Author: Sarah Porter
Pages: 291
Summary(goodreads.com):
Fourteen-year-old Luce has had a tough life, but she reaches the depths of despair when she is assaulted and left on the cliffs outside of a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village. She expects to die when she tumbles into the icy waves below, but instead undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid. A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: the mermaids feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks. Luce possesses an extraordinary singing talent, which makes her important to the tribe—she may even have a shot at becoming their queen. However her struggle to retain her humanity puts her at odds with her new friends. Will Luce be pressured into committing mass murder? The first book in a trilogy, Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive.
My Review:
Even though I finished this book to see what happened at the end, I really did not like this book at all. It's kind of sad. The mermaids in this book are created by extremely terrible abuse they endure, and the "larvae" in this book are supposed to be abused babies that are not even cared or loved for, even as baby mermaids, which actually depressed me when I read it. Another element I did not enjoy was the juvenile language and actions of the characters. This book kind of reminded me of Lord Of The Flies in that it is about a tribe of girls who eventually start turning on each other and even try to kill each other at one point. The only thing I enjoyed about this book is that the author was able to describe the scenes and characters very well, but I don't really recommend reading this. It was very sad the whole way through. I give this book (*) 1 star, which is something I rarely do.
-Sirenita The Selkie
Sirenita, I agree with your review. Lost Voices is a sad story. Although it's been a couple of years since I read it, I recall the hope offered the wounded women is that they become mermaids--their pain essentially births them into a new life.
ReplyDeleteIn a deeper sense, the story reminds me that no human life is without pain.
If I may "step" onto a soap box for just a moment,
sometimes we are dealt pain that make us feel angry, depressed, and destructive. But, we can't just snap our fingers (or change into mermaids!) and forget.
Lost Voices, to me, represents that fantasy that we CAN forget, and I love that the author brings in reality-- no trauma and no pain is healed unless we go through that healing process. It's implied that the mermaids lose their humanity, but interesting that they never lose their human emotions. It isn't long before the mermaids turn on each other and they think that sinking ships to kill innocent people with their siren song will cure the pain that is in them, give them some sort of satisfaction.
I think those of us that choose not to recover and do the work of healing (or let that work happen), choose evil instead. Because hurt people hurt people, after all.
I speak from experience.
I was a victim of abuse from an alcoholic parent and then in my later relationships.
I eventually healed, but in the meantime I also hurt a lot of people. Pain changed me, hardened me. Healing softened me.
Thank you for allowing me to share my thoughts. I've been wanting to discuss it since I read it.
Luce's story is a trilogy, too, isn't it?
I may go back and read the other 2 in the author's series.
Thanks, always for your honest reviews. I love your site!Please keep up the great work!