My first time reading this author so it took a while to get used to the writing style. The book in a book concept was interesting once I was able to figure out which was which. Overall it was an enjoyable read.

“What else, Sylvia wondered, am I doing because I still think I’m only human, because it’s the only culture I’ve known? What powers do I have that I’ve simply never used because I’ve never seen them used, never been told I have them?”

“Decisions happen sometimes without being made precisely.”

Ok, this cover 🤩. I couldn’t look away! Was I gifted an ARC from @doubledaybooks? Yep. Was I gifted the audiobook version? Also yep. Did I also buy a print copy because the cover is just so eye catching and stunning that I NEEDED to have it?! 😁 You guessed it! Yep.

But unfortunately that’s where my excitement ends. What was inside this gorgeous cover struggled to hold my interest. The story was ok. I enjoyed the book within a book style for sure. But I don’t know I just found my mind wandering and wondering when it was going I be over 😬.

“She’d spent so long not knowing who she was, and then that night in Boston Harbor, when she swam for the first time, she’d finally had an answer: she was something strong and beautiful.” 🥰

Thank you for the free #audiobook @PRHAudio and @doubledaybooks and @netgalley for the eARC.

This was definitely "sharp" as the reviews allude to. The writing style is edgy and kind of disjointed so it's important to realize up front that the structure feels a bit like a quirky stream of consciousness. I loved the storyline overall and the ironic tone but it was hard for me to follow at times. Overall it was enjoyable and will likely be a popular read. Just important to be able to keep up with the unconventional format! Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an eARC of this book!

Including Ig post: https://www.instagram.com/reel/CqD6Tuwtgb3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Such an ambitious novel! Langbein has given us a hilarious and thought-provoking story with multiple layers that reward a patient and open mind. Uses the book-within-a-book structure remarkably well and delivers an affecting story about the intersections of art, business, vision, and compromise.

American Mermaid went to Kauai with me and had a great vacation. I love a book with in a book and this novel serves it up in such a unique way.
Penelope is a former teacher who moves to Los Angeles to co-write the screenplay for her novel. The novel she has written is a feminist, poignant, meaningful story about a mermaid who was found when she was young. And the men she is working with want to turn it into a movie that is none of those things. In Penelope’s book, Sylvia is the mermaid who is “adopted” by the couple who find her, they have her tail turned into legs (that she can’t use), and she’s kind of miserable confined to a wheelchair. In her own LA life, Penelope’s lost her way. Her screenplay is off track, and she’s bouncing from one drunken party to another.
I enjoyed both storylines and the book within the book. Penelope’s life mirrored Sylvia’s in many ways and I liked how both of them wrapped up. It was kind of bonkers, at times I felt like it lost its way a bit, but overall I enjoyed this book. And taking it’s picture on Poipu Beach. 😜

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for an ARC. The premise of this book sounded very intriguing, however I really struggled to get into this book. Others may love it, it just wasn't my cup of tea.

I have no idea what I just read 😂.

I started this book earlier in the week, and honestly the writing wasn’t great, and it bounces back and forth between the main story of Penny in LA working on the script for her novel turned movie, and then to the actual novel of a girl who is actually a mermaid.

I don’t have an issue with the back and forth idea where we see snippets of the mermaid novel the main character wrote, but honestly sometimes that was a way more interesting story? And I wanted to just read that?

Penny’s story is supposed to be satire and some sort of Hollywood takedown, but most of the first half of the book is just weird text convos with her co-writers who want to change the story (as we are all aware happens in page to screen) and then she’s at all these parties and I never really got why and she’s meeting all these weird people and weird stuff keeps happening to her.

And her family is republican and their involvement via phone call is a thing for the first half of the book. But then we get to like 60-70% and the weirdest stuff starts happening, and the novel and the main storyline start like…merging? Some of the chapters no longer had the POV labeled and I started to get confused. And again, the main characters mermaid novel storyline was way more interesting.

It was all just sort of weird. Really slow and dragging in the beginning. There’s some funny moments later on, a lot of what the hell is happening? Also what even was Derek’s purpose? Like, I was so confused 😂.

I don’t know what else to say. I didn’t love it, I sort of disliked it but also felt like maybe I just didn’t understand some sort of underlying message it was supposed to be saying? It was really weird. But the cover is pretty.

Thank you @netgalley and Doubleday Books for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

Honestly, you will either love AMERICAN MERMAID or hate it; I don’t think there is an in-between for Julia Langbein’s novel. I loved the cover, but what was inside did not impress me to love it like I did the cover.

This is a neat book because it’s essentially a novel within a novel. We read Penelope’s life and then the story she has written. At times, I was more invested in one over the other, which made it difficult to read because it switched between the life and the novel in every other chapter. It was creative and insightful parallels, but, to be honest, I would sometimes skim a chapter to get to the plot I was more interested in.

While it was a creative book and well-written, in the end, it didn’t pay off for me. I was like, “oh, I finished AMERICAN MERMAID,” and moved on to the next book. I didn’t feel a need to tell people about it or want to talk about it. I was in a bookstore with a friend, and it wasn’t until I visually saw the book that I remembered I needed to write a review.

It’s nothing to remember but a pretty cover.

CW: ableism, suicide attempt, chronic illness, body horror, drug use, medical trauma

I couldn’t get into it. It was confusing, a book written about writing a book then making that book into a movie…

Some parts were funny tho I’ll give it that

The concept of American Mermaid, with the main character adapting her book into a screenplay, was a fun twist on the book within a book concept. The story takes an exciting turn when strange things start to happen as the screenplay deviates more and more from the original book. This was a plot line I hadn't seen before, and I was excited to breeze through the book. Unfortunately, that was not the case.

I found the beginning of the book to be engaging and well crafted, but as the book wore on, I became less and less interested in the plot and characters. I only finished the book because it's difficult for me to leave a book unfinished these days. I really liked author Julia Langbein's writing style and would definitely read more of her work, but American Mermaid was only ok, in my opinion. While this definitely won't go down on my list of favorites, I encourage anyone who is interested to give it a try!

American Mermaid is a book within a book, and I loved the premise. But it was not my cup of tea. I loved the story line around Sylvia, her disability because I am a parent of two who have a disability. But I had a hard time following this one. It seemed like it was long winded, but it was wholly original and interesting.

This is both my typical read lately, but I am sure glad I picked it up. It flowed really well, and I found myself really enjoying it. Turned out to be a very quick read. A+ for creativity.

3.5 stars

With Disney's latest <u>Little Mermaid </u>film just coming out, I guess I was in the mood for a non-Disney mermaid story and so selected this from my NetGalley shelf.

A story within a story, I enjoyed escaping into the two worlds offered:
One of a teacher, Penelope, who wrote a book called <u> American Mermaid</u> and was offered the Hollywood experience of making it into a movie and assisting in the writing of the screenplay.
And the other that of the mermaid, Sylvia, found alone as a baby and brought to America to live as the daughter of a (secretly mad) scientist and his wife.

While I'm not normally drawn to fantasies or magical realism, or mad scientists, this worked for me I think because of Langbein's original characters and her explanations of how both worlds worked. They didn't always work well, mind you, but they worked for me. Her imaginings of an illusive mermaid world, of which Sylvia was denied most of her young life, simply fascinated me, as did the whole making-of-a-screenplay storyline.

As the story neared completion, it grew more and more bizarre and I struggled with it a bit. But overall I was pretty impressed with it all.

Two stories in one, this debut novel tells the story of Penny Schleeman, a Connecticut high school teacher whose breakout novel about a mermaid leads her to Hollywood to adapt with two screenwriter bro-dudes the screenplay for her novel. Alternating with Penny's antics in Hollywood are excerpts from her feminist thriller novel about a wheelchair-bound woman who in the process of drowning herself learns she has mermaid powers. I much preferred the Hollywood chapters, which hilariously skewer the tactfree screenwriter bros and the biz in general. It's an interesting effect to intertwine the two stories so that we're that much more aware of how huge the gap between Penny's novel and what's supposed to make a box-office success. But it gets way more interesting when the two stories start to meld and Sylvia the mermaid helps Penny resist selling out.

[Thanks to Doubleday Books and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

The synopsis of this incredibly bizarre novel does not do it justice. It was much more clever than I was expecting, and had me in an absolute chokehold for the first half. I love both a satire and a unique format, both of which I was pleasantly surprised to find in this book. The satirical aspects and Penny’s internal dialogue had me laughing out loud, though Penny (and the novel, as a result) did get exhausting over even the short span of 300ish pages.

The book and screenplay within a book was very well done here- especially for a debut, I enjoyed the screenplay, although I did lose interest in the actual Sylvia/mermaid story pretty quickly. It didn’t necessarily bother me though because it felt somewhat purposeful: to highlight just how surprising it was when Penny’s book—overwritten, tackling a million themes, and ultimately going big into an evil scientist global world domination plot— became an overnight sensation. I did start to find the novel as a whole a bit tedious after the 50% mark, when the Penny story started to blur the lines of reality and the plot veered straight into the outlandish. It felt like a much longer book than it actually is.

Ultimately, I think I kind of loved this one. But idk yet, it’s complicated. It is definitely a very specific type of read though, and I would not recommend it to everyone, or without qualification.

Thanks to Knopf Doubleday and Langbein for providing me with a gifted ARC of this very unique novel. I look forward to reading more from this author!

AMERICAN MERMAID is the story of Penny, an English teacher turned writer whose feminist mermaid novel is picked up for a big-budget film. Penny is co-writing the screenplay for the novel with two screenwriters who are trying to warp her fierce heroine, Sylvia, into a dull sex object. Chapters from Penny’s tale alternate with her experience as she struggles to find her footing in the industry and their lives begin to mirror one another. This fresh and witty story within a story offers a satirical look at the film industry while exploring themes of feminism, self-discovery, capitalism, and climate change. This wildly original and highly entertaining story is out today!

Did not finish book. Stopped at 43%.

This book is a tricky one on audio if you tend to zone out like I do. The book flip flops back and forth between Penny's life and the storyline of Sylvia in Penny's book. The first time it did this, I was like WHAT is going on? I was also really not interested in the plot of the book that Penny wrote so I really wanted to fast forward through those chapters. Because the Penny's book is every other chapter, you're basically reading two books at once which is a lot at once.

I think I've determined that I'm not smart enough to enjoy satirical books. All of the reviews I read either loved or hated the satirical parts and I think they just annoy me. Also basically every character is extremely annoying and unlikeable.

The actual premise of this book is a good idea, I just think it wasn't executed very well.

Thank you to Doubleday for sending me an arc in exchange for review.


I didn't enjoy this as much as i thought i would. i struggled with the writing and just the story overall.

This book was wild and weird and incisive and brilliant. It took me a little while to get into it, but once I did, I was hooked!