The New York Times Book Review - René Steinke
It's a bold move to make mermaids the center of a grown-up story, even in a novel as hilariously funny as this one. But Lydia Millet's novels raise the bar for boldness. Through the window of the unlikeliest events or plot twists, she poses the questions many contemporary writers shy away from, or simply skirt…Millet's writing—witty, colorful, sometimes poetic—is, line by line, a joy to read, and her storytelling is immensely compelling. But there's always an equally compelling philosophical discussion humming beneath everything. In Mermaids in Paradise that discussion is about the different ways people see the world, and how perceptions form belief…In her most original way, Millet dares us to examine how we ever know when to be "hard core," or when it's safe to let down our guard. It's a testament to her novel's power that these mermaids retain their mystery, and that the ending of Mermaids in Paradise is one of the most luminous and unsettling in recent fiction.
Publishers Weekly - Audio
02/02/2015
Veteran narrator Campbell takes on lighter fare in narrating Millet’s latest, a novel rife with wryly comic situations and a cast of unusual characters—who meet at a Caribbean resort and discover to their shock that there is a colony of mermaids (whom they are instructed to call “the Mers”) just off the coast. A murder, a theft, and some exploitative land-development schemes ensue. Campbell is best when voicing the first-person perspective of Deb, a shallow but caustically amusing honeymooner who is initially skeptical about the mermaids’ existence when they are first discovered by her husband, Chip, an adventurous optimist who possesses a more charitable brand of humor than his wife. The dialogue between Deb and Chip is briskly paced and funny, making eavesdropping on them a delight. Some of the minor characters’ portrayals are less successful. Campbell does not offer a convincing Australian accent for the group’s videographer, and the hippie- hipster couple comes across as stereotyped. However, these small flaws don’t detract much from the enjoyable overall experience. A Norton hardcover. (Nov.)
O Magazine - Natalie Beach
"Suspenseful, philosophical, and tropical—the funniest you’ll ever read on ecotourism and the wisest you’ll ever read on mermaids."
Karen Russell
"I laughed so hard all over town…leave it to Lydia Millet to capsize her human characters in aquamarine waters and upstage their honeymoon with mermaids. I am awed to know there's a mind like Millet's out there—she's a writer without limits, always surprising, always hilarious."
Chicago Tribune - Charles Finch
"Now that David Foster Wallace is gone, I think Lydia Millet is the American writer with the funniest, wisest grasp on how we fool ourselves… she has as good a chance as anyone to write the novel that defines our time."
BBC.com - Jane Ciabattari
"A hilarious genre-bender that strikes some serious chords."
Wall Street Journal - Moira Hodgson
"Millet, with her keen sense of the absurd, brings the book to a surprising conclusion, and makes a point about corporate greed and the destruction of the environment without being heavy-handed."
Entertainment Weekly - Melissa Maerz
"[A] deft satire… Millet ramps up the suspense."
Jenny Offill
"Mermaids in Paradise makes brilliant comedy out of a honeymoon trip that veers from the absurd to the sublime and back again. Lydia Millet is a stone-cold genius."
Salon - Laura Miller
"A romp with sharp teeth… a slapstick variation on Millet’s abiding theme: the relationship between human beings and the natural world."
Library Journal - Audio
★ 02/01/2015
The fantastic elements in accomplished novelist Millet's (Pills and Starships) latest work highlights the humanity, and lack thereof, that her characters display upon the discovery of the titular mermaids. Deb, the book's main character, is an intriguing mix of shallow, faintly racist, American coastal superiority and keen, surprisingly incisive introspection. When her dream Caribbean honeymoon is interrupted by her husband's discovery of mermaids, she is absorbed into an unlikely arrangement of former strangers whose shared aim is to protect the mermaids from threats that include a multinational conglomerate, religious fundamentalists, and the bored and curious. Narrator Cassandra Campbell's deft voicing of so many characters elevates from good to sublime the experience of listening to what is already a thoroughly enjoyable book. VERDICT Recommended for audio collections, especially those in which literary works are popular. ["Brilliant and wildly funny, with well-placed sharp jolts of sobering reality," read the starred review of the Norton hc, LJ 9/15/14.]—Nicole Williams, Rochelle Park Lib., NJ
DECEMBER 2014 - AudioFile
Cassandra Campbell’s performance deftly conveys this dark comedy chock-full of outlandish characters, including kidnappers and mermaids, as well as high jinks in the beautiful British Isles. Campbell portrays the story’s narrator, Deb, with a velvety voice and a light tone that brings out the character’s loving acceptance of her adventurous husband’s idiosyncrasies. Campbell’s well-modulated voice keeps the comedy and irony afloat even in the gravest of conversations about a missing cadaver and a looming death. A wide range of voices—from the snooty-sounding Gina to the dastardly Thompson—brings out the outlandish characters who add to the humor of this bizarre caper about corporate greed run amok. M.F. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
