This was a treasure of a novel, one that pulled me in like a riptide. My whole life I've lived with unexplained chronic pains, first from sensory processing disorder, and later from fibromyalgia. The sea is always where I felt safest from this suffering and most myself, so I obviously felt very tied to Kathleen and her experiences with pain. I feel that Kathleen's troubles as a mermaid, and her seemingly fated doom to take her own life, are effective allegories for living with real-world chronic pain, whether Claycomb intended this effect or not. 

Additionally, I appreciated how fleshed-out Kathleen's family, friends, and girlfriend were. Too often I've seen stories where protagonists who are suffering are surrounding by characters who only exist to support them, and are otherwise simplistic. Harry and Robin's lives do revolve around Kathleen in a sense, yet they are still people in their own right, with their own dreams and difficulties. I also enjoyed the use of the opera as a connective tissue and rescuer in the characters' lives. I am not at all familiar with opera, so the descriptions of its music and vocals gave the novel a magical, dreamlike quality even during the realistic scenes. 

I would recommend this book to others, both as a fairytale and a story to relate to if you also live with chronic pain. Kathleen's solution is impossible in one sense, but simple in another. All of us must search for love, for talent to make use of, for a place in the world we feel truly ourselves.