Book Review || The Pisces by Melissa Broder

Title: The Pisces

By: Melissa Broder

Pages: 270

Published: May 1st, 2018

By: Hogarth Press

Genre: Adult|Romance|Contemporary|Magical Realism

You can buy it HERE: Book Depository

An original, imaginative, and hilarious debut novel about love, anxiety, and sea creatures, from the author of So Sad Today.

Lucy has been writing her dissertation about Sappho for thirteen years when she and Jamie break up. After she hits rock bottom in Phoenix, her Los Angeles-based sister insists Lucy housesit for the summer—her only tasks caring for a beloved diabetic dog and trying to learn to care for herself. Annika’s home is a gorgeous glass cube atop Venice Beach, but Lucy can find no peace from her misery and anxiety—not in her love addiction group therapy meetings, not in frequent Tinder meetups, not in Dominic the foxhound’s easy affection, not in ruminating on the ancient Greeks. Yet everything changes when Lucy becomes entranced by an eerily attractive swimmer one night while sitting alone on the beach rocks.

Whip-smart, neurotically funny, sexy, and above all, fearless, The Pisces is built on a premise both sirenic and incredibly real—what happens when you think love will save you but are afraid it might also kill you.

|| Goodreads ||

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I want to be VERY clear that you know that this is only my opinion, I would like to write a more appropriate review or maybe more “politically correct”, but to be frank every time I think about the book I get angry so I apologize if you love the book and you feel offended somehow, that’s never my intention

I’ve given The Pisces a chance since I’m doing a challenge to read the books with the lowest and highest rating on my TBR, this one is in the lowest rating stack and right now I understand why. I don’t usually share the same opinions that most people, so I thought I would like it, instead, I’m almost sorry that I spent my time with it. This review will not be very long because honestly, the book is so ridiculous that it’s difficult to put it into words without spoilers, so I’ll try to do the best I can 

I was waiting to find a book about self-discovery and self-love… it wasn’t what I found

The book follows Lucy, she’s going through a difficult moment because she has just broken up with her boyfriend, and when her sister offers her to take care of her beach house and her dog, she doesn’t doubt it and decides to go. Once there, Lucy will begin to feel attracted to a mysterious swimmer, while fighting against anxiety and trying to learn to take care of herself 

I’ll immediately jump to tell you my main problem with this book and that’s summed up in one word: Lucy.

She’s probably the worst main character I’ve read in my entire life, she not only takes the worst and most selfish decisions over and over again, but she justifies herself all the time by the fact of going through a difficult situation, as if that somehow would give you some right to mistreat people and even animals. She’s 38 years old in the book and still behaves like a capricious little girl, ALL the time, but it’s fine because it’s broken inside so it makes sense, right?. Lucy’s sister has a dog that’s diabetic, and this is probably what bothers me most, Lucy is supposed to take care of him but instead of feeding him appropriately she decides that it’s better to have sex all over the house while the dog is sedated. Yes, you read well, she gives tranquilizers to the poor doggie because she wants to have sex with her sexy fish man I mean, she’s literally the whole book thinking about herself and how horrible her life is, but not for a moment does she worry about the dog or her sister, seeing her, again and again, mistreating everything that’s around her makes me sick

The whole book made me cringe, I swear. I feel so bad for that dog, I’m a dog person, and the ones I have are my babies and I also feed the dogs in my neighborhood, I mean, this really bothers me.

Let’s talk a little bit about sex now, it’s all about sex in this book and I have no problem with that in general, but in this book, it’s so uncomfortable, disturbing and even a little disgusting. Lucy doesn’t stop talking about wanting to have anal sex with this fish man and there’s a whole scene about menstrual blood and things that I’ll never share with you because I love you and I worry about your mental health lol, maybe less information would have been better, don’t you think?. When she isn’t talking or doing disgusting things, she’s thinking about it.

Even when I understand the idea that the author wanted to convey with that ending, and all the symbolism that surrounds it, there are honestly things that I can’t let pass. There are still several things that I can’t tell you because spoilers, just in case you decide to read it which I don’t recommend. 
I don’t want to continue talking about the book honestly, as you may have seen, I didn’t like it, I highlight the beautiful cover and the fact that it’s easy to read, but the plot hasn’t done anything for me, just make me feel sick and want to run for my life. And the characters are to forget.

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1/5 ⭐️

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