{"product_id":"american-mermaid-9780593470145","title":"American Mermaid","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Witty and marvelous\"(Andrew Sean Greer), this \"sublime\" debut (NYTBR) tracks a writer adapting her feminist novel into a screenplay must decide which parts of herself are \u003ci\u003enot\u003c\/i\u003e for sale in a capitalist world run amok. \"I've never read anything quite like it, and I loved it\" (Elizabeth Gilbert).\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBroke English teacher Penelope Schleeman is as surprised as anyone when her feminist, eco-warrior novel \u003ci\u003eAmerican Mermaid \u003c\/i\u003ebecomes a best-seller. But when Hollywood insists she convert her fierce, androgynous protagonist into to a teen sex object in a clamshell bra, strange things start to happen. Is Penelope losing her mind, or has her fictional mermaid come to life, enacting revenge against society's limited view of what a woman can and should be? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eAmerican Mermaid\u003c\/i\u003e follows a young woman braving the casual slights and cruel calculations of a winner-take-all society and discovering a beating heart in her own fiction: a new kind of mermaid who will fight to keep her voice and choose her place. Brilliantly sharp, funny and thought-provoking\" (Madeline Miller), this \"absolute weirdo masterpiece\" (Jean Kyoung Frazier)\" is \"a shapeshifting novel composed of wildly divergent elements [which] succeeds brilliantly\" (Tom Perotta).\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eJULIA LANGBEIN, a sketch and stand-up comedian for many years, holds a doctorate in Art History and is the author of a non-fiction book about comic art criticism (\u003ci\u003eLaugh Lines\u003c\/i\u003e, Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2022). She wrote the viral comedy blog The Bruni Digest (2003-7), which reviewed \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e critic Frank Bruni's restaurant reviews every week, and has since written about food, art, and travel for \u003ci\u003eGourmet\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eEater\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSalon\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFrieze, \u003c\/i\u003e and other publications. A native of Chicago, she lives outside of Paris with her family.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Vintage","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50604351488274,"sku":"9780593470145","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_92fe9d50-fc36-468c-bbf7-c037c525b16e.jpg?v=1732258801","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/american-mermaid-9780593470145","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}