Mermaids in Paradise

by Lydia Millet

Overview

"Hilariously funny…Lydia Millet’s novels raise the bar for boldness." —Rene Steinke, New York Times Book Review

In this “comic masterpiece” (Salon), honeymooners Deb and Chip—our opinionated, skeptical narrator and her cheerful jock husband—befriend a marine biologist who discovers mermaids in a coral reef. As a resort chain swoops in to exploit the shy creatures, the newlyweds unite with other adventurous vacationers to stop the company from turning the reef into a theme park. Mermaids in Paradise is Lydia Millet’s most fun book yet, tempering the sharp satire of her early career with the empathy and subtlety of her more recent novels and short stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393245639
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	10/27/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	756,227
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

This is Lydia Millet’s third story collection. Her first, Love in Infant Monkeys, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2010; her second, Fight No More (2018), won an American Academy of Arts and Sciences short fiction award.

Editorial Reviews

★ 09/15/2014
World-class worrier Deb is a quietly hilarious observer of and cautious participant in life, especially her life with new husband Chip, an über-friendly gamer addicted to extreme sports. When the couple settle on a tropical island for a honeymoon, Deb reluctantly agrees to a scuba-diving adventure arranged by Chip and Nancy, a parrotfish expert Chip meets. A sighting of real mermaids, Nancy's wish to videotape them for scientific study, and the spiraling viral insanity of social media soon unleash all the hellhounds of today's polarized society. When corporate powers using militarized thugs plan to "theme park" the mermaids, Deb, Chip, and Nancy rally a crew of defenders, including an ex-Navy SEAL and a brilliant, gorgeous Tokyo videojournalist. Throw in a possible murder and a kidnapping and thus is born a wonderfully comedic, poignant thriller that will have you believing in the existence of mermaids. VERDICT Deb's endearing insecurity, unexamined courage, and unwavering love for her husband allow for a charming, albeit uncomfortable, examination of the power of skewed worldviews running off the rails, fueled by ignorance and fear, while smarter, cooler heads push back. Brilliant and wildly funny, with well-placed sharp jolts of sobering reality; Pulitzer Prize finalist Millet (Love in Infant Monkeys) is pure genius. [See Prepub Alert, 5/19/14.]—Beth Andersen, formerly with Ann Arbor Dist. Lib., MI

Library Journal

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.

The New York Times Book Review - René Steinke

"Suspenseful, philosophical, and tropical—the funniest you’ll ever read on ecotourism and the wisest you’ll ever read on mermaids."

O Magazine - Natalie Beach

"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."

Karen Russell

"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."

Chicago Tribune - Charles Finch

"A hilarious genre-bender that strikes some serious chords."

BBC.com - Jane Ciabattari

"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."

Wall Street Journal - Moira Hodgson

"[A] deft satire… Millet ramps up the suspense."

Entertainment Weekly - Melissa Maerz

"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."

Jenny Offill

"A romp with sharp teeth… a slapstick variation on Millet’s abiding theme: the relationship between human beings and the natural world."

Salon - Laura Miller

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

DECEMBER 2014 - AudioFile