I won this book in a free giveaway, it looked interesting, sort of like Lauren Groff's "Monsters of Templeton". I guess I didn't read the entire synopsis on the back.... If I had to categorize it, I would call it a Womens-Contemporary-Magical-(Mer)Romance. I can't say I didn't like it, but man, was it weird. Even though most of the characters were horribly exasperating, I was laughing and shocked throughout the whole book.

I read the whole book, entertained by the clever writing but skeptical of the themes. The ending was gratifying, perfect.

I liked this! It's my first by Broder, and she has a very distinctive prose style that I found immediately engaging, although I wasn't entirely enthusiastic about the book's protagonist. The story itself was intriguing and I definitely wanted to know where the romance was going, and the twist at the end was a good kind of morbid surprise. Overall the book wasn't my absolute favorite, but I loved the idea of it enough to want to check out more by this author in the future.

I have never read any from Melissa Broder's works and had no clue what I was diving into with this one. I didn't read the synopsis and had no idea what's the genre of this book, and I am so happy that I did it that way. This book is marketed as romance but I thought it fits more under women's fiction and magical realism.

Written in Lucy's perspective, we get to see her innermost thoughts which was pretty interesting and infuriating at the same time because of her character. She's not very likable. She is self-centered, mean, and terrible. There were times when I hated her and her stupid decisions but I still couldn't help not rooting for her. Lucy is very relatable and real. I think the author didn't write Lucy for us to like or symphatize with her. She probably wants us to remember that this kind of person exists. That these things in Lucy's mind are often in ours but we just don't want to acknowledge or admit it.

I liked the brutal honesty. The author's writing style is brilliant. It's straightforward and hilarious at times. Some of the scenes are too awful and painful to read but I couldn't stop reading. This book tackles on some important social issues such as mental illness, addiction, self-harm and suicide. Also, there are multiple of sex scenes (all kinds of them including merman sex) and they are way too graphic and lengthy which I wasn't expecting (and didn't mind) at all. I also want to mention that there's an animal abuse/neglect in this book.

I had mixed feelings about how this book ends. It's quite vague, in my opinion. There's a progress with Lucy's character which was really great but we never know if she truly changed or at least developed. Also, is the merman real? or is he just a part of Lucy's delusion?

The Pisces is a bizarre, dark and unique read. It made me laugh, mad, angry, and cry (eventhough I knew it will happen, it's still very sad) but I think this is not really a book for everyone. If you're curious and you don't have problems with the stuff I've mentioned above then you should give it a try.

Besides coloring outside the lines, what also impressed me about Melissa was her honesty, how she unapologetically and openly wrote about the ugliness most people often try to hide in order to seem normal or sane and the great lengths some go to seem that way, in fear of not being wanted if they are not. In The PISCES she puts all that and added a merman as a love interest to her narrator, which is what made this cleverly funny.

I have mixed feelings about this book. I think I need to read it again. Overall I thought it was interesting and well written and I didn't mind the romance angle. I quite put my finger on what I mean! LOL

I am slightly conflicted with writing this review. I liked it but I have some issues. I liked that the writing is entertaining and easy to read. Lucy’s voice is casual and candid, with an ever present angst on the meaninglessness of things. So raw, so real. I liked the unique romance, although IMO Theo’s physiology could still be improved. I liked the ending of Lucy and Theo’s story of love and obsession. Heck, I even liked some of the sultry and sexy scenes.

My first problem is with the main character and her development. I don’t mind unlikable characters as long as there is some semblance of hope and redemption for them in the end. As a person suffering from an addictive personality, I would want to read about a character who can give me some sort of inspiration. I would want to read about someone who can be a better person despite of his/her emptiness. There are people like that in here, Dr. Judith and some members of the support group, but they are not fully fleshed out and they exist solely as objects of Lucy’s scoff and scorn. At the ending where Lucy decided to go back to the glass beach house and into her sister’s arms, it does not mean that she is choosing to live or that she is remorseful. It is more of a coward act. She is counting on her sister’s trust and affection, with no intention to come clean at all. The book ended with Lucy still not accountable with the consequences of her wrong choices.

Next are the love scenes, hah, there are too many. I don’t mind personally but others might be grossed out with them. So consider yourselves warned: sex here are explicitly described, sometimes borderline soft porn, and one with menstruation involved. Again, I don’t mind. A girl needs some loin-stirring pages on her book. I don’t like that sex is a bit romanticized tho. Sex with rando guys are always bad (no orgasm) but sex with the love interest is always good??? It’s fairy tale-like (Lucy with her little mermaid-esque long luscious red locks, wink-wink), in the sense that the only person who can satisfy the princess in bed is the prince charming.

“The Pisces” is a pleasure but I hope there’s more to the plot and to the characters. Upon finishing the book, it slightly reminded me of “Shanghai Baby” which I’ve read when I was sixteen. I was young then so the sex scenes (there was also a period sex!) shook me to my core and now after all these years I can still remember the shock but I don’t remember whatsoever what the book was all about. I cannot say if I gained any insight from reading it or if it enriched my life in any form or way. I am afraid “The Pisces” would be just the same.

Author Melissa Broder is known for her expertise and writing on psychological conditions which was the theme of her bestselling memoir “So Sad Today” (2016). In her debut novel, “The Pisces” Broder takes her writing to a new enchanting level when the protagonist falls in deeply love with a man of the sea. While there are things unknown and mysterious about him, this spellbinding story unfolds like nothing ever read before,

As the story opened, 38 year old Lucy was having difficulty writing a thesis for her PhD titled “The Accentual Gap: Sappho’s Spaces as Essence”. Lucy had many ideas about the mythology and omitted writings of the lesbian hypersexual poet, who had a preference for younger lovers. Still, she was unable to produce or submit any substantial writing, and was in danger of having her funding cancelled.
Lucy was often bored and annoyed with her non-committal geologist boyfriend Jamie-- and he agreed with her wholeheartedly when she suggested they take a temporary break from their 8 year relationship. Eventually there was a problem when he didn’t want to get back together. The loss of her relationship sent Lucy into a melancholic phase: “I always thought of depression as having a shape—when it manifested as a feeling of emptiness you could inject something into it; a walk, a 3 Musketeers, something to give it new form.” After Lucy assaulted Jamie, she was given the option of entering therapy to avoid prosecution.
Annika, her wealthy sister suggested Lucy housesit on her Venice beachfront home and care for her beloved dog Dominic while she and her husband traveled for the summer on business. Lucy should have been appreciative and grateful for her sister’s concern and generous support, and taken better care of Dominic while enjoying Annika's luxurious home. Instead, Lucy, entirely self-absorbed, found ways to avoid her therapist's recommendation of: “No Dating until serious work on the self-occurred.”

Through Lucy, Broder illustrated the challenges of treatment of sex and love addiction and other various psychological conditions. Lucy engaged in numerous high risk sexual encounters and unprotected sex as she spiraled out of control. Her unusual love relationship with Theo, the Merman, provided Lucy a rare understanding and insight as she was forced to consider her options as her time on the beach could end and she might return to the University of Arizona. **With thanks and appreciation to Penguin Random House LLC, New York via NetGalley for the DDC for the purpose of review.

I found this book meandering and somewhat pointless, although elements of it were poignant and deeply funny.

Lucy is an Arizona PhD student in the midst of a quarter-life crisis. She has spent years writing her dissertation about the poet Sappho and emotionally investing in a relationship with a man who rejects commitment. When both of these major facets of her life collapse, Lucy hits a breaking point. Desperate to escape the pain of her breakup and her writer’s block, Lucy jumps at the chance to dog-sit for her jetsetting sister for a couple of months in Venice, California. While Lucy hopes that trading the desert of Arizona for the beaches of California will fuel her inspiration for her research, she instead finds herself seeking out romance through encounters that can only be described as a series of unfortunate hookups. Just as Lucy is about to swear off men altogether, she meets Theo, a dreamy and mysterious swimmer. As her relationship with Theo develops, Theo reveals that he is a merman bound to the sea. From that point on, Lucy’s story blurs into the fantastical, her passionate relationship with Theo ultimately forcing her to grapple with her deepest sense of self. Darkly funny and raw, The Pisces explores how far one will go for the promise of love.

“I was no longer lonely but I was.”

I had no clue what I was getting into with this one, and I am so glad I did so blindly. This debut novel took me for surprise. The Pisces by Melissa Broder is a re-telling of a greek myth on the border of reality, filled to the brim with erotica, metaphors, and references to Greek mythology.

Lucy is struggling with her thesis on Sappho, claiming the breaks in Sappho’s ancient poetry is intended. After her boyfriend of ten years cheats on her, she breaks his nose and flees to Venice to watch her sister’s house and dog while she is way. In Venice, Lucy attends meetings for love and sex addicts, (In these scenes, the author depicts mental illness and co-dependeny in a honest and raw light) here she judges these women, not believing she is truly like them. Soon enough, she meets her Merman, Theo, out by the rocks. They quickly fall deeply in love. But what is love, and is love what Lucy is even looking for?

The main character is a terrible person. I’m going to put that out there. I know a lot of you will immediately put the book down if you don’t relate to the main character, or if you find her cringy. Personally, I think Melissa Broder did a fantastic job creating a main character that we all hate so much. YET, I will note around 70% through the book she acknolwedges this and works on it.

YES, there is animal abuse in this book. I would call it more neglect. If anything, I think the author included this in the book to portray just HOW sick Lucy is. She couldn’t even take care of a dog, how could she take care of herself?

YES, there is a lot of sex. Not just merman sex, but promiscuous sex in hotel bathrooms, period sex (yes) and even anal sex. Maybe I’m the kind of person who can read anything without getting uncomfortable? I don’t know, but I thought it flowed well with the book. It was very, well, Greek. I mean, c’mon guys, yáll can’t get over the descriptive anal sex scenes but you can get by the fact that she’s having sex with a merman the entire time? OK.

Okay, I will admit this book is really weird. But in a Murakami, SO GOOD, weird way. I thought it was a masterpiece. I won’t lie, I was screaming in the last few chapters because I finally understood. All I can say is I see you, Melissa Broder, I see you.

If you love Sappho, the Greeks, mythology, sirens, erotica, and a self-loathing protaginist, this book was made for you. Not only is this book fun to read, it also delves into very serious themes. Low self-esteem, love and sex addiction, suicide and depression, and of course it is all one huge metaphor in the re-telling of a myth. OH, and did I mention that Broder’s writing is flawless? I found myself underlining so many passages in this book. I am just floored. I don’t typically write reviews like this, but I have a feeling this is going to be the best book of 2018.

This may be Melissa Broder’s debut novel, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t been writing for a long time. Check out her poetry, along with her book of personal essays on her website!

http://www.melissabroder.com/

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth Press for a copy of this book in exchange for a review.

Beautifully raw in every sense, this novel is about the self discovery of a deeper level of consiousness, perhaps the being afraid to love oneself and another person to the fullest.

For Lucy, there is always the fear of being not enough and not having enough, of eventually being left for another. And this is depicted with skill, in a huge metaphor of life with the Greek myths and with Gods.

Amazingly witty in my opinion, modern and daring, yet not for everyone's taste. Perhaps this was also the goal, to not appeal intentionally and fully, but rather through means of depthness of style and creative composition of the plot.

There was a particular scene I didn't enjoy, the blood on the white couch part. While I got the message, it was simply too much "in your face" ... pun intended. And gross. Otherwise I loved this book for all the wrong reasons.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this arc.

What happens when a single, 38-year old woman -- unable to fathom an understanding of commitment (be it for love, a doctoral thesis, or as a responsible dog sitter) -- meets a man of her mythical dreams? The explanation can be discovered in Melissa Broder’s debut novel, THE PISCES.

Rather than a mermaid emerging from the Atlantic Ocean and walking Madison Avenue in a childlike haze, this underwater lover is Theo, a merman, who clings to the rocks of the Pacific shoreline. To Lucy, this “swimmer” and the lovemaking -- or sexual acts -- he performs on her catapult him into godlike status. He is her drug that combats loneliness, depression, and satisfies her sexual addiction.

Although modern-day women are being written as strong, confident, and capable of achieving anything they wish, the reality is that there are too many others who struggle to merely connect with the world. Sex and suicide are their escape, a release to not knowing or loving themselves.

I’ve read many readers’ reviews who admit they dislike or are totally annoyed by Lucy. They find her selfish, at best. However, her rambling thoughts on life, love, and spirituality are Ms. Broder’s eloquent method of diving deeper into a scarred human spirit.

This novel has been described as bold, virtuosic, erotic, vulgar, and unforgettable. It’s not an entertaining read for everyone, but those who choose this reading experience will be rewarded with thought-provoking insights into the darker side of life.

Lucy and her boyfriend Jamie are taking a break. She does not like the idea, but since it was technically hers she has to go through with it. So when her sister asks her to come to her beach house to dogsit her dog Dominic while she is in Europe, she agrees. She also joins a therapy group for women who have no luck in love. When she finds out that Jamie is with a new woman, she starts dating and having casual sex, but does not feel fulfilled by it. But then she meets Theo who she at first thinks is a swimmer who likes swimming at night. Well, she is not completely wrong, but instead of a wetsuit, Theo has a merman tail...

Crass language, very detailled sex scenes and mean thoughts - Melissa Broder's book The Pisces isn't for the faint of heart. I found it fascinating, a page turner with a rather unlikeable main character. The writing totally sucked me into the story even though I was not rooting for Lucy. But that was also part of the charme - an antihero with deep complexes and strange thoughts about love and men. Plus, there were a lot of questions that kept me hooked: Was Theo a real merman? If so, was he a kind mythical creature or was there something darker underneath? And would Lucy find love even if she was not deserving of it?

A fresh take on an old myth. This merman Story is definitely for grown ups.

As others have said, this book is going to be divisive. Some will think its a load of blabber, and some will find it entertaining and original. Surprisingly, I fall somewhere in between. If nothing else it's interesting. I don't like Lucy, but then again you're not supposed to. She's a love addict in the midst of crisis. She's selfish, neurotic, lacks any sort of common sense, is a terrible friend, but if nothing else she's honest. And there's a lot of humor in the honesty of both Lucy and this story in general. But it's not humor for everyone.

There's a lot in this book that I think women - or literally anyone who's ever dated - can relate to. We all want to be wanted and seek that out. And as someone who's used Tinder, I can relate (on a very small level) to some of Lucy's encounters. But her attitude toward other women is just nonsense. When she should have been substituting her obsession with love and sex with meaningful relationships of other kinds, she instead just judges and shames. The book is a journey of self-discovery, but I have a feeling that Lucy's journey is not even close to finished...

I had no problem with the merman love affair. I'm into it. There are some very explicit sex scenes, but I found them well-timed and justified for a story of this nature. The commentary on bodily functions was entertaining and wholly real. Sex is messy.

This book is without a doubt different from most other books out there. Love it or hate it, at least it makes you feel some kind of way.

I want to make this clear for those of you who get recommendations off me: The Pisces is not my usual kind of book. Anything shelved as both fantasy and romance would ordinarily get an automatic pass from me. But this wonderful review from Hannah piqued my curiosity, so against my better judgment I decided to request it and leave it up to the Netgalley gods to see whether or not I'd read it. I was approved approximately 2 minutes later, so that was that.

Thankfully, The Pisces was pretty incredible, and it just reaffirmed my tendency to occasionally read outside my comfort zone. It's a sort of literary soft erotica story about a woman who falls in love with a merman, but I feel like that description sells it short. Broder's writing is smart and sharp, and her story goes a lot deeper than your average mermaid erotica (or maybe the mermaid erotica genre has hidden depths and I'm just over here showing off my ignorance for underestimating it).

Anyway, a lot of that is down to our protagonist, Lucy. Lucy is 38 years old, has been working on her PhD thesis on Sappho for years and has since become disillusioned with it, and her love life is a disaster. She's also kind of awful. She's not a particularly nice person, and it's hard to root for her - but I still want to, through everything. This is Lucy's journey to accept herself and reconcile her obsession with love with her fear of intimacy, and what could be more human than that? Also, because of Lucy's studies on Sappho, her narration is fused with allusions to Greek mythology and the classics, so I guess this book wasn't 100% outside of my wheelhouse.

And then there's the fantastical element. This was what I was worried about going in, but I ended up loving it. I feel like it's treated by the narrative with a certain amount of self-awareness toward its inherent absurdity, which makes it all the more endearing.

This is not going to be for everyone. Don't read this if you can't stomach graphic sex scenes, or if you don't enjoy reading about unlikable characters, or if you're looking for something with the same sort of whimsical fairytale feel as The Shape of Water. The Pisces is both grittier and funnier, sexier and somehow less romantic. It's both a fun read and an unexpectedly hard-hitting one, and with its absolutely stunning conclusion, I'll probably be thinking about it for days to come.

Thank you to Netgalley, Hogarth Press, and Melissa Broder for the advanced copy provided in exchange for an honest review.

On the TAIL (LOL) of The Shape of Water, The Pisces is a twisted, crazy journey that any regular, run-of-the-mill woman would enjoy reading vicariously. Go get you some!

a book was sad but reflects what it truly means to stand on your own two feet as a woman.I do have to mention that the ending is a bit open-ended and does wish you got a bit more.

A quick and quirky novel about a thirty-eight year old librarian and her sexually graphic quest to feed her addiction to lust or love or both. There is a tenuous tie to Sapphos under the guise of a thesis that doesn't quite come full circle. There is a theme of mental illness and sexual power that deliver, especially in the group therapy scenes. The meeting of the merman, the mythology and the question of whether he truly exists makes several of the Author's points about sexual identity and dating and relationships in this Tinder era. The ending was disappointing on a few levels. That said, the narration was a train wreck that kept me reading and the attempted plot points gave me something to consider.

Copy provided by the Publisher and NetGalley

Although this book is a little outside my typical reading genre, I did enjoy it. Lucy's honesty and eventual moments of self-reflection were refreshing. It took awhile for the book to fully gain my attention, but overall I would recommend it for readers looking for something outside of their typical reading genres.