Oriana's Reviews > American Mermaid

“American Mermaid” is Langbein’s first work of fiction, but has the confidence of a tenth. The story follows an English teacher, Penelope Schleeman, who has written a début novel about the adventures of a feisty mermaid living in a matriarchal pod. The book, which has a decidedly feminist bent, becomes a surprise best-seller, and soon Penelope finds herself in Hollywood, surrounded by blowhard executives and puerile male screenwriters who want to adapt her work into a blockbuster. What unfolds is a bit of a nightmare, as the industry campaigns to soften the edges of her subversive story, and also a bit of a magical-realist fantasy: Penelope starts believing that maybe mermaids actually exist—or perhaps she’s simply going crazy? It’s a book within a book wrapped in a parable, and I adored it. I laughed out loud, several times, and hardly wanted it to end.