The Pisces

March 5, 2018
The debut novel by poet and essayist Broder (So Sad Today) is an alternately ribald and poignant fantasy about a relationship between a despondent graduate student and a merman. Lucy, stalled out after years of trying to write a dissertation on Sappho and melting down after her boyfriend breaks up with her, heads out from her desert campus to the beaches of southern California, where she dogsits her sister’s affable hound. Despite joining a sex and love addiction support group, whose members Broder depicts with affectionate sarcasm, Lucy hooks up with one wildly unsuitable man after another. Then, sitting on a rock at the beach and feeling borderline suicidal, she meets a sensitive hunk whose only drawback is that he sports a tail instead of legs. Temporarily, at least, they work out their differences, with Lucy transporting him at night to her beach house in a little red wagon. 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 ride.

When Lucy finds her life spiraling out of control, she grasps at the chance for a change of scene at her sister's beach house. Melissa Broder narrates her first novel with a staccato rhythm that suits her short sentences and the abruptness of her main character. Her brash tone also highlights Lucy's somewhat abrasive personality and reckless choices. While Lucy's decision to embrace a new relationship with a mysterious "mer-man" may bring some listeners a wild sense of freedom, others may find themselves uncomfortable with the lengths Lucy goes to explore this new opportunity. Broder's blunt, graphic language and explicit erotic scenes may be overwhelming for some, while others may revel in the audiobook's unique story. J.M. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2018

Essayist/poet Broder voiced her previous audiobooks So Sad Today and Last Sext, and she's the natural choice to narrate her first novel. She reads here with firm, measured precision, determined to keep moving forward steadily, as if she knows she's got a page-turner listeners won't be able to turn off. After breaking her ex-lover's nose and possibly attempting suicide with nine Ambien and too many donuts, Lucy leaves Phoenix (and her still-unfinished-after-almost-a-decade dissertation) for her sister's luxurious Venice Beach glass fortress. Paid to babysit Annika's diabetic foxhound (so Annika and her husband can wander Europe relatively guilt-free), Lucy has also reluctantly agreed to attend a "group-therapy program for sex and love addiction." After a few demeaning Tinder disasters, Lucy finds herself involved with someone she initially thought was a young surfer but who turns out to be an ancient merman. Enabled by a child's red wagon and dog tranquilizers, the affair turns epic--until it isn't. VERDICT Melding self-help, scathing social commentary, academic exposé, American privilege, fervent nods to the ancient Greeks, and--eye-poppingly graphic--erotica with a mythical creature, Broder will satisfy all curious voyeurs. ["A wild ride from a narrator whose sardonic outlook reveals profound truths about the nature of the self": LJ 3/15/18 review of the Hogarth: Crown hc.]--Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.