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page_appropriate 's review for:
American Mermaid
by Julia Langbein
I was excited to have the opportunity to read an advance e-copy thanks to the publisher and NetGalley.
In this wry social commentary, broke teacher Penelope writes a hit novel and is swept away to Hollywood by the promise of big money if she will help turn her book into a movie. But before long, the movie industry has twisted Peneope's feminist story is twisted into a sexy action flick and her message is gutted. But the story won't die quietly--mysterious things start happening to the script and the people involved. Could the mermaid possibly be more than a figment of Penelope's imagination?
Julia Langbein is a wordsmith! Every word crackles and flows into the next to create a rhythmic, cohesive whole. So much of this work was a social commentary: men trying to conquer nature; men trying to conquer women. The narrative posits that society teaches women not to trust themselves and their own inner voices, preventing them from being their best selves and accessing their own power. We watch as Penelope trudges through an isolated, depressing life, barely squeezing by and lacking meaning and connections--feeling different and alone and left chasing shallow things that give a false sense of security. And her mermaid protagonist feels the same--like something's wrong with her which makes her isolated and alone. Both feel a distinct asexuality in a world where society tells women that men have a right to their bodies. The mermaid world in Penelope's book, however, lifts up a matriarchal society immune to the sexual power and destruction that men hold, where mermaids lure men to their deaths through the promise of pleasure, and then gutting them as cleanly and carefully as humans gut a fish. In the end, the superpower is really the love of women for each other and for their offspring, a deeply resonant truth about society and self. I can see this as an excellent book for a university class or a thinking group of peopel who want to examine and improve society and how we treat each other and the planet.
In this wry social commentary, broke teacher Penelope writes a hit novel and is swept away to Hollywood by the promise of big money if she will help turn her book into a movie. But before long, the movie industry has twisted Peneope's feminist story is twisted into a sexy action flick and her message is gutted. But the story won't die quietly--mysterious things start happening to the script and the people involved. Could the mermaid possibly be more than a figment of Penelope's imagination?
Julia Langbein is a wordsmith! Every word crackles and flows into the next to create a rhythmic, cohesive whole. So much of this work was a social commentary: men trying to conquer nature; men trying to conquer women. The narrative posits that society teaches women not to trust themselves and their own inner voices, preventing them from being their best selves and accessing their own power. We watch as Penelope trudges through an isolated, depressing life, barely squeezing by and lacking meaning and connections--feeling different and alone and left chasing shallow things that give a false sense of security. And her mermaid protagonist feels the same--like something's wrong with her which makes her isolated and alone. Both feel a distinct asexuality in a world where society tells women that men have a right to their bodies. The mermaid world in Penelope's book, however, lifts up a matriarchal society immune to the sexual power and destruction that men hold, where mermaids lure men to their deaths through the promise of pleasure, and then gutting them as cleanly and carefully as humans gut a fish. In the end, the superpower is really the love of women for each other and for their offspring, a deeply resonant truth about society and self. I can see this as an excellent book for a university class or a thinking group of peopel who want to examine and improve society and how we treat each other and the planet.