Review: The Mermaid

The Mermaid by Christina Henry
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If I'm honest, this was a little disappointing after all the dark, twisted re-tellings I've read by the same author. It was sadly pretty PG.

It begins with a familiar sort of tale about a mermaid with an abundance of curiosity, who falls in love with a human. This story is relatively short and sweet before the mermaid's tale evolves into one that introduces us to a famous historical figure: P. T. Barnum - a man with an insatiable appetite for the curious.

Honestly, the whole museum/circus side of things really didn't do a lot for me. Historically, it's not something I'm particularly interested in and all I know about this man comes from a single, half-asleep viewing of The Greatest Showman. And the charismatic Hugh Jackman is far easier to love than the Scrooge-like figure of this story.

There's some entertaining chemistry between Amelia (our mermaid) and Levi, but for me the most entertaining relationship was that between Amelia and the young, honest Caroline. I really loved the blend of youthful innocence and acceptance in Caroline compared to the naivety of Amelia.

To begin with, it's very much a story about grief and belonging, which was a little too depressing for me, though it's well done. Henry explores the emotions tied to loss of a loved one, and the antagonistic feelings of trying to move on whilst feeling guilty for doing so.

There's also a lot of subtext in the way Amelia looks human yet has the soul of a wild creature from the sea. There's a lot about caged animals, and judging people because they do things differently, and because it's set in 1842 there's also some feminist notes in the whole idea of women being the property of men. It's an interesting, insightful story, but unfortunately that's just not what I was hoping for.

If you've not read any of the author's other work, I imagine this will be a fun, historical fiction novel with a little magic worked into it. As a dark re-working of The Little Mermaid it's woefully inadequate. I think the main draw of this story will be its focus on 'caged animals' and all that entails, as well as the complicated nature of Amelia's relationship with Levi. I enjoyed these things, but was let down by expectations based on other books by the author.

I wanted teeth and claws and physical ferocity - turning on captors, sea creatures wreaking havoc, twisted, depraved characters and stormy relationships. What I got was a lukewarm love story about a girl who doesn't quite belong.

An entertaining read, but likely to be more successful with first time readers of this author, and/or those with an interest in a new take on the character of P. T. Barnum.

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