Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

48 reviews

sometimes_not_dead's review against another edition

dark emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, and Mental illness

Moderate: Death of parent and Chronic illness

smothermewithscifi's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, Gaslighting, Chronic illness, Grief, Sexual content, and Body horror

Moderate: Death, Terminal illness, and Death of parent

kickitupanotch7's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Confinement, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Suicide

sav_22's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

I fell in love with the writing style used in this book. I would classify this as an introspective; it unfolds into two storylines, with one following flashbacks and the other following the aftermath. I think if you are looking for a thriller, this isn’t for you; while this contains a lot of body horror, disturbing and complex trauma, it very much focuses on the trauma of grieving someone that’s fundamentally changed—someone that’s still there physically, but has disappeared everywhere else. It’s a book about trauma of loss as well as the trauma of loving.

as much as I would have loved to know the actual cause of Leah’s condition and what happened down there in the dark depths of the sea, I think this book is meant to live through the metaphor of what’s happening. I interpreted Leah’s condition as symbolism for a greater complex trauma that’s destroyed her spirit and in turn is destroying her physically. It reminds me of how people shut down after a traumatic event, with the ptsd of it further sinking them into oblivion. Viewing it this way made the story all the more gut wrenching, as Miri has to both process the grief of losing Leah twice: once to her incident, and the next to her trauma. Overall, I found the incompleteness of this conclusion to be purposeful and reflective on the reoccurring theme of “unstillness”; Life goes on, and so will you, even if you aren’t able to understand everything. <spoiler/> 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Grief, Confinement, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Moderate: Excrement, Medical content, Suicide, Death, Dementia, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicidal thoughts, and Death of parent

Minor: Gaslighting, Cancer, and Dysphoria

nikenacs's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Strong portrayal of love, loss, and watching yourself grieve a love, even while it's still around. Listened to it on two rainy train rides over the North Sea, which was the perfect gloomy atmosphere. Good portrayal of depression, directly fed into my own depression tbh. All their relationship memories coming back made me think of all my loved ones and the little details I love about them, as well, I really enjoyed that. Especially when those memories start showing up in Leah's parts as well!

However, especially Miri's parts were a bit too slow-paced for my personal taste, and Miri as a protagonist increasingly irritated me with how much she was a dick to everyone around her. I know this is intentional, and I think I'd have more compassion with a real person, but as a protagonist, she was a lot at times.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, Abandonment, and Death

Moderate: Terminal illness, Sexual content, Dementia, Medical content, Chronic illness, and Mental illness

Minor: Lesbophobia and Homophobia

scytheria's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Abandonment, Body horror, Terminal illness, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Confinement

Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Injury/Injury detail

Trigger warning for those with thalassophobia (fear of deep water/what is under the ocean). Also lots of metaphors involving teeth.

axel_p's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Death, Eating disorder, Grief, Confinement, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Vomit

erdbeerelias's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I really loved the way it’s written, especially the recalling of memories by both characters. It took me some time to get into it but by the time I fully understood that it’s like their journals I was okay with not knowing everything that happens.
Still there were some things in the communication of the characters that annoyed me. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Terminal illness

Minor: Suicide and Chronic illness

ashavila1's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book captivated me from the beginning. Julia Armfield does an amazing job of creating a tense, rich atmosphere to explore themes relating to love, horror, decay, and memory throughout the story. I often found myself being so immersed in the story, I would need several minutes afterwards to recompose from the intensity of this book's grasp. This story falls along the lines of an intense study of character, grief, and love wherein the plot is pushed by internal reflection. This isn't going to be a book for everyone. It's intense and fueled by the atmosphere and it's themes. But if you're looking for heart wrenching sapphic romance with a touch of horror, this is an extraordinary book. Highly recommend for fans of gothic horror, mysteries, and tragic lesbians trying their best. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Grief

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Sexual content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Vomit, Self harm, and Lesbophobia

saintyeehaw's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This reminded me so much of "The Rememberer" by Amiee Bender, one of my favorite short stories. Unfortunately, as a long form novel, I did not enjoy this as much. 

I thought the amount of mystery and sinister secret society stuff was just right. The "boss" with his eye ring, the eye of the creature, the disappearance of the Centre--all of it made my stomach drop when the connections started appearing. I like that we don't get the full picture; what would you want to know? That there's a group sending sacrifices down to an ancient creature that is the ocean itself? I think it works much better unclear and up to your imagination.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis