Review--The Mermaid by Christina Henry

 

From the author of Lost Boy comes a historical fairy tale about a mermaid who leaves the sea for love and later finds herself in P.T. Barnum's American Museum as the real Fiji mermaid. However, leaving the museum may be harder than leaving the sea ever was.

Once there was a mermaid who longed to know of more than her ocean home and her people. One day a fisherman trapped her in his net but couldn't bear to keep her. But his eyes were lonely and caught her more surely than the net, and so she evoked a magic that allowed her to walk upon the shore. The mermaid, Amelia, became his wife, and they lived on a cliff above the ocean for ever so many years, until one day the fisherman rowed out to sea and did not return.

P. T. Barnum was looking for marvelous attractions for his American Museum, and he'd heard a rumor of a mermaid who lived on a cliff by the sea. He wanted to make his fortune, and an attraction like Amelia was just the ticket.

Amelia agreed to play the mermaid for Barnum, and she believes she can leave any time she likes. But Barnum has never given up a money-making scheme in his life, and he's determined to hold on to his mermaid.

I've had Christina Henry's The Mermaid on my TBR pile for far too long. I had some initial hesitations about it, but since I loved the author I decided I would read it...eventually. I'm sad to say that some of my hesitations were well-founded. But it was still an interesting story centered around a real mermaid, even if it's not the familiar tale of Andersen, it was still an enjoyable read.

Amelia is a mermaid and like her predecessors before her (from Andersen and Disney), she was always fascinated with the human world. Then one day, she gets caught in a fisherman's net and instead of keeping the phenomenal beauty, he lets her go. But then Amelia comes back to him and decides to live as a human for a time and eventually marries the sailor. But mermaids age slower than humans, so eventually he passes away and Amelia is left alone. She still occasionally turns into a mermaid when she goes for a swim and that's when rumors start along the coast.

It's when the rumors reach P.T. Barnum's ears that he sends his associate, Levi Lyman, to investigate and procure a mermaid for his museum. Barnum is very much a man who sees value in dollar signs where Levi is a bit different. He's not blinded by greed, but maybe isn't quite of moral character since he works with Barnum.

When Levi meets Amelia he is taken aback by her beauty, all the hallmarks of a classic fairytale. But instead of falling in love with him, Amelia is just indifferent. Though she's lived as a human for many years now, she still doesn't quite understand them fully. Eventually, she agrees to play Barnum's "mermaid" even though she showed him she's the real deal, he is more fascinated by the money he can make off of her rather than Amelia herself.

I guess I just felt like this book wouldn't hold the magic of its fairytale predecessor. Yes, The Little Mermaid is more of a tragic tale than what Disney gave us. So while I wasn't necessarily wanting that, I had hoped for some of that fairytale vibe and magic. Instead, I felt like there was very little magic to this story. Even the conflict didn't seem very strong as Amelia was just performing for people and while some believed her to be authentic, others thought she was a fake.

There were some "scruffs" you could say that presented tension. Then of course, you have this building tension between Amelia and Levi. Though, it's hard to say it was romantic tension as Amelia still isn't used to human feelings and emotions. Amelia had a contract to perform for Barnum for six months and the duration of the book ended up being less than that, and yet, it actually felt quite longer with everything that happened. I guess perhaps it was just too much mundane normalcy for me to get hooked by the story. 

In retrospect, this book pretty much met my expectations after reading the blurb. I suppose you can say that's why I held off reading it for so long. While it wasn't my favorite book of fairytale essence, it was a worthy read in some sense. There's tension and you always kind of wondered at the dangers surrounding Amelia and her not being ultimately aware of them. So it had that kind of tension going for it, but alas, I cannot say it was a favorite. 

While not exactly one of my favorite reads by Christina, The Mermaid was a worthy read in of itself. I was just hoping for a little more magic, maybe a little more fairytale magic and while there were some nods to the original tale, I still felt like things were just a bit too normal for my liking. But I suppose, in hindsight, a mermaid entering the human world and playing at being human without any magical curse ticking away would lead to a normal storyline. If you're a fan of truly contemporary fairytales in a historical setting, mind you, then this just might be the read for you!

Overall Rating 3/5 stars