Status
Available
Publication
Hogarth (2018), 288 pages
Description
LONGLISTED FOR THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE LONGLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION "Bold, virtuosic, addictive, erotic - there is nothing like The Pisces. I have no idea how Broder does it, but I loved every dark and sublime page of it." --Stephanie Danler, author of Sweetbitter Lucy has been writing her dissertation on Sappho for nine years when she and her boyfriend break up in a dramatic flameout. After she bottoms out in Phoenix, her sister in Los Angeles insists Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Annika's home is a gorgeous glass cube on Venice Beach, but Lucy can find little relief from her anxiety -- not in the Greek chorus of women in her love addiction therapy group, not in her frequent Tinder excursions, not even in Dominic the foxhound's easy affection. Everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer while sitting alone on the beach rocks one night. But when Lucy learns the truth about his identity, their relationship, and Lucy's understanding of what love should look like, take a very unexpected turn. A masterful blend of vivid realism and giddy fantasy, pairing hilarious frankness with pulse-racing eroticism, THE PISCES is a story about falling in obsessive love with a merman: a figure of Sirenic fantasy whose very existence pushes Lucy to question everything she thought she knew about love, lust, and meaning in the one life we have.… (more)
Media reviews
Broder’s preoccupations — and sometimes her prose — mirror her essays and poetry and tweets, but she has also allowed her social-media style and substance to blossom. “The Pisces” is part satire, part fairy tale and, sometimes jarringly, part meditation on addiction.
In the end, The Pisces is a novel that eludes any form of easy classification, and it’s all the stronger for it.
“The Pisces” convincingly romances the void.
It would be easy to dismiss Lucy as a foil for Broder and to write them both, author and character alike, off as insufferable. Lucy’s uncomfortable confessions match Broder’s essay collection So Sad Today in their frantic key, and some of the novel’s dialogue even matches the conversations
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she documents in her nonfiction [...] Yet Broder has Lucy confess to the things so many of us spend our lives trying to hide—fretting over the state of our pubes, yearning for love—that it is a relief to see them finally reflected back on the page. Show Less
Seeing Lucy battle with herself is at times cringeworthy, but that is because it is also insistently honest. Broder’s voice has a funny, frank Amy Schumer feel to it, injected with moments of a Lydia Davis-type abstraction that can turn the existence of a woman walking by in skimpy silk shorts
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into a meditation on meaninglessness. These are often the strongest moves of the novel’s voice: from the minor keen observation into the resonant theoretical. Show Less
Remember Freud’s writing on “the oceanic feeling” in Civilization and Discontents? It’s a quality that might be best recapped as simply not giving a shit about anyone else but oneself. That classification sums up several of the frustrating characters in this book—from the
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constantly-triggered women in Lucy’s therapy group to the various men she hooks up with—all seasoned practitioners of turning things back on themselves. And it’s certainly the case with Lucy, a Pisces who is, stereotypically, “Never good at restraint.” Show Less
Broder evokes the details of bad sex in wincingly naturalistic detail, and even if the good sex is a little more soft-focus, it makes for a satisfying fantasy. Broder makes her merman a more complex and believable character than most romantic heroes; her novel is a consistently funny and enjoyable
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ride. Show Less
On the surface, this audacious novel from Broder (So Sad Today, 2016, etc.) is a frank exploration of desire, fantasy, and sex. But it dives deeper, too, seeking out uncomfortable topics and bringing them into the light: codependency, depression, suicidal ideation, and an existential fascination
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with the void each get their days in the sun. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
I'm not going to lie. The Pisces is one weird-ass book. I did not know what to expect when I first opened the novel, but I certainly was not expecting what I read. Ms. Broder actually found a way to make sex unappealing in so many ways, plus she created a character with whom it is difficult to find
There is so much I find wrong with this book. I struggle with reviewers who describe the story as hilarious because the novel is, frankly, depressing. Lucy is a mess, and reading about her insecurities, her ennui, and her dangerous behavior when it comes to men is not something I find particularly funny. She is abrupt and coarse in pretty much everything she does or says, a blatant coping mechanism that becomes tedious after a while. Her issues with her thesis piss me off because she openly acknowledges that she is taking advantage of the system. I cannot feel sorry for someone whose blatant disregard for a system set in place to enhance learning is a key point in trying to win our favor. That she has issues with relationships is very clear, but I did not need multiple explicit examples to prove the point. One time going home with the wrong man and putting herself into a situation that could have severe consequences is all it takes for me to understand that Lucy needs professional help.
Then there is the fact that Lucy does begrudgingly attend group therapy sessions, but she mocks the idea and her fellow attendees almost every time she attends a meeting. It is understandable why Ms. Broder would make the members of Lucy's therapy group caricatures, as we only see them through Lucy's eyes and that is how she views them. It does not make them more enjoyable in a scene though. Yes, we have problems with our mental health support and care. Yes, we take the idea of therapy too far at times. Yes, there are people who are in need of such therapy and do benefit from it. No, I do not need to have this lesson repeatedly thrown at me with all the subtlety of a wooden log.
Then there is the idea that this novel is sexy. That is a resounding no. There is nothing sexy or erotic in Ms. Broder's descriptions. In fact, her overt crassness in such scenes is the opposite of erotic. It is the cold shower of erotic. As for the merman scenes, I have no words. Actually, I do. Ms. Broder ruined the idea of mermen for me with her depiction of sex with them. Everything about those scenes is wrong, creating visuals that I would rather forget but know I will not be able to do so.
The thing is that it is not Lucy's bluntness that bothers me so much, although it certainly did its job in making me uncomfortable. It is not even the explicitness of the novel, although anyone who takes umbrage at the c word should stay far away from this one. Taken separately, those are a writer's prerogative that do not bother me. It is the combination of everything which is repellent to me. It is Lucy's unapologetic nature. It is the complete lack of sexiness in all of the sex scenes, even when they are supposed to be nurturing and loving. It is the lack of subtlety of the entire novel; I prefer my stories less obvious and aggressive in their lessons. Subtlety in writing is an art, and there is none to be found in The Pisces. While it is obvious Ms. Broder can tell a story which evokes feelings and makes a point, her storytelling methods are not something I enjoy. In fact, I am quite surprised others find this particular novel so impressive. To me, The Pisces has all the subtlety of being beaten over the head with a steel pole; you would not think so many people would enjoy that.
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any sympathy. One might argue that the novel is satiric in nature, that it skewers the idea of relationships and the profession of therapy; yet, those are nuances that are challenging to observe because everything about the story is so in-your-face. Perhaps my feelings for the story would differ had I been able to look beyond the surface, but this is one novel where empathy completely fails me.There is so much I find wrong with this book. I struggle with reviewers who describe the story as hilarious because the novel is, frankly, depressing. Lucy is a mess, and reading about her insecurities, her ennui, and her dangerous behavior when it comes to men is not something I find particularly funny. She is abrupt and coarse in pretty much everything she does or says, a blatant coping mechanism that becomes tedious after a while. Her issues with her thesis piss me off because she openly acknowledges that she is taking advantage of the system. I cannot feel sorry for someone whose blatant disregard for a system set in place to enhance learning is a key point in trying to win our favor. That she has issues with relationships is very clear, but I did not need multiple explicit examples to prove the point. One time going home with the wrong man and putting herself into a situation that could have severe consequences is all it takes for me to understand that Lucy needs professional help.
Then there is the fact that Lucy does begrudgingly attend group therapy sessions, but she mocks the idea and her fellow attendees almost every time she attends a meeting. It is understandable why Ms. Broder would make the members of Lucy's therapy group caricatures, as we only see them through Lucy's eyes and that is how she views them. It does not make them more enjoyable in a scene though. Yes, we have problems with our mental health support and care. Yes, we take the idea of therapy too far at times. Yes, there are people who are in need of such therapy and do benefit from it. No, I do not need to have this lesson repeatedly thrown at me with all the subtlety of a wooden log.
Then there is the idea that this novel is sexy. That is a resounding no. There is nothing sexy or erotic in Ms. Broder's descriptions. In fact, her overt crassness in such scenes is the opposite of erotic. It is the cold shower of erotic. As for the merman scenes, I have no words. Actually, I do. Ms. Broder ruined the idea of mermen for me with her depiction of sex with them. Everything about those scenes is wrong, creating visuals that I would rather forget but know I will not be able to do so.
The thing is that it is not Lucy's bluntness that bothers me so much, although it certainly did its job in making me uncomfortable. It is not even the explicitness of the novel, although anyone who takes umbrage at the c word should stay far away from this one. Taken separately, those are a writer's prerogative that do not bother me. It is the combination of everything which is repellent to me. It is Lucy's unapologetic nature. It is the complete lack of sexiness in all of the sex scenes, even when they are supposed to be nurturing and loving. It is the lack of subtlety of the entire novel; I prefer my stories less obvious and aggressive in their lessons. Subtlety in writing is an art, and there is none to be found in The Pisces. While it is obvious Ms. Broder can tell a story which evokes feelings and makes a point, her storytelling methods are not something I enjoy. In fact, I am quite surprised others find this particular novel so impressive. To me, The Pisces has all the subtlety of being beaten over the head with a steel pole; you would not think so many people would enjoy that.
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LibraryThing member Kanarthi
The Pisces features a mentally unwell protagonist who spends the entire novel attempting to justify to herself her complete disregard towards everyone and everything. The writing does a wonderful job of plopping you in her head and forcing you to marinate in her unhealthy juices. The sex scenes are
Personally, I found the depiction of depression moving, the portrayal of her disordered thinking incisive and realistic, and the magical realism elements surreal and creative. It was a gripping read which gave me plenty to consider about personal responsibility, intellectual ambition, interpersonal relationships, and mental health. If you were to use this book as a handbook, the advice would be to do the opposite of everything that this main character does, but I enjoyed experiencing and reflecting upon the nightmarish world that the main character created for herself.
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horrifically unsexy, and the main character treats all her friends and her dog like complete garbage. If that doesn't sound like something you could enjoy reading, don't pick up this book. Personally, I found the depiction of depression moving, the portrayal of her disordered thinking incisive and realistic, and the magical realism elements surreal and creative. It was a gripping read which gave me plenty to consider about personal responsibility, intellectual ambition, interpersonal relationships, and mental health. If you were to use this book as a handbook, the advice would be to do the opposite of everything that this main character does, but I enjoyed experiencing and reflecting upon the nightmarish world that the main character created for herself.
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LibraryThing member nancyjean19
At times hilarious and sad, and surprisingly relatable, this book is like a Grimm's fairy tale, with darkness and all, for the Tinder age. That's what we're in, right?
LibraryThing member books_ofa_feather
Actual rating: 2.5
Over the years there have only been a handful of times where my tendency to judge a book by its cover has steered me wrong. For one I would like to give Rachel Willey major props for her cover design for this book. It is so striking and even after finishing the book I’m sitting
I found most of the writing of the ‘erotic’ variety very sterile at the beginning and then further on so caught up in flare to lose my focus on the page. I am all about words taking on a poetic bend to bring home the emotion of a character and the story; this book felt very distracted by it.
There were a few times I agreed with Lucy’s inner observations of how she perceived the world. I could see myself feeling those same things. As the story goes on I kept asking what Melissa Broder is trying to achieve with her character here, though. I have read books wherein we are supposed to hate the narrator and be drawn in more and more by the nature of the reader vs. anti-hero relationship. From one page to the next you don’t know if you will be championing a possible redemption story or screaming out your fury because they are such a disgusting human being. Here it was incredibly unclear what I am supposed to feel about this character. Obviously there were moments to feel uncomfortable.
I never found this book to be funny and it wasn’t so much strange as trying to be something it wasn’t. It wasn’t, to me, an erotic merman story. It wasn’t funny. It didn’t achieve a redemption or a failure. I mean yes she makes a final decision at the end, but I don’t see her sticking with an upward path.
Maybe I’m asking too much of a ‘novel’, but I found this jumbled and wishing for the ending. I don’t know what more to say because I agree with other reviewers people are either going to hate or love this book. I’m stuck feeling like I don’t want to spend any more time with this book and I don’t hate it necessarily, but I’m glad to be done with it.
It is increasingly odd to me how we tack on the word ‘strange’ to things that are not strange or that could be stranger. Erotica if anything is supposed to bring a deeper intimacy to whichever art form it is being used in and yes that’s not for everyone, but it’s meant to emote stronger feelings than ‘strange’ or quickly forgotten.
Over the years there have only been a handful of times where my tendency to judge a book by its cover has steered me wrong. For one I would like to give Rachel Willey major props for her cover design for this book. It is so striking and even after finishing the book I’m sitting
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here going, “but the cover is soooo pretty.” The marketing for this book has also been great and the shout outs, while misleading for me, were what brought it home after my initial head raise for the cover. Oh, Merman? “Uproariously Funny”? Erotica? “Gloriously strange”? Count me in. SEND ME AN ARC PLEASE!I found most of the writing of the ‘erotic’ variety very sterile at the beginning and then further on so caught up in flare to lose my focus on the page. I am all about words taking on a poetic bend to bring home the emotion of a character and the story; this book felt very distracted by it.
There were a few times I agreed with Lucy’s inner observations of how she perceived the world. I could see myself feeling those same things. As the story goes on I kept asking what Melissa Broder is trying to achieve with her character here, though. I have read books wherein we are supposed to hate the narrator and be drawn in more and more by the nature of the reader vs. anti-hero relationship. From one page to the next you don’t know if you will be championing a possible redemption story or screaming out your fury because they are such a disgusting human being. Here it was incredibly unclear what I am supposed to feel about this character. Obviously there were moments to feel uncomfortable.
I never found this book to be funny and it wasn’t so much strange as trying to be something it wasn’t. It wasn’t, to me, an erotic merman story. It wasn’t funny. It didn’t achieve a redemption or a failure. I mean yes she makes a final decision at the end, but I don’t see her sticking with an upward path.
Maybe I’m asking too much of a ‘novel’, but I found this jumbled and wishing for the ending. I don’t know what more to say because I agree with other reviewers people are either going to hate or love this book. I’m stuck feeling like I don’t want to spend any more time with this book and I don’t hate it necessarily, but I’m glad to be done with it.
It is increasingly odd to me how we tack on the word ‘strange’ to things that are not strange or that could be stranger. Erotica if anything is supposed to bring a deeper intimacy to whichever art form it is being used in and yes that’s not for everyone, but it’s meant to emote stronger feelings than ‘strange’ or quickly forgotten.
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LibraryThing member hubblegal
Lucy has inadvertently broken up with her long-time boyfriend. She didn’t mean to suggest a separation but that’s what happened. She never wanted him as much as when she didn’t have him. He’s now found someone else and Lucy plunges into depression. Luckily her sister has invited her to
OK, I confess, I made a mistake in requesting this book. I had read about it and didn’t think it was a book for me. But weeks went by and I saw a review by Kirkus Press that spiked my interest showing a different cover and I requested it. When I realized which book I had requested, I knew I had made a mistake. But I decided to go into this book with as open a mind as I could and give it every chance. Which I really did. Although this book is marketed as being hilarious, I found it to be horribly depressing. Do women really feel like this about their relationships with men? How awful to contemplate such a state. The book is also marketed as being erotic but I didn’t see it as erotic at all, only extremely sexually explicit, which are two different things.
Lucy’s irresponsibility in her care of her sister’s home and ill dog was beyond belief. This was not a young, impressionable girl but a 38-year-old woman. There was nothing about Lucy that I could relate to. To any animal lovers reading this review, beware of the heartless neglect of a dog which destroyed any sympathy I may have felt for Lucy.
I recently saw “The Shape of Water” and enjoyed it very much. I had hoped in reading “The Pisces” that there would be traces of that story that would lend some beauty to the book but any similarity is very superficial. Granted, I don’t believe it was the author’s intent to write a beautiful love.
The book did hold my interest but in looking back at it, it just left me with a bad feeling all around and I can’t recommend it.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
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house and dog sit for her and she joins a therapy group of lovelorn women. But nothing turns around for Lucy until she meets a mysterious swimmer with a secret.OK, I confess, I made a mistake in requesting this book. I had read about it and didn’t think it was a book for me. But weeks went by and I saw a review by Kirkus Press that spiked my interest showing a different cover and I requested it. When I realized which book I had requested, I knew I had made a mistake. But I decided to go into this book with as open a mind as I could and give it every chance. Which I really did. Although this book is marketed as being hilarious, I found it to be horribly depressing. Do women really feel like this about their relationships with men? How awful to contemplate such a state. The book is also marketed as being erotic but I didn’t see it as erotic at all, only extremely sexually explicit, which are two different things.
Lucy’s irresponsibility in her care of her sister’s home and ill dog was beyond belief. This was not a young, impressionable girl but a 38-year-old woman. There was nothing about Lucy that I could relate to. To any animal lovers reading this review, beware of the heartless neglect of a dog which destroyed any sympathy I may have felt for Lucy.
I recently saw “The Shape of Water” and enjoyed it very much. I had hoped in reading “The Pisces” that there would be traces of that story that would lend some beauty to the book but any similarity is very superficial. Granted, I don’t believe it was the author’s intent to write a beautiful love.
The book did hold my interest but in looking back at it, it just left me with a bad feeling all around and I can’t recommend it.
This book was given to me by the publisher in return for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member miss.mesmerized
Lucy is almost forty and somehow stuck in her life: she has been working on her thesis on Sappho for years now, but has lost track and doesn’t advance anymore. The same is true for her relationship with Jamie who cannot decide between moving together and founding a family and needing more space
The novel sounded quite enthralling to me since I thought that it would be easy to relate to the protagonist: being at a turning point in life, questioning her job and relationship, added to this an intellectual female character who might have an interesting approach to the whole love stuff. Moreover, “love addition therapy group” promised to be great fun to read since it sounds quite absurd.
To sum up the novel, I am a bit disappointed which might be my own fault since I did not pay too close attention to the fact that the novel is rated as “Women’s fiction”. Thus, the protagonist wasn’t the intellectual character I had hoped for, but quite some dumb and brainless being who was only searching for men to spend her nights with and who devoted her days to browsing shops for clothes (which she bought for an incredible amount of money) and thinking about her make-up and waxing. Lucy is incredibly shallow which annoyed me a lot wasn’t in tune with the intellectual researcher we got to know in the beginning. Apart from this, there were by far too many explicit scenes over too long paragraphs. Some readers might like it, it’s just not my favourite type of novel, but as said before, I didn’t pay close attention to the genre.
After the first half of the novel – which had some quite funny incidents and absurd dialogues that I really enjoyed – Lucy meets the swimmer. First of all, I thought that I had misunderstood something. Then I was waiting for the moment Lucy wakes up and realizes that she had quite some strange dream. Yet, this moment never came, the author simply implemented some utterly bizarre prop which didn’t work for me at all.
I can understand why some readers truly enjoy to read the book, it just wasn’t one for me. Too strange and weird in the plot, the protagonist not really authentic and too many explicit passages.
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for himself. When the university threatens Lucy with throwing her out and when Jamie refuses to make a decision, they dramatically break up and Lucy flees to her sister Annika’s house in Venice Beach. Since Annika will be away for work for a couple of weeks, Lucy agrees to baby-sit her dog and stay there for a while. With the help of a love addiction therapy group and Tinder, Lucy tries to solve her problems and to figure out what she really wants in life. When she meets a cute swimmer on the beach one evening, this might be the sign she has been waiting for.The novel sounded quite enthralling to me since I thought that it would be easy to relate to the protagonist: being at a turning point in life, questioning her job and relationship, added to this an intellectual female character who might have an interesting approach to the whole love stuff. Moreover, “love addition therapy group” promised to be great fun to read since it sounds quite absurd.
To sum up the novel, I am a bit disappointed which might be my own fault since I did not pay too close attention to the fact that the novel is rated as “Women’s fiction”. Thus, the protagonist wasn’t the intellectual character I had hoped for, but quite some dumb and brainless being who was only searching for men to spend her nights with and who devoted her days to browsing shops for clothes (which she bought for an incredible amount of money) and thinking about her make-up and waxing. Lucy is incredibly shallow which annoyed me a lot wasn’t in tune with the intellectual researcher we got to know in the beginning. Apart from this, there were by far too many explicit scenes over too long paragraphs. Some readers might like it, it’s just not my favourite type of novel, but as said before, I didn’t pay close attention to the genre.
After the first half of the novel – which had some quite funny incidents and absurd dialogues that I really enjoyed – Lucy meets the swimmer. First of all, I thought that I had misunderstood something. Then I was waiting for the moment Lucy wakes up and realizes that she had quite some strange dream. Yet, this moment never came, the author simply implemented some utterly bizarre prop which didn’t work for me at all.
I can understand why some readers truly enjoy to read the book, it just wasn’t one for me. Too strange and weird in the plot, the protagonist not really authentic and too many explicit passages.
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LibraryThing member LibStaff2
2 Stars
Graphic and gritty contemporary women's fiction with depressing characters. Sometimes realistic, but I never connected with MC or any of the supporting characters. The descriptions of the beach were probably my favorite part.
Penguin First to Read Galley
Graphic and gritty contemporary women's fiction with depressing characters. Sometimes realistic, but I never connected with MC or any of the supporting characters. The descriptions of the beach were probably my favorite part.
Penguin First to Read Galley
LibraryThing member ecataldi
File this under, holy smokes what in the hell did I just read?!?!? I am a sucker for bizarre novels and let me tell you, this one takes the freaking cake. For being so odd, it was superbly well written! The one second summary is that this is MERMAN. EROTICA. Yes, you read that correctly. Lucy is at
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a stopping point in her life. She's been dumped by her boyfriend of two plus years and her dissertation on Sappho is going nowhere. She's simply existing and it's not enough. After being picked up by the cops covered in donut crumbs and clothed only in her nighties, her older sister convinces her to come to California and house sit for the summer. Lucy reluctantly agrees to watch her gorgeous house, take care of the dog, and attend group therapy for women going through relationship crises. Therapy isn't helping much but the dog is. One night Lucy is sitting by the ocean when she spies the most gorgeous young man out for a swim. Every night they talk and things slowly gets sexual. When she finally discovers why he never comes out of the water she isn't even fazed. At this point she is so infatuated she doesn't even care that she's boning a merman. It escalates in absurdity and hilarity. What is love? Is it lust? Can you lust a merman? All burning questions. Do yourself a favor and read this gem! Show Less
LibraryThing member pomo58
The Pisces by Melissa Broder is, well, I'm not sure how to classify it. Read some reviews, good and bad, and all of the various genres and types of literature mentioned are likely accurate to some degree. This is also a difficult book to read, at least it was for me, for several reasons. I was torn
Lucy, the protagonist, is a difficult person to relate to. I'm not sure any reader truly relates to her completely but, what saves it for me, there are many instances where I can relate to her at that moment. Usually something she says or thinks that I have been ashamed of myself for thinking in the past. For much of the story she is the unregulated subconscious released on the world.
I found the writing to be wonderful, even the sections I did not enjoy reading. Wait, what? Yeah, a few sections were just too painful for me but the writing was still good, perhaps too good in those moments. I loved the way some of her thoughts were expressed, part snarky and part pure existential angst. My beloved canine companion of ten years died while I was reading this and that influenced my negative feelings toward Lucy tremendously. I actually had to set the book aside for a couple weeks, though that was also due to my inability to focus for a while on anything except missing my dog.
Even with not liking Lucy I think Broder succeeded in making enough (maybe too much?) of her accessible that we could empathize with her even if we felt she often brought it upon herself. I admit to not being into the whole merman erotica as erotica but it isn't simply erotica, it says a lot about the disconnect many people, in this case women, feel in relationships. It also shows that there is no perfect lover, regardless of species.
I would recommend this to most readers who are willing to read what is both a touching and a touched story. There is humor but at times I wasn't sure whether I was laughing with or at. But at least I was laughing. If you want to like and/or relate closely to the main character you might not enjoy this, I wouldn't trust Lucy to care for my cactus, let alone any animal, so there is that.
Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads.
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between 3 and 4 stars and if you ask me tomorrow it may be different.Lucy, the protagonist, is a difficult person to relate to. I'm not sure any reader truly relates to her completely but, what saves it for me, there are many instances where I can relate to her at that moment. Usually something she says or thinks that I have been ashamed of myself for thinking in the past. For much of the story she is the unregulated subconscious released on the world.
I found the writing to be wonderful, even the sections I did not enjoy reading. Wait, what? Yeah, a few sections were just too painful for me but the writing was still good, perhaps too good in those moments. I loved the way some of her thoughts were expressed, part snarky and part pure existential angst. My beloved canine companion of ten years died while I was reading this and that influenced my negative feelings toward Lucy tremendously. I actually had to set the book aside for a couple weeks, though that was also due to my inability to focus for a while on anything except missing my dog.
Even with not liking Lucy I think Broder succeeded in making enough (maybe too much?) of her accessible that we could empathize with her even if we felt she often brought it upon herself. I admit to not being into the whole merman erotica as erotica but it isn't simply erotica, it says a lot about the disconnect many people, in this case women, feel in relationships. It also shows that there is no perfect lover, regardless of species.
I would recommend this to most readers who are willing to read what is both a touching and a touched story. There is humor but at times I wasn't sure whether I was laughing with or at. But at least I was laughing. If you want to like and/or relate closely to the main character you might not enjoy this, I wouldn't trust Lucy to care for my cactus, let alone any animal, so there is that.
Reviewed from a copy made available through Goodreads First Reads.
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LibraryThing member muddyboy
This book was very disappointing to me. The premise was creative and unique - a woman "falling in love" with a merman. Lucy, the main character, has a boyfriend but the relationship is not that satisfying. So sitting on a rocky shore starts the merman relationship. What I didn't like is that they
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really have nothing in common except infatuation and sex. The other problem is the author's preoccupation with graphic sex scenes right down to posterior preparation for an upcoming act. And it is not just sex with mr. merman.. Lucy has sexcapades with other men along the way. Fifty Shades of Gray without the bondage. Show Less
LibraryThing member schatzi
It has taken a while for me to admit it to myself, but I cannot finish this book. There are just too many good books out there to waste time reading something that I despise with most, if not all, of my soul.
The cover is hilarious and I'd read some good reviews about this book (not sure how this
Yes, the first paragraph contains the main character waxing effusive about how much she enjoys watching and then picking up dog shit. It doesn't get any better from here, unfortunately.
The protagonist (I hesitate to call her this) is an immature whiny self-absorbed "woman." She and I are the same age, but she still hasn't started her life - she's trapped in a relationship in which she doesn't really like the guy (although she doesn't want anyone else having him, either), she has been postponing working on her dissertation forever (to the point that she's about to be kicked out of grad school, after being there for several years, because she refuses to work on it), and she's generally unhappy. She decides to find fulfillment by spending the summer at her sister's house, not working on her dissertation (because why grow up now?) and meeting and hooking up with random guys on the internet (no shame in that, but she was desperately seeking approval and weirdness ensued). And abusing her poor sister's dog, who is like a child to her sister, by not giving him his medications that he needs (he has diabetes) and leaving him locked in the house for hours at end and doesn't feed him properly.I read a review where someone said that the dog dies from her neglect, and I can't even fucking handle it. Fuck this character so much.
The character never matures, at least in the first third of the book (the only third I could force myself to read). She is completely unlikable and I found myself wishing that the dog would bite her. Like, fatally, if that's possible for an obese lapdog to do.
To say that I dislike this book is putting it too mildly. It's the worst book I've read this year, which isn't saying all that much since I've been in a reading slump for the past several months, but still...I can say that this is one of my least favorite books of the 2010s so far, which carries a bit more weight. I nearly threw my Kindle across the room before I remembered that I had paid over a hundred dollars for this thing and it has been a good companion. So I just contented myself on rage-deleting the file from my Kindle, which was the most satisfying moment this book gave to me.
The cover is hilarious and I'd read some good reviews about this book (not sure how this
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book garnered any good reviews, to be honest), but I knew I was in for something that would likely be entirely unpleasant within the first PARAGRAPH. I kid you not. It all started with this lovely quote: "I liked the warmth of [my sister's dog's] fat belly, the primal way he crouched when he took a shit. It felt so intimate scooping his gigantic shits, the big hot bags of them. I thought, This is the proper use of my love, this is the man for me, this is the way." (Emphasis in original.) Yes, the first paragraph contains the main character waxing effusive about how much she enjoys watching and then picking up dog shit. It doesn't get any better from here, unfortunately.
The protagonist (I hesitate to call her this) is an immature whiny self-absorbed "woman." She and I are the same age, but she still hasn't started her life - she's trapped in a relationship in which she doesn't really like the guy (although she doesn't want anyone else having him, either), she has been postponing working on her dissertation forever (to the point that she's about to be kicked out of grad school, after being there for several years, because she refuses to work on it), and she's generally unhappy. She decides to find fulfillment by spending the summer at her sister's house, not working on her dissertation (because why grow up now?) and meeting and hooking up with random guys on the internet (no shame in that, but she was desperately seeking approval and weirdness ensued). And abusing her poor sister's dog, who is like a child to her sister, by not giving him his medications that he needs (he has diabetes) and leaving him locked in the house for hours at end and doesn't feed him properly.
The character never matures, at least in the first third of the book (the only third I could force myself to read). She is completely unlikable and I found myself wishing that the dog would bite her. Like, fatally, if that's possible for an obese lapdog to do.
To say that I dislike this book is putting it too mildly. It's the worst book I've read this year, which isn't saying all that much since I've been in a reading slump for the past several months, but still...I can say that this is one of my least favorite books of the 2010s so far, which carries a bit more weight. I nearly threw my Kindle across the room before I remembered that I had paid over a hundred dollars for this thing and it has been a good companion. So I just contented myself on rage-deleting the file from my Kindle, which was the most satisfying moment this book gave to me.
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LibraryThing member Lauranthalas
The Pisces is an unusual book that follows Lucy, who has been writing her thesis on Sappho for way too long and has recently broken up with her boyfriend, Jamie. To take a pause from the real world, Lucy’s sister convinces her to come to Venice Beach to dog sit and attend group therapy since
I won the book through a Goodreads Giveaway.
*Spoilers*
Merman erotica, not the best book to read for dog/animal lovers, and most of the characters were unlikeable.
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Lucky suffers from depression and love addiction. Between group therapy, Tinder hook-ups, failed attempts as self-love, and Dominic the dog, Lucy meets an attractive swimmer one evening while sitting near the ocean.I won the book through a Goodreads Giveaway.
*Spoilers*
Merman erotica, not the best book to read for dog/animal lovers, and most of the characters were unlikeable.
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LibraryThing member bostonbibliophile
this is going to be a polarizing read but I kind of loved its rawness and struggle. who said "there is beauty in the breakdown"? that's what this book is. It's explicit and graphic, with sex, bodily functions and emotions and it's too bad about the dog. but it's also a little marvel of a fantasy.
LibraryThing member Lynsey2
I was very tempted to throw this book in the lake. On a quest for quirky, fun reads that aren't emotionally draining; I bought The Pisces. A story about a woman's obsessive love with a merman. I could not have failed more miserably with this one. The main character is one of the most selfish, self
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absorbed personalities I have ever had the misfortune to read about. While I do not necessarily need to like my characters, it does help if they have at least one redeeming quality. Show Less
LibraryThing member yvonnekins
DNF 65%
I hate to DNF a book so close to the end but this just really...... went from bad to worse to.... even worse somehow. I do not give a fuck about the main character who, by the way, was nothing more than a self-absorbed cunt. FUCK this lady for treating her sister's dog like that.
Not to
Also all the references to classical Greek literature just really... I MEAN. I guess if you like fake-deep, pseudo-intellectual pretentious bs that takes itself too seriously and are into "existential cock" it could work for you?
I hate to DNF a book so close to the end but this just really...... went from bad to worse to.... even worse somehow. I do not give a fuck about the main character who, by the way, was nothing more than a self-absorbed cunt. FUCK this lady for treating her sister's dog like that.
Not to
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mention all the fake-deep existential bullshit and meaningless metaphors all over the damn place even during the sex scenes? They were whatever the opposite of profound is and I just found myself rolling my eyes. Maybe it's because I was listening to the audiobook and something about listening to sex scenes just makes them 10x more uncomfortable than reading them on a page, but the merman sex really just had me more confused than anything else.Also all the references to classical Greek literature just really... I MEAN. I guess if you like fake-deep, pseudo-intellectual pretentious bs that takes itself too seriously and are into "existential cock" it could work for you?
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LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
Lucy has stretched the writing of her dissertation out for years, working in the university library and trying to get her boyfriend to commit to more. When a spat ends with them breaking up, Lucy falls apart. Her sister invites her to dog sit for her in Venice Beach, and Lucy grabs the opportunity,
I don't know why, but I do enjoy novels in which women are the agents of their own misfortune. And this one has the interesting twist of the logistical difficulties of getting together with a merman, who may or may not exist.
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reluctantly joining a therapy group for love addicts and walking on the beach at night. Every decision Lucy makes is a poor one, often dramatically so, and while she would be exhausting to know in real life, she's fascinating to read about. One evening, she meets a cute swimmer and while there are some surprising things about him, maybe he's her chance for love, especially when the first guy turned out to be a creep and the second won't return her calls. I don't know why, but I do enjoy novels in which women are the agents of their own misfortune. And this one has the interesting twist of the logistical difficulties of getting together with a merman, who may or may not exist.
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LibraryThing member spiritedstardust
Like watching a train wreck.
Utterly bizarre with an absolute mess for a main character who really needs therapy.
It was however quite entertaining. The real victim here though was the little doggie.
Utterly bizarre with an absolute mess for a main character who really needs therapy.
It was however quite entertaining. The real victim here though was the little doggie.
LibraryThing member amsee
It’s a quick, enjoyable read, but not as profound as it wants to be. Lucy is neurotic & a navel-gazer of the highest order and sometimes it can be difficult to not want to shake her, but that’s part of what makes the book fun.
LibraryThing member soradsauce
I want to preface this review that with the recent release of The Shape of Water, I was fully expecting to love The Pisces.
The Pisces starts out with a very relatable female lead. She has had a hard time with love and is dating a man who just can't fully commit and she deeply wants commitment and
The concept Broder created of the merman was very interesting, and the ending and what Theo wanted was surprisingly satisfying. Lucy, our protagonist, becomes deeply, deeply unlikeable and starts acting in completely self-destructive and illogical ways. There were points where I was sincerely considering googling Melissa Broder to see if it was a pen name that a man who hated women and had a vendetta against them.
The sex scenes were uninspiring and oftentimes overly wordy, while also being very unbelievable and mostly incredibly offputting. The romance was lacking and any affection the characters had towards each other was very stilted.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I went into it with high hopes but those hopes were dashed on the rocks, much like the ones Theo and Lucy hung around.
*I received this book for free from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.
The Pisces starts out with a very relatable female lead. She has had a hard time with love and is dating a man who just can't fully commit and she deeply wants commitment and
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love in her life. She is witty and sharp and funny. However, once she meets Theo the merman, this book takes a turn for the worst.The concept Broder created of the merman was very interesting, and the ending and what Theo wanted was surprisingly satisfying. Lucy, our protagonist, becomes deeply, deeply unlikeable and starts acting in completely self-destructive and illogical ways. There were points where I was sincerely considering googling Melissa Broder to see if it was a pen name that a man who hated women and had a vendetta against them.
The sex scenes were uninspiring and oftentimes overly wordy, while also being very unbelievable and mostly incredibly offputting. The romance was lacking and any affection the characters had towards each other was very stilted.
I really, really wanted to like this book. I went into it with high hopes but those hopes were dashed on the rocks, much like the ones Theo and Lucy hung around.
*I received this book for free from NetGalley for a fair and honest review.
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LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee
Someday, when I just can't take it anymore, I'm going to put this book on the "staff picks" display with my full name proudly attached to it and patiently wait to see how long it takes for me to be fired.
Awards
Women's Prize for Fiction (Longlist — 2019)
Center for Fiction First Novel Prize (Longlist — 2018)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Debut Fiction — 2018)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-05-01
Physical description
288 p.; 5.84 inches
ISBN
1524761559 / 9781524761554
Local notes
fiction