American Mermaid

A Novel

By: Julia Langbein

Narrated by: Tara Sands

Length: 11 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR • "Sublime." —New York Times Book Review

"Brilliantly sharp, funny, and thought-provoking, the gripping story of a woman trying to find her way in our chaotic world." —Madeline Miller, bestselling author of Circe

Broke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist, eco-warrior novel American Mermaid becomes a best-seller. But when Hollywood insists she convert her fierce, androgynous protagonist into to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her fictional mermaid come to life, enacting revenge against society’s limited view of what a woman can and should be?

American Mermaid follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a winner-take-all society and discovering a beating heart in her own fiction: a new kind of hero who fights to keep her voice and choose her place. A hilarious story about deep things, American Mermaid asks how far we’ll go to protect the parts of ourselves that are not for sale.

©2023 Julia Langbein (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

Named a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by LitHub

"Sublime...Langbein intertwines Penny’s story with chapters from her own novel, and this book-within-a-book structure allows us to mourn the gap between the novel Penny has written and the version she’s told will make a good movie...Langbein’s novel considers how we decide who owns a story — and, far more compelling, how we know when a story succeeds." —New York Times Book Review

“Let this book’s gorgeous and unassuming cover draw you into one of the smartest, most hilarious books you’ve ever read. Julia Langbein has crafted a perfect work of meta-fiction. . . [AMERICAN MERMAID] is so, so smart, toeing the line of the believably absurd. Langbein dazzles with her wholly original, sharply funny voice, making her a must-read author after this homerun fiction debut.” —Iowa Public Radio

“Wildly inventive, this book will get you thinking about artistic integrity as it elicits plenty of snarf-yourself laughs.” —Real Simple

confusing.

this was not my favorite story, jumping between the mermaid story and the writers story was confusing and neither of them became satisfying on their own and just felt like a bit of a disappointment. it was funny sometimes and the writing style itself was good. I just feel like the story missed reasons for why the characters did what they did etc. it's like the story just got cut off.

Cringey

Was not a fan. The narrators voice was hard to listen to and the humor was odd.

Sometimes thought-provoking, often tedious

I'm not sure exactly how I want to rate this. The book blurb claims this book is "brilliantly funny," but I disagree. All the scenes of the main character, Penelope, interacting with shallow Hollywood folk were probably supposed to be satirical and funny, but they quickly became tedious. Some things were explored and described way too much - all the party scenes where Penelope was drunk or her meandering thoughts about her previous job as a teacher. I think it would have been more interesting if the author spent more time exploring Penelope's relationship with her family, her desire to partner up and have a family of her own, and her avoidance of romantic or sexual relationships.

The book also features a lot of excerpts from the novel written by Penelope. I found those excerpts more interesting than Penelope's antics in Hollywood, and I might have enjoyed just reading a book with that story. But by writing two parallel stories, Langbein shortchanged both. And then her effort at the end to connect them was clumsy. It did leave me thinking, though, so I'll give the book blurb that - the book is indeed "thought-provoking."

Ok, ultimately, I think this is a 2.5 star book, but I'll round up to 3 to give Langbein credit for imagination.

Fun story marred by heavy-handed narration

I began American Mermaid eagerly, having listened to a sample and read synopses. The premise is great fun, as the protagonist gets sucked into the world of Hollywood while attempting to preserve some of the essence of her hilariously earnest novel.

I really enjoyed the first chapter or so. However, before long I found the narrator's voice grating. Although its deeply nasal pitch and tone of parody is appropriate for several passages, it never seems to vary between scenes: everything is at high volume and delivered in a heavy-handed way. At least for me personally, it became unpleasant to listen to and I returned it after a few more chapters.

Hilarious

A witty, fun, allegorical read. A bit of inside baseball on the book to screenplay world.

hard to follow

it was a very clever story idea but didn't really deliver enough to keep me interested

Still unsure...

I was very excited to read/listen to this book. I enjoyed the book within a book. However, the main character,Penny, rubbed me the wrong way. She was unlikable and odd. I was more interested in the characters from Sylvia's story. The narrator was great and I'm not writing this book off. I will definitely read/listen again but this was my first impression.

Terrible

This performance was so awfully executed that i couldn’t even listen to it. Worst ever!

Pure Delight

I DO wish I were reading this novel. It’d be easier to go back and forth through the story-within-story doors. But, ya know, suspending disbelief isn’t such a challenge as it ought to be. Ms Langbein’s writing is so funny, immediate and relatable that I just want to see where she’s going. I trust her. The main character is having a relatable experience of L.A. from the perspective of a conscientious New Englander. Yup! It’s exploring “Alice in Wonderland” with your smartest friend.

Waste of a credit

Started off funny but quickly I wished I never wasted a credit in this book. I found myself often not listening because the story did not capture my interest.