Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

47 reviews

jcshells's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Suicide, Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, Body horror, Death, Mental illness, and Confinement

Moderate: Sexual content

Minor: Alcohol and Homophobia

aselin's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Suicide attempt, Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, Death, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Suicide, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Mental illness, Medical content, and Physical abuse

exhaustrovert's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Haunting narrative, I don't often (ever) write in books but this one drive me to find a pencil and add my thoughts in the margins. I long for the sea, and grieve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness, Dysphoria, Body horror, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

koyotekarlheinz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

I still have a lot of unanswered question and I'll just have to accept that. But the book is great for what it is and I am glad that me and my friends picked it for a buddy read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, Body horror, Suicide, Abandonment, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Death, Dementia, and Death of parent

kaanda's review against another edition

slow-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

5.0

Super engaging throughout. Romantic in the weirdest ways while stringing along a story that was so fun to put together as the book went on. Sad, but rewarding with a ton of beautiful lines.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Grief, and Dementia

Moderate: Blood, Body horror, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Homophobia, Vomit, Gore, Violence, Lesbophobia, Abandonment, Confinement, and Suicide

jmiles758's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Abandonment, and Suicide

_rowan_'s review against another edition

dark mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicide attempt, Confinement, Death of parent, Death, Blood, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Mental illness, Vomit, Dementia, Eating disorder, Body horror, Panic attacks/disorders, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Suicide

jojothefool's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Beautiful prose on grief, abandonment, and PTSD. It’s definitely literary fiction in that every word is saying five words and there’s metaphors and dreams and stuff. But I enjoyed myself overall, it’s just not my favorite genre. I enjoyed Mary’s POV as Leah essentially disintegrates before her. Trying to balance grief and anger and caregiving and love, it’s heartbreaking and relatable. I think the writing was a little too dense for me to enjoy in an audio format tbh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, Chronic illness, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

The main character has hypochondria so explicit descriptions of that (although nothing causes super detailed panic), deep sea, drowning

dreareads_'s review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

A slow paced horror story of two wives trying to hold on to each other as they’re drifting apart.

In this book you are lulled into a state of normalcy, almost becoming frustrated at how mundane it all is. That is until you’re deep in the story and you are now grasped by the growing tension, you’re scared of what’s waiting outside in the sea, and are terrified to stay inside the house.

The body horror and horror elements are sprinkled throughout in a manner to bring forth lasting discomfort with no quick resolution.

This is a story of grief. Of ptsd. Of losing someone that is standing next to you. Of the worst and best parts of being with another human during your darkest times. A story where logic goes out the window and the characters act erratically due to their fears. You experience first hand a person detaching themselves from the world and the other trying to hold on despite of being forced to change.

I see why people think it is too slow at times but for me the pace works perfectly to develop an atmosphere that will not let you sleep at night. I loved this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Mental illness, Death, Eating disorder, Violence, Body horror, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Confinement, Suicide, and Toxic relationship

nouveaudragon's review against another edition

challenging emotional mysterious slow-paced

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

4.75

A fantastic slow-burn horror, that like all good horror, leaves the reader with both questions and answers.  Fit into the “quandary of isolation” category if there is such a thing. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Confinement

Moderate: Abandonment