Mermaid [Kindle in Motion] (Kindle Single) Kindle Edition

I first discovered Jodi Picoult's books over ten years ago and tore through them, eager to get my hands on the next one! I even had the pleasure of meeting her twice while she was on her book tours and I've continued to devour her books ever since. Luckily, I happened to be on social media today when I saw her announcement about this new Kindle single. Needless to say, I immediately purchased it and dove in!Mermaid is a short story which will take you about a half hour to read. It tells the story of Hope Payne, a young woman who once was a mermaid at a theme park. She used to put on a mermaid costume and swim around in a big tank, while families watched her from the other side of the glass. Everything has changed now and when her husband Nick wants to turn their backyard pool into an aquarium for his flounder study, Hope will discover what it takes to "swim again."As a former English Literature major, I appreciate the amount of thought and feeling Jodi Picoult has managed to incorporate into such a short story! This short story is best read and enjoyed if you think about the parallels between the stories since it jumps around from the past to the present. I think it will make a lot more sense if you go into it thinking that way. Don't worry though; it won't require a lot of analysis, just enough to bring a deeper meaning to the story! I, for one, nearly wept when I read this because I can relate to Hope on her journey of learning to "swim again."I read this on my Kindle Oasis and, with that device, it will look just like any other Kindle book. I also have the Amazon Kindle reading app on my phone and I read through it on there so I was able to experience the Kindle in Motion special effects. They are so cool and fun! If you have any of the Kindle Fires and Kindle reading apps, you shouldn't have any problems reading this story while simultaneously experiencing the special effects. If you love Jodi Picoult's books, I recommend checking this single out!

What I loved about this book was the “Kindle in motion”. The pages seemed alive, and the background moved and shimmered. I’ve never read a book with these kind of interactive pages. Unfortunately, I’m not quite sure what happened in the book. Without giving away any spoilers, it was confusing and I think I just missed the point of the book. I definitely did not understand the ending. Looking forward to reading more “Kindle in motion“ books in the future!

This is a good short read ! The art and animation make it very unique and set the mood very well ! Some readers may find the story line to be a little strange but if you read this book with an open mind, I think you may actually enjoy it . I definitely did !

Made no sense to me. So bizarre I kept reading ! Waste of a few hours time. Usually I really like Jodi Picoult books.

This is the stupidest short story I have ever read. I don't even know if it warrants the name "story" because there is no rhyme or reason to it. It's about a woman who was just let out of a mental institution having flashbacks to happier times in her relationship/marriage, and now has a pool that talks to her and will eat anything you throw in it. The End.I got it mostly for the moving pictures and they were sparse and many didn't work at all. Don't bother with this one.

I came into this kinda pumped. I'm basically a six year old at heart so a book with moving pictures? There's no way that's not gonna be awesome! I kinda skimmed the description and comments, and decided to grab it because moving pictures.Yeah, my decision making skills aren't winning any prizes, but I knew for a fact I'd be able to say: I've read worse.Which is true. I have definitely read worse.You may recognize this as "not exactly a rave review."I think part of the problem is presentation. A book called "Mermaid," with moving pictures being one of its big draws, half its advertising campaign at least--it invites a certain expectation of whimsy. Maybe dark whimsy, but still something inherently whimsical. This novella is more like the embodiment of everything anti-whimsy. Which is odd because it doesn't seem like that was the goal. The problem is, I don't know what the goal was. It felt like a half-finished thought wandering across the pages, an idea that didn't get finished. The ending leaves you wanting and unfulfilled, and the entire novella (it's short enough calling it a book would physically pain me) is oddly incomplete. Like you're not even getting half the story; you're getting a glimpse through a crack in the fence, using binoculars, to see the very edge of the story. Like dipping your toes in but just hovering them right above the water instead.Hope is an apparently "troubled" young woman who worked as a mermaid at what sounds like Weekiwachi (Florida). She married a man she maybe loved, had a miscarriage, and wound up seeing the psychologist she clearly needed long before this. And the story villifies--everything, honestly. Psychiatric help was apparently less than useless, but no one else is helping either. I wound up just wanting to kick her husband in the face and let her keep feeding the pool. Except it wanted to eat her for unknown reasons, and was possibly the fetus Hope showed no signs of wanting?I saw it called disturbing but I disagree. It felt like it wanted to be disturbing. Instead it said fetuses are fully sentient at the size of "a kumquat" (when evidently they also have all their limbs and whatnot instead of looking like a weird little alien worm) and...not much else. Hope's entire character appears to be "sad person." Nick's character is "angry guy." The pool is just weird. Everything about this is weird. I was going to give this three stars but I changed my mind because the more I think about it the more baffled I am by it. It's like one of those artistic films that insist they're very meaningful and if you disagree it's because you "don't get it."The only good thing I can really say about this is the "kindle in motion" aspects were fairly fun. I think they could use some fiddling (the clips should automatically repeat, or be able to be set so that they do; the transition from pages with pictures to without could be smoothed a lot; other nitpicks from an artistic standpoint) but I like it on theory and hope to see more of it.But the book itself? A resounding "eh."

IDK what to say. So, just read it. The motion effects are nothing I’ve seen before. I do wonder how that technique will evolve.

Not what I expected from a Jodi Luckily book. The animations were fun and the story was interesting but it needed more development.

Mermaid is a poignant storyabout grief, guilt, and loss. I found it to be poetic and heartfelt. If you want to read something unexpected and fresh, I recommend this story.

Jodi Picoult is one of my favourite authors, but I found this book to be very different from her other reads, and not because it was a Kindle in Motion.I loved the images and the visual arts, but the story itself left something to be desired. It felt incomplete, and though it was in first person, I felt as if I was watching it unfold from a great distance.

A pretty book . But not much a read .

I had never seen/read a Kindle in Motion book and wow!.. It was an amazing experience!This was a well-written story, but like others have said, it felt incomplete. The videos and moving imagery really added to the story but the story was weird. I prefer her full-length stories where characters and plots are fully explored.It seemed borderline sci-fi but also esoteric at the same time. I absolutely love Jodi Picoult's books, but this one had me scratching my head... I'm a little more than disappointed.

Not my favourite book from this author. Short story and the visual effects on the book was cool.