The Pisces

Of all the books that I read this summer I think this was my absolute favourite. It really blew me away. Phenomenally written. [Broder's] writing is so creative and can be so abstract and so unexpected while also being so universal and earthy and funny. It was raw and powerful and it made me cry -- Dolly Alderton, The High Low Bizarrely brilliant. What should you be reading this summer? A tragi-comic interspecies love story with undertones of ancient Greek philosophy and sex-positive feminism. Obviously * The Times * A novel that has such depth, and so many layers. If it doesn't make its way onto your list of books to read, then you're probably doing summer wrong * Erotic Review * One of the must-reads of the season -- Elle, Ultimate Summer Books Round-Up Witty, sharp and painfully insightful. Looking for a smart summer read? This is it * The Pool * A frank, provocative, and brilliant debut that blends fantasy with realism as Broder examines just how unusual a shape love can take -- The debut novelists to know this year * Independent * Strangely, almost uncomfortably, addictive. This book appeals to the Bridget Jones in all of us, searching for true love and unhealthily influenced by fairytales. It's a fusion of the fantastical and the real with a sprinkling of the erotic, and is both beautifully written and darkly comic * Stylist * Literary erotica merges with magical realism and black humour in this extraordinary debut novel about a dejected young woman's night-time liaisons with a merman. Strong stuff, but it's spreading quickly through word of mouth, making it summer's cool read to be spotted with * You Magazine * In Broder's charmingly kooky debut novel, a depressed Ph.D. student chances upon her dream date - and he's half fish. Broder approaches the great existential subjects as if they were a collection of bad habits. That's what makes her writing so funny, and so sad -- Editors' Choice Picks, New York Times Book Review In this dark, physical tale, an academic writing her dissertation on Sappho moves to Venice Beach, where, on the verge of a nervous breakdown, she falls in love with a merman. Broder's novel is a feverish - and often quite graphic - exploration of fantasy and desire, and the extremes to which they can take us. (And how, ultimately, nothing can match a dog's love.) It's simultaneously hilarious, sinister and utterly mesmerising * Tatler * Blazes with vibrancy ... The book's power lies in its ability to be many things at once: a howl of anguish and existential despair, a psychological drama, a fairytale, fish porn ... Resembles the new wave of female authors taking a much needed swing at the societal myths surrounding conformity and normativity, from Chris Kraus to Leila Slimani * Financial Times * An incisive look at modern love. Just brilliant. We absolutely loved it! -- Pandora Sykes, The High Low This is love in the age of consumer capitalism, and Broder is pin-sharp on its disillusionments ... In a culture like this, who could resist the siren call of a non-human creature who is fulfilled and complete in himself? ... It's a knife-tip dissection of 21st-century anomie, and its clear-sighted depiction of muddy-headed people makes for bracing reading - like a dip in the freezing, salty sea * Guardian * What makes The Pisces an experimental, exciting work is that Ms. Broder manages to knead together the genres of magical realism - Theo, the merman, is always presumed to be real; no apparitions here - and literary erotica, all with a bemused, wry detachment ... In recounting one woman's star-crossed relationship with a folkloric beau, Ms. Broder has crafted a modern-day mythology for women on the verge - if everything on the surface stops making sense, all you need to do is dive deeper * New York Times * The Pisces convincingly romances the void * NewYorker.com * Broder deftly catches the victims of victimhood in her satirical glance, but she also recognises frailty when she sees it ... The book has great

Melissa Broder is the author of the essay collection So Sad Today and four poetry collections, including Last Sext. The recipient of a Pushcart Prize for poetry, she also writes the 'So Sad Today' column at Vice, the astrology column for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter and the 'Beauty and Death' column on Elle.com. She lives in Los Angeles. melissabroder.com / @melissabroder / @sosadtoday