THE PISCES by Melissa Broder
3⭐️
It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts on THE PISCES by Melissa Broder, author of SO SAD TODAY. I’m still not sure how I feel about it.
I read PISCES over the course of a few days, and I can’t say it was an enjoyable experience. I don’t think it’s even meant to be a book you enjoy reading, although it was hailed as being “hilarious”. There are moments of deep insight scattered all over the novel, and these ruminations on life and relationships were my favorite thing about the novel.
The novel begins with an impulsive breakup that our highly unlikeable protagonist Lucy instigates and immediately regrets. Lucy is working on her PhD on Sappho, a project that’s been going on for too long and that she’s no longer entirely convinced of. Post-breakup and physical assault on her ex, she decides to spend the summer at her sister’s house on Venice Beach.
But even the breezy beach and lovely house is not going to fix Lucy’s problems, because Lucy takes her problems with her wherever she goes.
Lucy is no stranger to making bad decisions; from hooking up with men found online to failing to be a good friend, sister and dog-sitter. And then there’s the constant desperation for a man’s attention. This book is mostly about women in their 30s and 40s who have been unable to find a satisfying relationship to settle down in. While I felt like an outsider to this type of obsessive need to be with a man and adored by a man, a friend mentioned that this would be very relatable for many women in Europe. Perhaps I would have been less annoyed by the overall effect of the novel if I related. But I still can’t imagine this book being instructive or useful for women who have trouble finding relationship fulfillment in their lives (but I’m clearly not a very good judge for that). It’s not even a cautionary tale, just a very bizarre and brazen one.
Another thing that made the novel less enjoyable for me was all the sex and the merman erotica; that’s a huge part of the book. It made me cringe.
The merman aspect is another thing that I’m completely baffled about, but that introduction definitely made the book more interesting. It was intriguing to see Lucy’s character respond to this new development; a man who matched her in neediness but who was an impossible long term choice.
Overall, I’m very confused after reading THE PISCES. Was the merman real? He must have been considering how vividly everything was described. What did the merman represent? Would Lucy learn from her mistakes?
This was a very polarizing read for me. There were sections I enjoyed reading and entire chapters that made me uneasy and uncomfortable. There were funny moments but they weren’t funny enough to deserve the “hilarious” label this book has received.
I think THE PISCES might be for adult readers who want something escapist and despondent at the same time. But who’d want that kind of combination?
Trigger warnings for severe animal abuse.
Thank you Penguin Random House International for sending me a free copy in exchange of an honest review.
Sumaiyya and Books 
I don’t feel the merman was real. It seems all sexual acts he did were ones that failed with other men in Lucy’s life. The part about her ex not wanting to go down on her but the merman did even during her period really got me tho king of this. To me this seemed like a mental projection for Lucy. The only thing that confuses me on my hypothesis is the dog barking at the merman.
I enjoyed The Piscies, just finished it. To me, it had the perfect ratio of humour and darkness. I didn’t like how it ended, though. Will not go over details as they’d be spoilers. It was down to earth and dreamy at the same time. Her and Theo’s love felt destructive, and I feel this is why Dominic was barking at Theo. As Theo himself had said, he brought darkness out of the sea with him. As a loyal friend, the dog felt that and wanted to protect Lucy but couldn’t… the big idea I feel was to show that romantic love could be so absorbing that it could destroy other good things in life. Lucy couldn’t achieve balance, so it ended as it did. But I liked it as a story. Also appreciated that there was a bit of room left for mystery and she didn’t spell everything out. Which may seem impossible as her character does overshare! Keeping some mystery around Theo and the subject of death was the right choice.