American Mermaid - Julia Langbein

A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR - Sublime. --New York Times Book Review \nBrilliantly 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 \n \nBroke 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? \n \nAmerican 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. \nWitty and marvelous(Andrew Sean Greer), this sublime debut (NYTBR) tracks a writer adapting her feminist novel into a screenplay must decide which parts of herself are not for sale in a capitalist world run amok. I've never read anything quite like it, and I loved it (Elizabeth Gilbert). \n \nBroke 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? \n \nAmerican 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 mermaid who will fight to keep her voice and choose her place. Brilliantly sharp, funny and thought-provoking (Madeline Miller), this absolute weirdo masterpiece (Jean Kyoung Frazier) is a shapeshifting novel composed of wildly divergent elements [which] succeeds brilliantly (Tom Perotta).\n