Mermaid by Carolyn Turgeon
- Pub. Date: March 2011
- Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
- Format: Paperback , 240 pp
"The story of two very different women, one mortal, one mermaid, and the clash between worlds best kept apart... It is a cold day at the end of the world when a young woman, a princess in hiding, looks out across a Northern sea and sees something she could not have seen. It looks...it can't be. It looks like a mermaid's tail. And, as she looks more closely, she sees that the mermaid is dragging a drowning sailor in her arms. Because, only hours before, another princess, the daughter of the sea queen, has decided to risk everything and take a look at the world above the sea: the world of mortals. And there she finds a storm, a shipwreck, a sailor, and sets in train events which will change both women's worlds forever."
First Sentence:It was a gloomy, overcast day, like all days were, when the princess first saw them.
Review: Mermaid is a twist on The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen, and I have to say Carolyn Turgeon did a wonderful job with this new version - very well written.
The story alternates in its point of view between Lenia the mermaid princess and Margrethe the princess of the North Kingdom. I found that even with alternating point of views the plot flowed nicely . The characters of the two princesses were very well fleshed out that it was hard to take sides. I wanted both of them to find the love they deserved and wanted so much . I found both females to be strong, brave and likable characters.
The only thing that I didn't like was the prince. I found him to be just plain flat. We didn't get to know him at all which made it hard for me to figure out why Lenia and Margrethe were so deeply in love with him that they changed the course of their lives for him.
This was overall an interesting take on the classic. I found the ending to be bittersweet for me since I loved both the princesses characters.
