Fairytalecritic's Reviews > Mermaid

Andersen’s The Little Mermaid is about love and sacrifice. The little mermaid falls in love with a man she cannot have, gives up everything to be with him, and is rejected in favor of a human girl, and as a result dies and is turned to sea foam. It’s a story about sacrificing everything and getting nothing in return, of wishing you could give up everything if only something would turn out your way. Of wanting what you know you cannot have, hoping against all hope. And this is what Turgeon really manages to capture in her novel, Mermaid.

One of the things I really appreciate about this novel is that it’s told in two voices. The chapters alternate between Lenia, the mermaid, and Margrethe, a northern princess. Margrethe is staying at a convent where her father has sent her into hiding from their southern enemies. While she is standing on the cliff looking out over the ocean, Margrethe witnesses what she thought to be impossible; a mermaid pulling a drowning man out of the water. The mermaid is Lenia, a princess of the sea kingdom. She’s the youngest of all her sisters and has always been fascinated by the human world. But what fascinates Lenia the most is the idea of a human soul. Her grandmother told her that humans have souls which have eternal life; when a human dies, his body may rot but his soul will live forever. Mermaids, on the other hand, live three hundred years and then turn to sea foam and are no more.

On her eighteenth birthday, which also happens to be the night of a terrible storm, Lenia swims to the surface of the ocean for the first time. She witnesses a terrible shipwreck, and while countless sailors drown around her, she decides that she can save at least one of them. Swimming between the sea and sky, Lenia falls in love with him, but she realizes that they are of two worlds; although she can bring him to shore, she cannot save his life once he is there. So when she sees Margrethe she calls to her, save him.

Despite my mild dislike of the ending, I loved the book overall. It was poignant, unflinching, and bittersweet. It explored both sides of this story, and acknowledged that it is not a love story, but rather a story of longing for love. I also appreciated that this was a relatively faithful adaptation to the Andersen version, but that it also elaborated hugely on the principle characters. Would I read it again? Definitely.

Read my full review, including spoilers, here: http://fairytalecritic.tumblr.com/pos...