The Pisces

A Novel

By: Melissa Broder

Narrated by: Melissa Broder

Long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Long-listed 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.

©2018 Melissa Broder (P)2018 Random House Audio

Awful People Making Awful Choices

I can best describe this book as a bad indie story where the characters are terrible people ruining everything around them and spewing pseudo-philosophical bullshit.
Almost all of these characters are fundamentally broken; they’re selfish and self-destructive, but blame everyone else. I’ve read stories where the protagonists were not good people, even villainous at times, but they had something appealing or relatable about them. I actively hate this protagonist and didn’t think she deserved to actually have what she wanted (if she even knows what that is.)

Even the central “romance” feels very surface level and not nearly as interesting as we’re led to believe.
I haven’t read many books where I actively discourage others from reading it, but I genuinely don’t see anyone getting anything out of this. Maybe reading with friends to tear it apart could be fun.

it grew on me

I wasn't sure I liked the story, even through to the end. Once completed, though, a lot of the metaphors began to sink in. I will likely listen to this several more times.

Just not my thing but I am still glad I read it.

It taught me some things about myself and why I read romance books. This was not a romance book and it have taught me what I don't want. I want the fantasy, how ever ridiculous it is. Reality I have all other time.

WORST PERFORMANCE BY THE AUTHOR READING IT

I think the author did a GIANT disservice to herself by thinking that she could act. The reading of a book needs a great actor to bring the characters to life. I couldn't bear listening to this and I love listening to books.

If an animal lover, beware!

I did get tired of the things Lucy did but understand now that I haven't been a love addict. And then when an animal suffered as a result of a humans issues, I was turned off to the whole premise. Reality probably but that made it hurt my nature.

Woman has relations with Fish

Yeah this book has insane moments, and overall I enjoyed the experience, the audio performance was stunning and how can you not love when the author is doing the narration?

So many cringe moments - but worth the struggle

A hidden gem

Yes, this story is bizarre. It contains disturbing elements, graphic descriptions of sex, a few tragic events….lots of fishy stuff. However, if you can manage to look beyond all of that to see the deeper meaning within the story, you may be moved. I find it amazing how prudish some readers can be about certain topics, but they will think nothing about watching violence and gore on screen. This is not a book that is meant to entertain by shock value. There is a very real issue that Lucy, the protagonist, is struggling with, an issue that many individuals suffer through everyday. The author chose to use dark humor and magical realism to address it, to show us the ridiculous elements of this addiction. You can either laugh or cry while you read about love addiction and heartbreak. Why not laugh? And, why must everyone be so uptight…..it’s only fiction.

i laughed a lot, is that bad?

this book def isn’t for everyone, but melissa reading it is just fantastic. it reminds me a lot of chelsea handler’s books. it’s such an absurd story, but it tackles a lot of dark topics in an impactful way imo. def wouldn’t give my mom to read tho haha.

Wasted time I’ll never get back

The author narrated this story and turns a mediocre story into something that i could barely get through.
It’s 50 shades of fish with slightly better prose, which, is not hard to do...

This book just felt wrong

Unfortunately, this book centers around a character who is... completely flat, further exaggerated by the narrator’s completely monotone reading.

The whole time I was listening to the book, I found myself wanting to hear more about the side characters, but instead I felt trapped with the main narrative, like I was being dragged along some sort of tour guide that I really had no interest in listening to.

Another ‘off putting’ thing about this book was the author’s choice of words - they also felt quite flat, repetitive and quite juvenile.

If it was not required for book club, I would not have finished this reading.