Reviews with content warning for Panic attacks/disorders - Our Wives Under The Sea

This was gorgeous. Beautifully written with a palpable depth. The book does have a kind of sci-fi element to it, but it isn’t the main focus of the story (in case you’re not into that). Believable characters and a reflective, touching journey. Loved it!

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artmuseam's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

i’m gonna be honest, i’m not entirely sure of what to make for reviewing this book. the beginning and the middle were so insanely slow that by the time i got to about a little over half the book, i felt as if the plot had not advanced even an inch. the concept of this book had left me excited to read it, but the execution of it was starting to give me second thoughts. now i know that this is more of an underlying metaphor of grief instead of being an explicit scifi/speculative piece, but the mystery of leah after her return from the submarine and the changes she went through were too much to focus on rather than this metaphor. i felt like i was missing so many answers to questions i had, and the conclusion did not resolve these at all. the writing itself was quite beautiful and compelling, but the story’s plot barely existed and i was left disappointed by the end. 2.5/5 stars

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scytheria's review against another edition

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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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kearneth's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective relaxing medium-paced

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

5.0

This book filled me with a dread I found to be almost comforting in its suffocating intensity.

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maeverose's review against another edition

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mysterious sad

Plot- or character-driven? Character

3.0

I’m unsure how I feel about this yet.

TL;DR: As other people have said, this isn’t so much horror as a book about grief with horror sprinkled throughout. I was interested to see what would happen the whole way through and I do tend to like books about grief, but in the end am left feeling overall ‘meh’ about the book.

A note on the horror elements for those worried about it:
If you’re especially bothered by body horror, gore, or themes of going insane I would go in prepared for that if you plan on reading it. I’m not a horror reader and I dislike reading those themes, but most of this book was fine for me (check my content warnings section for which parts to skip if you also dislike these themes but want to read anyway. You can’t really skip the ‘going insane’ stuff unless you just don’t read any of Leah’s chapters, but you’d be missing out on some parts of the story then). That being said, you know what your own limits are best. I have a moderate tolerance for gore in books and I’m rarely bothered by non-gory body horror. If you have a low tolerance overall, I’d probably skip it.

Now on to my thoughts:
(Vague/minor plot spoilers, but not really since this is not a plot-focused book)

I liked the way the Centre was depicted as this mysterious corporate entity, and wish that was explored more, as well as

the whole sea creature thing

. I get that the horror and mystery elements aren’t the focus, the focus is on Miri’s grief, with the horror elements being a metaphorical parallel to losing a loved one to illness. But it’s left somewhat unclear whether or not it’s also actually happening. If it is actually happening, then that leaves me a bit frustrated with how Miri acted. She seemed so uninterested in finding answers or taking any sort of legal action against the Centre. At no point does the idea even come up to do that, and that seems so ridiculous to me given everything they kept quiet about and the entire way they acted and operated. If I were Miri I’d be pissed at them. I’d be demanding answers. She pretty much gave up after they stopped responding to her calls. I didn’t understand why she never took Leah to a doctor, especially given how much she obviously cares about her, why wasn’t she doing everything she could to help her?

When Juna met up with Miri and tried to explain what she found out and Miri cut her off and left, I was so annoyed. She seemed so uninterested in what Juna had to say and I would be the exact opposite. She didn’t seem at all shocked to learn that someone died on the same trip her wife was on…

In general Miri seemed much more focused on her own grief rather than being concerned for her wife who clearly went through an extremely traumatic experience. Again, if none of it is really real then it makes sense but with it being somewhat left up to interpretation, it was frustrating.

On that note, I’ll end with some quotes about grieving missing loved ones that I liked:

“-grieving was complicated by lack of certainty, that the hope inherent in a missing loved one was also a species of curse.”

“In almost every case, the sense of loss was convoluted by an ache of possibility, by the almost-but-not-quite-negligible hope of reprieve.”

“Grief is selfish: we cry for ourselves without the person we have lost far more than we cry for the person - but more than that, we cry because it helps. The grief process is also the coping process and if the grief is frozen by ambiguity, by the constant possibility of reversal, then so is the ability to cope.”

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ashavila1's review against another edition

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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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17nhammad's review against another edition

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dark informative mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.5

Very well written and unsettling, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. A harrowing exploration of grief and psychosis.

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