'The Pisces' by Melissa Broder is a novel that delves into the life of Lucy, a woman struggling with depression and love addiction after a breakup. The story follows Lucy as she housesits for her sister in Venice Beach, attending group therapy and engaging in Tinder hookups while writing her thesis on Sappho. Things take a fantastical turn when Lucy meets a mysterious merman by the ocean, leading to surreal and creative elements of magical realism. The book explores themes of personal responsibility, intellectual ambition, interpersonal relationships, and mental health through the lens of an unlikable yet intriguing protagonist.
The writing style of 'The Pisces' immerses readers in the unhealthy thought processes of the main character, with horrifically unsexy sex scenes and a depiction of depression that is moving and incisive. The novel combines elements of humor, surrealism, and introspection, challenging readers to consider the consequences of self-destructive behavior and the complexities of human desires and relationships.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Triggers include animal cruelty, self-harm, and explicit sexual content, making it potentially distressing for sensitive readers.
Has Romance?
While there are romantic elements involving a merman, the portrayal is often complex and challenges traditional romantic narratives.
From The Publisher:
'Of all the books that I read this summer I think this was my absolute favourite. It really blew me away' DOLLY ALDERTON
'Frank, provocative and brilliant' INDEPENDENT
'Utterly mesmerising' TATLER
'Hilarious, poignant, sexy. A brilliant story about why we crave connection and how to find ourselves' ELLE
'Laugh-out-loud funny' i
CHOSEN AS A SUMMER READ BY TATLER, THE TIMES, ELLE AND YOU MAGAZINE
Lucy has been writing her dissertation for nine years when she and her boyfriend have a dramatic break up. After she hits rock bottom, her sister in Los Angeles insists that Lucy dog-sit for the summer. Staying in a gorgeous house on Venice Beach, 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 dog's easy affection. Everything changes when she 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.
Ratings (25)
Incredible (3) | |
Loved It (8) | |
Liked It (6) | |
It Was OK (3) | |
Did Not Like (2) | |
Hated It (3) |
Reader Stats (68):
Read It (25) | |
Currently Reading (1) | |
Want To Read (36) | |
Did Not Finish (1) | |
Not Interested (5) |
5 comment(s)
5/5⭐️
Melissa Broder does it again!!! So crazy, what a wild ride.
Ps. I recommend reading the q & a with Broder after as well :)
This was a Reread and I remeber not liking it the first time but been recently wanting to read it again to find out what I thought now. I guess I've really come to change my reading taste a bit. It wad still weird and bit uncomfortable awkward but I enjoyed it much more now. I don't know why but something about it now just worked. Was 1 stars when I first read it but 4 stars now.
Review below is from 2020.
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Guessed that the book would be very weird, but uh I like weird romance and some smutt. But this book wasn't enjoyable at all
Wow. Well. Um. That was one wild ride. I listened to the audiobook and man...the main character is difficult. However, it felt as if she was in my head. All day long my head thinks these wild ideas she's spouting. Also didn't realize this was erotica, however, I didn't mind.
It kinda takes a lot to make me viscerally uncomfortable, but Melissa has a gift. Her characters’ inner monologues are always so unique. I really like that this book is a statement on the expectations around love and the question of who deserves our love. I generally like Melissa’s writing style, but maybe don’t pick this one up if you don’t enjoy unlikable and/or boy/relationship-crazy characters. The animal cruelty/death piece was also a touch too much for me, but I suppose that’s on me for not checking the content warnings. All that to say, this was a very quick read for me and I’ll definitely read her next book lol
****3.0****
Lucy, our protagonist is a mess. Her break-up from long relationship and uncompleted dissertation on Sappho throws her into rocks. When her older step sister becomes aware of Lucy's condition, she call Lucy to her beach house to look after her Diabetic dog Dominic and also puts her into a therapy group.
Lucy reluctantly agrees and starts living in her sister's house. But Lucy repels her therapy group and hates everything related to it. She downloads a dating app, to get into a worse state of mind. She ignores her duty towards the dog. She goes late night walks to the sea and meets a Merman! She takes bad decisions, diving deep into hopelessness.
Lucy is a character who is funny, witty and she wants to be in a committed relationship and fails to find one. She goes on making mistakes, diving deep into her own mental illness, at one point I wondered if Merman was her hallucination or was he real? She slowly likes her therapy group and sees them in a new light though that doesn't solve her issues.
It was not a great read for me, even though it deals with emotions of different women and what goes inside their head. But as a woman, I strongly disagreed on that particular point. Plot and characters were ok but narration was a bit dull or too erratic for me. Too much pictorial depiction of sex made me skip pretty good number of pages.
P.S Chapter 41 was especially gross and I totally skipped it.
This book can be a one time read if you like mentally ill heroine with an excessive sex drive and a unimaginable satisfaction level in terms of relationships.
Happy Reading!!
What can you read after
The Pisces?
About the Author:
Melissa Broder is the author of the essay collection So Sad Today and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. Her poetry has appeared in POETRY, The Iowa Review, Tin House, Guernica, and she is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. She writes the "So Sad Today" column at Vice, the…
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