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A review by shelfimprovement
The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn
3.0
This book has an audience that will enjoy it immensely; I'm just not in that audience
This didn't sound anything like the kind of book I'd normally pick up, but the publisher offered me a free advanced copy because Maria Semple blurbed it and my review of Semple's Where'd You Go Bernadette somehow earned more than 200 likes.
Jenny is a run-down mom in Brooklyn whose gambling-addicted husband doesn't come home one night. Pushed to her breaking point, Jenny decides to end her life but, in a magical realism twist of fate, becomes physical host to a mermaid instead.
The thing is, I just didn't like Jenny. I know that being a stay-at-home mom can be an exhausting and unfulfilling experience for some women, especially when your marriage isn't exactly sound. But it felt to me like Jenny wasn't really trying to do anything to improve her life other than whine. I didn't find her interesting and I didn't feel any sympathy or empathy for her, and so I ultimately caved and decided that this book is just not for me.
This didn't sound anything like the kind of book I'd normally pick up, but the publisher offered me a free advanced copy because Maria Semple blurbed it and my review of Semple's Where'd You Go Bernadette somehow earned more than 200 likes.
Jenny is a run-down mom in Brooklyn whose gambling-addicted husband doesn't come home one night. Pushed to her breaking point, Jenny decides to end her life but, in a magical realism twist of fate, becomes physical host to a mermaid instead.
The thing is, I just didn't like Jenny. I know that being a stay-at-home mom can be an exhausting and unfulfilling experience for some women, especially when your marriage isn't exactly sound. But it felt to me like Jenny wasn't really trying to do anything to improve her life other than whine. I didn't find her interesting and I didn't feel any sympathy or empathy for her, and so I ultimately caved and decided that this book is just not for me.