Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Mermaid of Black Conch

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Monique Roffey

17 reviews

bookedbymadeline's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I loved the narration! It has two narrators for the two POVs and it was well done, the main narrator does an amazing job of voices! I loved getting the mermaid’s Pov and wish we had more from her. Her narrative was told through a sort of prose while David’s is told through third person and journal entries.

I enjoyed the cast of characters for the most part. They’re all so complex and intriguing but at one point it did get confusing tracking them all, I think mostly because I listened to the audio version.

Not a fan of how sexual the book is. The talk about wanting to do things to the mermaid and sexual organs was a little excessive for me. I hate when authors use “her sex” to describe body parts, it makes me cringe 😭 and the amount of men feeling things “in their balls” or how often the author brought up how innocent and young the mermaid was, in turn making her “better” than the rest of the women was uncomfortable.

I liked the intertwining of mythology and folklore into the story, as well as the discussions of colonialism and wish there was more of that and less sex.

Content Warnings

sillyduckie's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

Content Warnings

erebus53's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

When American tourists haul in a mermaid off the shore of a small Caribbean Island, a local fisherman does his best to save her, only to find that she reverts to being a woman. She is deeply ancient and cursed, and her presence on the island shakes up tensions between the locals. Thematically this explores gender roles, the Deaf community, and the history of colonisation and slavery in the Caribbean. The author is born in Trinidad.

There are some ominous and creepy bits in this book, which meant it fit in well sandwiched between some of my other October reads. It definitely has some supernatural themes.. (duh, mermaid..?!) I think it's well worth checking out the Audiobook version, if only because it catches the accent of the place. Content is a bit violent and bloody, and occasionally sexual in nature, so probably for older readers.

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writingcaia's review against another edition

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challenging emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

A beautiful book that addresses issues of vengeance, jealousy, misogyny, ableism and love.
With a little queer rep and a Caribbean slang and color we are told the story of a mermaid, Aycayia, that has lived under the sea for a thousand years due to a curse put on her by jealous women, her only company an old turtle-woman, cursed alongside her, and the fish and sea creatures, that is until she meets the young Black fisherman, David, and because of him gets caught by American fishermen.
But, David, enthralled by the lure of the mermaid, feeling she’s his destiny saves her and tries to help her, with patience and love, and with the help of the crazy white lady with the deaf son, descendant of the owners of the whole town, because she too knows of broken love, knows what it is to be apart, what it is to have a bright son misunderstood by the town’s people, just like Aycayia.
The story seems hopeful as the mermaid becomes more human and love brews between her and David, but will the curse and the town really let them be?
The story is told with a few POV and in two timelines, present and past when David met Aycayia.
With themes such as the ones I mentioned, the love stories - yes because there’s also the love between the white lady and the Black man who left her pregnant with a deaf son - and a beautiful lyrical writing I really enjoyed this read, even if it was slow going in the beginning and didn’t introduce or develop the turtle-woman Aycayia speaks so much about.

Content Warnings