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A review by hungeberg
The Pisces by Melissa Broder
challenging
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.0
This review is slightly graphic but won't be too spoilery.
First of all - i did debate giving this 0 or 0,5 stars. However i do find small things of marit in this book. Second of all I was recommended this which is why i choose to finish it even though i struggled with the getting through it.
Let's start with the good;
- It's a complicated story about love addiction with a magical realism twist which I in the big whole like.
- Lucy as a narrator was decent.
Things i disliked
- I'm not one for smutty/erotic books and especially not when the character participating in the sexual acts are not even enjoying it? Why would I want to read about bad hurtful sex in such detail? AND SO MANY TIMES?! And then when Lucy finally found a partner who she enjoyed to fuck then it was some weird very specific "kinky" shit that not everyone would like (least of all me?!).
- I am not a classics student or for that matter a literary one and therefore I don't really have any claim on knowing Sapho's poems that well. However I do as a queer woman find Sapho to be a queer icon/character who participates in romantic/sexual relationships with both genders but especially with women. And somehow the use of her as a character in this book to justify this heterosexual bullshit rubbed me the wrong way.
- the treatment of other women in this book is horrendous.
Things I hated
- Does such a thing as toxic heterosexuality exist? Because then this would be it?
- Lucy seems to learn a few lessons by the end of a book. BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH??? At least it wasn't written out in a way that make it seem like she will become a better person ESPECIALLY to the other women in her life.
- The treatment of the dog. Nough said.
First of all - i did debate giving this 0 or 0,5 stars. However i do find small things of marit in this book. Second of all I was recommended this which is why i choose to finish it even though i struggled with the getting through it.
Let's start with the good;
- It's a complicated story about love addiction with a magical realism twist which I in the big whole like.
- Lucy as a narrator was decent.
Things i disliked
- I'm not one for smutty/erotic books and especially not when the character participating in the sexual acts are not even enjoying it? Why would I want to read about bad hurtful sex in such detail? AND SO MANY TIMES?! And then when Lucy finally found a partner who she enjoyed to fuck then it was some weird very specific "kinky" shit that not everyone would like (least of all me?!).
- I am not a classics student or for that matter a literary one and therefore I don't really have any claim on knowing Sapho's poems that well. However I do as a queer woman find Sapho to be a queer icon/character who participates in romantic/sexual relationships with both genders but especially with women. And somehow the use of her as a character in this book to justify this heterosexual bullshit rubbed me the wrong way.
- the treatment of other women in this book is horrendous.
Things I hated
- Does such a thing as toxic heterosexuality exist? Because then this would be it?
- Lucy seems to learn a few lessons by the end of a book. BUT NOT NEARLY ENOUGH??? At least it wasn't written out in a way that make it seem like she will become a better person ESPECIALLY to the other women in her life.
- The treatment of the dog. Nough said.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Excrement, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Cursing, Animal cruelty, and Alcoholism