Original de: El Extraño Gato del Cuento

No sé por donde empezar o qué resaltar sin terminar siendo un bomba de spoilers y fangirleo inentendible. Para mí, es sumamente difícil y casi imposible decir "Recomiendo este libro a todo el mundo", pero esta vez es uno de esos extraños casos que tengo que decir que sí, recomiendo este libro absolutamente a todo el mundo, no importa si al final termina no gustándote o te caen mal los personajes o sientes que algo faltó a la historia; porque sinceramente dudo que alguna de esas sea tu conclusión final. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids puede que tenga algún defecto muy recalcable, la verdad es que yo no lo noté, para mí desde el inicio fue una lectura intrigante, fascinante y seductora.


¿CÓMO RESEÑAR UN LIBRO QUE ABARCA CASI TODO TIPO DE TEMA QUE QUIERO LEER EN UN LIBRO JUVENIL?

Tengo la suerte que desde que entré a Tumblr me he topado con blogs que me han enseñado mucho. Personas que con sus posts me han hecho valorarme y respetarme como mujer, como parte de la comunidad LGBT y sobre todo, aceptar, valorar y respetar a los demás que también lo son.

Tumblr me hace pensar mucho y analizar todo. También me da gifs de gatitos y un montón de memes y post sobre Marvel pero eso es para otro día.

Una de las tantas cosas que me gustaron de The Summer of Chasing Mermaids es la cantidad y diversidad de personajes femeninos que hay, Sarah Ockler nos muestra que se puede ser vulnerable, insegura de otras mujeres y a la vez no ser groseras o crueles con ellas ¿Loco, verdad? Es típico que en novelas Young Adult la protagonista o amigas de la protagonista lancen por aquí y por allá unos cuantos adjetivos bastante crueles para la chica bonita y/o competencia. La escritora utiliza una narrativa en la que me hizo sentir el dolor y vulnerabilidad de Elyse pero también me hizo sentir gran cariño por personajes que de ser cualquier otro libro, habría detestado por "interponerse" entre el romance de los protagonistas. Varias veces he dicho lo insegura y rencorosa que soy. Admiro mucho lo que Sarah Ockler ha hecho con este libro, no puedo elegir un personaje femenino favorito, porque ya sean por sus errores o sus talentos o lo más resaltante de su personalidad, cada uno es importante, por más pequeña que sea su aparición en la historia.

Luego están los hermanos Kane. Sé que la sinopsis da a indicar una historia bad-boy-good-girl-angustia. Como movimiento comercial, asumo que está bien. Pero quiero que tengas en cuenta, kitten, que The Summer of Chasing Mermaids es mucho más que eso.

Vas a sonreír como tonta por Christian Kane pero es sin duda el hermano menor, Sebastian, quién se lleva toda la atención. Será quizá difícil para algunos leer un personaje como él, no voy a edulcorar la historia, para mí lo fue un poco, este libro me hizo darme cuenta que hay algunas cosas en las que todavía tengo que madurar y pensar más. No quiero decir que no me gustó, al contrario, si algo me reta emocional y mentalmente de buena manera como esta, es algo que agradezco, muy pocos libros lo hacen. Además, es imposible no adorar a Sebastian.


¿FANTASÍA? ¿RETELLING?

No estoy segura. Y por reseñas que veo, muchos aún están con esa duda. A mí en lo personal me gustaría creer que este libro es real, que cada cosa que pasa en el libro realmente pasó. Quiero decir realmente todo.

Aunque supongo, que estrictamente hablando, The Summer of Chasing Mermaids tiene pinceladas de fantasía. Unas que yo creeré ciegamente que son reales.

ELYSE D'ABREAU

Qué personaje. No sé que admiro más, si al personaje Elyse o al trabajo que la escritora se tomó al crear un personaje como ella.

No solo tenemos en este libro una protagonista WOC (Woman of Color = Mujer de Color), sino que no es de nacionalidad estadounidense, sino de Trinidad y Tobago, país no muy conocido y soy sincera, nunca le di más de un minuto de mis pensamientos. Ahora no puedo sacarlo de mi cabeza. No sé que tan reales o exactas sean los datos sobre Trinidad que se puede leer en el libro, si las frases son realmente típicas de allá, no lo sé. Pero uno como lector, siente cuando un escritor realmente se esfuerza por darnos un buen producto, lo más realista posible.

Elyse encuentra curiosos varios aspectos que encuentre en un país diferente pero sin caer en la ingenuidad o idealizar el nuevo país en el que se encuentra. Sarah Ockler se lleva muchos puntos por eso, no hay país más vanidoso que USA, la escritora supo presentarme muy bien la narración desde un personaje extranjero, me lo creí todo.

Tengo que cortar esto aquí para no hacer la reseña mucho más larga, lee el libro. Quizá no sea tu género, que lo dudo, si sigues el blog es porque tienes gran cariño por el Young Adult. No sé si los otros libros de Sarah Ockler son igual de buenos como este, espero que sí porque ya la tengo en mi radar.

Elyse nos enseñará a encontrar nuestra voz aunque creamos que nadie nos escucha, aunque sintamos que todos nos ignoran, siento que Brave de Sara Bareille es perfecta para describir a Elyse.

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“It was one thing to have your own kind of hope, an ember you could nurture inside, something to inspire you when things got dark. If it died, it was on you; no one else even had to know about it, and you were free to reignite it, or to give up and walk away. But when you were carrying it with another person, for another person, it was a dangerous dream. Treacherous as the sea, yet fragile as a bubble.”

Elyse, our beautiful heroine from Tobago has runaway from her past and stowed herself away at Atargatis Cove, Oregon with distant family. Her past can't escape her though, because a tragic accident took away her voice, along with all her hopes, dreams, and plans A through Z. On top of that, there's a guy, Christian, who shouldn't be able to bring out all of her secrets, but he does. Together they help each other, Christian with his family and Elyse with her past.

I won't give away the story, but there's mermaids, boats, racing, an adorable child, and a family torn apart learning to grow together. I would definitely label this New Adult, not young adult. The main characters are out of high school, there are sex scenes, a strong LGBTQ support, and a lot of female empowerment. I loved that about The Summer of Chasing Mermaids, but I recognize it may not be fit for a teen who hasn't reached the maturity level for it yet.

The characters are fantastic, I really identified with each in different ways and felt that they reflected a true summer beach town of locals, summer people, and tourists. They helped Elyse grow in her time there and they were thought provoking. There was also some incredible imagery. Sarah Ockler provides us with a mermaids tale, a haunting ocean, and Caribbean myths. She was poetic and descriptive, and her writing of Elyse's poetry was absolutely my favorite.

I didn't give this book 5 stars for a reason, though. I seriously had to force myself to keep reading after 25%, fortunately around 30-40% I found the hook and was sucked in. There's a lot of details provided to you right away, it gets overwhelming and confusing. However, if you stick to it, it'll be worth it. I just have a different personal preference for my books.

I loved this book in the end, I really did. I loved how Sarah Ockler didn't stick with controversial moment, she had them all in there, and did it very well. It read as regular life would and for that I thank her. If you're looking for a New Adult read, especially a summer read, this is it. ( )

Why I picked it up: This book was recommended to be a friend, and basically all I knew is that it has mermaids and positive friendships.

What I thought: This is the absolute best book I have read this year, and definitely up there in the Top 10 best books I have read ever. Magical atmosphere, likeable characters, cute romance (I was a little worried because straight romances often bore me, but I was anything but bored while reading this), female friendships, and an adorable little brother.

A magical fairytale retelling

Before starting this book, all I knew was that it had mermaids, but it soon turned out that was an understatement - this is a modern retelling of The Little Mermaid, revealed by clues such as Elyse’s loss of voice, and some character names.

I was already hooked by the introduction, the very first few pages. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids has an absolutely magical aura, and it truly reads like you are experiencing a fairytale. The introduction also immediately grabs the reader’s attention with an element of mystery.

Likeable main cast and posivity

This book is proof that I am absolutely willing to ship straight couples if they aren’t lowkey toxic. Though Elyse’s and Christian’s romance has some cliché elements, it is ultimately a positive relationship based on friendship, and the two of them are nothing but supportive towards each other for the entire book.

There is also a big focus on Elyse’s relationship with her two female friends, and her relationship to her twin is also a central element that is constantly lurking in the background. It would have been so easily to have Vanessa and Elyse fight over a boy, but there is no catty jealousy or unnecessary drama between the girls.

Without giving away any spoilers, the book also has sex positive talk, calling out sexism, and (cis characters) changelling gender norms in a beautiful way.

A note on diversity

The main character of this book is a mute woman of colour. This is not an #ownvoices book - the author admits in a note that she is writing about a culture she’s not part of. As a white person, it is not my place to judge whether Elyse is good or accurate representation, but if there were any racist elements, I have not noticed.

There is sadly a complete lack of LGBT characters, but I enjoyed this book so much, and I was so happy to see a positive straight romantic relationship and positive friendships that I am personally willing to give it a pass. (This might or might not be because I, as a useless bi person, fell in love with both members of the main couple anyway...)

My rating: ★★★★★ 💖 ( )

This feels like a bit of a take on The Little Mermaid.
Elyse no longer has the ability to speak. She dreamed of becoming a singer, along with her sister, when they lived in Tobago. But an accident has caused Elyse to lose her voice.

She is recovering emotionally and trying to find herself again. She is in the US staying with her father’s best friend Lemon and her daughter.

While hiding out on a boat she thinks is abandoned, she meets Christian. They wind up as unwilling participants in his father’s bet with a rival. If Christian doesn’t win a big boat race, his dad is going to sell their home to his rival.
And because she was in the right/wrong place at the right time, and because she knows how to sail, and because her aunt Lemon’s house is on the line, Elyse decides to work with Christian to help with the boat race.

Christian has a reputation as the town lady’s man.
Elyse doesn’t have any intention of falling for him.
But there’s something about Christian that causes her to let her guard down. They have a way of communicating with each other where speaking is never necessary. It’s a pretty beautiful idea. For anyone who couldn’t imagine the little mermaid and a prince falling in love because she could not speak, you can really picture it after seeing Elyse and Christian communicate without talking.

Pretty darn sweet.

Also, Christian’s little brother Sebastian is completely adorable.

Heartwarming story. A story about building your own family, about communicating with speaking, and about figuring out what plan b is when plan a doesn’t work.

I totally enjoyed it. ( )

This was really enjoyable. I liked how everything was wrapped up in lore and how everything didn't end with a perfect bow on top. Sebastian was adorable. Elyse and Christian were great together. There was something missing that would have really put it over the edge with me, but I thought The Summer of Chasing Mermaids was a really good read in the end. ( )