. She's a terrible person and I really couldn't relate to her relationship/love/men struggles or the choices she made. And that's not what this book is about, except on a surface level it totally is.
Add to that the whole storyline with the dog and just....no. Not ok. As a new pet owner I couldn't stomach this and it gave me awful anxiety. I didn't even want to read it.
All of these things being said, there was something compelling about this book that I can't necessarily put my finger on. Maybe it's just that everything else I've read this month has been so overwhelmingly bad that this one stood out as "not as bad", but something about it kept me intrigued even though I low key hated every individual aspect of it.
Graphic: Animal death, Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, and Toxic relationship
astronut's review against another edition
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Graphic: Suicide, Suicidal thoughts, Sexual content, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, and Animal cruelty
Moderate: Vomit, Excrement, Blood, and Self harm
Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, and Grief