How did your feelings change about the main characters as you read the book?

Describe what you thought of the main characters in the first section of the book. How did your feelings change about each by the book's end?

My feelings towards Lafayette started off thinking of him a little poorly, like a ladies' man and not really taking his brother's disappearance or death seriously. Towards the end of the novel you realize he's been fighting to save his brother, writing to learn more about the disappearance, and doing what he thinks he can (sleeping around for "loves") to break the curse. I also felt happy for him when he DID find his true love, and torn that he couldn't be honest with her or even leave the boat to be with her.

My feelings towards Captain Twain started off a little mixed. He seemed very honorable in loving his handicapped wife, but also a little "simple" in not knowing what was going on on his own vessel. After he saved the Mermaid and was nursing her back to health in his cabin, I began to see the conflict of his character. He was still trying to be faithful and true to his wife and his duties, but also was falling in love with the Mermaid's charms and seemed to somewhat be abandoning his responsibilities as ship's captain. When he went below the sea to break the spell I had a lot of faith he would be able to do it, so was a little disappointed he "split."

I found that my feelings changed about Lafayette, Twain and the mermaid. Lafayette started out seeming like a womanizer, but ended up really being the hero of the novel. It's an interesting juxtaposition with Twain, who I felt started out being the novel's hero but then became an epic failure by the book's end. And the mermaid of course has my sympathy until it turned out she was just a self-centered creature & not a caring being at all.

I was struck by the same feelings and thought it was all quite clever of the author to take us there.

Like the others, I was really seduced by the mermaid! She was lovely and wounded and a sympathetic romantic heroine. In fact, when Twain went home to see his wife, I was impatient to see him get back to his sea creature.