American Mermaid

Langbein’s amusing if overstuffed debut novel (after the art book Laugh Lines) splices together the stories of a mermaid confined to land and a novelist trying to make it in Hollywood. Penelope Schleeman moves from Connecticut to L.A. to cowrite the screenplay for her novel, also called American Mermaid, a job she shares with two boorish pros who discard most of what makes the novel matter to her. She attends one drunken party after another, shooting rats at one and nearly drowning at another, while dispensing mordant one-liners about Tinsel Town (interns are “mechanically breezy”; her Century City high-rise is a “fifty-shelved glass coffin”). Her story is interlaced with long chapters from her novel, a feminist thriller in which asexual mermaid Sylvia Granger uses a wheelchair after her tail has been split into two so her adoptive parents can conceal her identity. At 24, Sylvia tries to end her life by launching herself into the sea, but instead of dying, she discovers her mermaid powers, and proceeds to take revenge on her father. Though Sylvia’s story mirrors that of Penny, who also holds a grudge against her wealthy father, the links between Hollywood satire and earnest sci-fi tale are generally weak. Still, the voice-driven narration makes Penelope a companionable protagonist. Though it doesn’t all hang together, it has its charms. Agent: Sarah Bedingfield, Levine Greenberg. (Mar.)