Donna Jo Napoli

I have mixed feelings for this book; on the one hand the story moves along at a good pace and you can see Xing Xing's life (how she is able to draw small comfort from just being called her name, how strongly she believes in the spirits of her father and mother, her stepmother's disdain) and you are given a very detailed accounting of what life could have been like back then. From Xing Xing's unwavering sense of duty to Wei Ping's selfishness and self-delusions and to Stepmother's (who is given no other name) obvious abuse of Xing Xing as a punishment for her husband caring for her more.

My main concern was the quick way that Xing Xing gains her confidence (in herself and trusting the future). The book isn't very long, but up until the last quarter of the book she accepts her fate, does her best to make the most of things and doesn't resent anyone. Indeed if her Stepmother hadn't done something so heinous, I doubt she would have spoken up for herself at all. Which is a crying shame because Xing Xing in the last five pages is very interesting!

The book however, like Napoli's other fairy tale retellings, offers a different look at what has been done to death. A fish as a 'fairy godmother', bibbity-boppity-boo indeed.… (altro)

Hm....hmmm. "I control the fish girl" Neptune the fisherman proclaims to an unsuspecting crowd of visitors, visitors of his magnificent aquarium of untold treasures. The most valuable one is an adolescent mermaid who can't talk. An adolescent mermaid who was raised by a man that calls her his treasure. No she doesn't get a name. She gets to be his pet, his main attraction. This book is disturbingly normal. It reminds me of a fable or fairy tale meant to be a cautionary tale, but ironically most people find it more entertaining than scary. You have a grown-ass man build a whole aquarium to house a kidnapped mermaid. He tells her stories about her people as payment for going along with his rouse. She plays hide and seek with the guest,making sure they don't see her. They drop coins into the tank and she collects them. Everybody wins! But there is trouble in the horizon when he finds out about her only human friend, Livia. Who tries to tell her mom, but is promptly ignored. Mira, the name Lucia assigns to her knew friend is tired of being imprisoned and ventures out and discovers she wants to be apart of the human… (altro)