• Home
  • Browse by…
    • Browse by Genre
      • Children’s
      • Comics
        • Manga
      • General Fiction
        • Adventure
        • Anthologies
        • Crime
        • Fairy Tales
        • Lesbian Pulp Fiction
        • Literary Fiction
        • Novellas
        • Retellings
        • Series
        • Short Stories
        • Thrillers
      • Historical Fiction
        • 1920s
        • Regency
      • Horror
        • Vampires
        • Zombies
      • Mystery
      • Memoirs
      • Nonfiction
        • Biographies
        • Essays
        • History
      • Poetry
      • Romance
        • Butch/Femme
      • Erotica
        • BDSM
      • SFF
        • Sci Fi
          • Dystopia
        • Fantasy
          • Mythical Creatures
            • Mermaids
            • Witches
          • Paranormal
          • Steampunk
          • Urban Fantasy
      • Young Adult
    • Browse by Rating
      • 5 Stars
      • 4 Stars
      • 3 Stars
      • 2 Stars
      • 1 Star
    • Browse by Representation
      • POC Content
        • Main Characters of Color
        • Black Representation
        • Asian Representation
        • Latina Representation
        • Indigenous Representation
      • Authors of Color
        • Black Authors
        • Asian Authors
        • Latina Authors
        • Indigenous Authors
      • Lesbian Representation
        • Lesbian Authors
      • Bisexual Representation
        • Bisexual Authors
      • Trans Representation
        • Trans Authors
        • Nonbinary Representation
      • Asexual Representation
        • Asexual Authors
      • Disability Representation
      • Neurodiverse Representation
      • Mental Health
    • Browse by Reviewer
      • Danika Ellis
      • Alice P.
      • Amanda Růžičková
      • Anna N.
      • Caelin
      • Casey
      • Emilia Ferrante
      • Emory Rose
      • Ire
      • Jamie Rose
      • Jazelle
      • Kathryne Slant
      • Kody
      • Laurel
      • Liv
      • Meagan Kimberley
      • Nat
      • Rachel Friars
      • Raquel R. Rivera
      • Sritama Sen
      • Susan
      • Susanne Salehi
      • Theo
      • Til
      • Vic
  • Recommendations List
  • About
  • Review Policy
  • Support the Lesbrary
  • Advertise with the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary

Sapphic Book Reviews

Lesbrary Reviews, Uncategorized

Hannah reviews Mermaid In Chelsea Creek by Michelle Tea

July 15, 2014 by Danika Ellis

MermaidinChelseaCreek

This book is a gift to the world. As I read it I imagined wrapping it up in pretty colored paper and giving it to someone I love, to imagine them discovering it for the first time. Mermaid in Chelsea Creek is everything I’ve ever wanted from a Young Adult, “Chosen One” fantasy novel. I began this book looking for a light, summery mermaid read, and found something worth so much more.

Our protagonist, the realistic, sometimes-bratty-but-ultimately-good-hearted Sophie, is the daughter of a working single mother. Her mother is tired, burnt-out, and neglectful. Sophie feels unloved.

This was my favorite part of the novel, although it may seem depressing. I’ve never read a fantasy story featuring a neglectful parent before. Harry Potter has a nasty aunt and uncle and the Disney movie Tangled has an abusive mother – who is not, in fact, an actual mother at all. But in children’s fiction there is a dearth of children who are genuinely unloved or neglected by their biological parents but do amazing things anyway. The world needs these stories. We have an overabundance of dead parents in prose, but there’s always this assumption that these dead parents would have loved their children. Harry’s mother’s love reaches beyond the grave. And that’s a beautiful story, but it’s a story that many children can’t relate to. Give them something they can relate to, and then give them hope. Neglected children, too, get to be the Chosen Ones.

Onwards: I loved the fantasy elements mixed with stark realism. Sophie lives in a grubby city which contains a polluted creek. This creek is not only unimpressive, but thoroughly revolting. And yet it is here where the mermaid lurks, waiting to inform Sophie of her destiny.

The mermaid, herself, is perfectly magical, but she, too, is of this world: She’s from Poland, speaks accented English, and, what’s more, has a very foul mouth. A mermaid with a pirate mouth.

Another important setting is “the dump,” where Sophie discovers that a place filled with discarded items and heaps of broken glass is, just like the mermaid, enchanted: “The whole place was a mixture of sparkle and grit, sort of magical in an ordinary way…”

Throughout the novel the ordinary is made beautiful, the mundane and magical intertwined until the two become indistinguishable from one another. Reflecting this theme is the prose: Michelle Tea writes beautifully, but sometimes conversationally. Her characters, too, speak not like characters in a book but like real people. They curse and have accents and say ‘like’ too many times. This theme – the ordinary is deeply, profoundly beautiful – is reinforced by every aspect of the book.

Also, I know a lot of people don’t like pigeons, but I love them. Michelle Tea, too, has been fortunate enough to realize their beauty, and she writes about them in her book, putting them on the magical pedestal they deserve.

I saw on Amazon that a reviewer said this book would “have difficulty finding an audience.” This book includes American immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Poland; a lesbian mentor in the form of Angel; a girl with a single-parent household; and more. Sounds like Tea’s reached out to a pretty wide audience to me.

Also, teeny tiny side note: This book has no romantic lead. For a YA book, that is very, very rare. Plenty of YA authors need to insert a romantic subplot before their novels can be published. I was relieved and refreshed to see Sophie too busy with magic to be kissing mediocre thirteen year-old boys (or girls).

I hold this book close to my heart, now. I hope you will, too.

Categories: Lesbrary Reviews, Uncategorized
Tags: , Hannah, Michelle Tea, teen, YA, young adult

Related Posts

Marthese reviews If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan
Queer Friendship and Active Shooter Drills: Fight + Flight by Jules Machias
Little Deaths all in a Row coverCosmology and Reinvention: Little Deaths all in a Row by Elizabeth Earley Review
Laura reviews Fist of the Spider Woman edited by Amber Dawn
Previous:
Anna M reviews Kiss the Girl by Melissa Brayden
Next:
Link Round Up: July 3 – 16
About Me

About the Lesbrary

The Lesbrary is a sapphic book blog that started in 2010. It's run by Danika Ellis, and we have about a dozen reviewers from around the world recommending sapphic books in every genre. Check out the top navigation bar for more about the Lesbrary as well as options to browse by genre, age category, rating, and more.

Sapphic Book Blogs

  • Bi and Lesbian Literature: The Lesbrary's tumblr
  • Autostraddle's Books Coverage
  • I Heart Sapphfic
  • The Lesbian Review
  • Okazu: Yuri Manga

Queer Book Blogs

  • Book Riot's LGBTQ Coverage
  • Gay League: LGBT Comics
  • Lambda Literary
  • LGBTQ Reads
  • LGBTQ Reads tumblr
  • Our Queerest Shelves: My LGBTQ Books Newsletter at Book Riot.
Theme by SkyandStars.co
Back Top

Copyright © 2025