Review by mssamanthanagel - The Pisces

mssamanthanagel 's review for:

The Pisces by Melissa Broder

3.75

dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Ah, this book is complicated for me! The magical realism mixed with sex and love addiction was beautiful. Addiction can make a narrator unreliable, in the sense that what they experience is 100% true to them, but perhaps not objectively factual. I think that the magical realism really enhanced this. This author is also fantastic about being so real with her characters. She explores the depth of humanity, even if it isn't pretty. It was an enticing read, and I finished it quite quickly. Much of my copy is highlighted because of the number of lines that deeply resonated with me. I also believe that the merman she encounters was just a hallucination of her addiction-rattled mind, but this was never confirmed, which I like.
I had a hard time with the animal abuse, though. I know it was used as a way to highlight just how consuming her addiction was - addiction isn't pretty or neat or simple, and it makes people do things they would normally never. This also helped validate a statement that was presented early in the book: that sex and love addiction harms not just ourselves. I think the death of a dog helped show just how true this is. I don't think it was wrong to include in the book! I just didn't like reading it. But, to drive the themes and messages home, she needed to make the reader very uncomfortable, and she sure did accomplish it...
I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but I do think it's a well-told story.

Content Warnings