Reviews tagging 'Abandonment'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

50 reviews

noble_xoxo's review against another edition

challenging mysterious sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Interesting book. Often challenging to piece together the entire picture.  Characters are highly flawed but highly human. Goes where you expect it to. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Blood

Moderate: Abandonment

sonygaystation's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.75

I really enjoyed the writing but the plot itself left things to be desired. I wanted more spookiness, more weirdness. I felt like it ended with a lot of unanswered questions and I wish it had more of a plot rather than just two alternating perspectives basically written like journal entries. Would’ve LOVEEEED to have more fleshed out time in the ocean and maybe a little more detail into the company who put them down there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Abandonment, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death and Sexual content

julesadventurezone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective medium-paced

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

5.0

A story about being a hypochondriac living in a rented flat with thin walls who finds it so hard to keep up with friends, whose wife says she'll be gone for three weeks and instead stays gone for six months. And then when she comes back she comes back so wrong. How do you live with that grief? What can you even hope to do about this?
It's a love story, it's a ghost story, it's a horror story.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Death, Violence, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Suicide, Medical content, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gaslighting, Alcohol, Sexual content, Vomit, Abandonment, Dementia, Gore, Blood, Homophobia, Death of parent, and Cursing

Minor: Body shaming and Fatphobia

Contains descriptions of

drowning and eye horror

theirgracegrace's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.25

I read this book in a whirlwind three weeks and I cannot get it out of my head. The pastiche of character moments (especially at the end) can come across as jarring but helps to solidify the main characters Miri and Leah. Their relationship deteriorates when Leah comes back "wrong" after a routine research trip in a submarine leaves her stranded on the ocean floor for six months. The point-of-view bounces between Miri trying to make sense of her wife's strange behaviour and Leah explaining how the trip might have purposefully done for some mysterious ends. A tragic ending puts this book high on my list of recommended books. A fantastic read!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Self harm, Body horror, Confinement, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Vomit, Animal death, Terminal illness, Cursing, Dementia, Mental illness, and Suicide

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Violence, Animal cruelty, and Alcohol

Minor: Cancer

One of the main characters is trapped in a submarine with two other people for six months and the three of them go clinically insane.

broccoli_j's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

This books reads like a mix of „a lady's guide to celestial mechanics“ by Olivia Waite and „Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead“ by Emily Austin with an amazing, thrilling story within. 

If you liked the writing style of „Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead“ you will definitely like the writing style of Julia Armfield!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, and Dementia

abigailc0x's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-paced

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

4.5

4.5 stars this was good even tho it took me like 3 months to read
kind of predictable ending but was still good so don’t care 
not really helped with any fears i have of submarines or the sea

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment and Death

heisiiri's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

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

4.5

What an odd, eerie, haunting book. I don't know how to describe this, other than that it's the type of thing that some people will absolutely love and a lot of people just will not be into at all. 

It's psychological horror, and body horror, yet it's very slow-paced and subtle and mysterious in a way where it feels distinctly different from any other horror media I've consumed. I loved it, although it left me feeling quite uncomfortable and uneasy and with many questions unanswered. That's kind of the point, I think. 

I'm absolutely fascinated by the deep sea, its inherent mysteriousness, and that added another layer to my enjoyment. More of all types of horror should use the deep sea as a setting or inspiration! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Mental illness, Abandonment, Suicide, and Death of parent

annaonthepage's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment and Body horror

Minor: Homophobia

charming_killerqueen's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Abandonment and Lesbophobia

sorcha's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Suicide, and Death

Moderate: Abandonment, Blood, Confinement, and Mental illness

Minor: Death of parent, Alcohol, Homophobia, and Vomit