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maeverose's review against another edition
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 asthe 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.”
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
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.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Suicide, Terminal illness, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and Dementia
Moderate: Sexual content, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Eating disorder, Vomit, Cancer, and Sexual harassment
Minor: Lesbophobia and Fatphobia
There are depictions of people gradually losing their mind in confinement,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.
It's a love story, it's a ghost story, it's a horror story.
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 ofcwerber's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- 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
5.0
I need the night to think about what I want to write about this book.
***
WOW. This book blew me away. I found this recommendation somewhere on the Internet about gothic novels, I think, and it did not disappoint.
Miri's wife, Leah, comes back from a trip from the bottom of the sea that was supposed to last three weeks but ended up being six months. During that time, Miri had no idea what happened to her because of Leah's mysterious employer - only called the Centre.
When Leah does return to the surface, Leah is not the same. And as the book goes on, you see just how much she isn't the Leah who went to work. Miri now has to contend with her life being turned upside down again and a wife who isn't the same as she once was.
It's so much more than horror and be prepared there's body horror in the book, along with homophobia and fatphobia. At the heart of the book, Our Wives Under the Sea is about grief, mourning, and learning to let go of the person and perhaps the grief. Miri naturally represents the person grieving, and Leah the grief itself. Grief shows up differently in people. A grieving person often feels left behind by everyone else while they still feel moored by what they have lost.
The writing is lush and gorgeous but will not be for everyone.
***
WOW. This book blew me away. I found this recommendation somewhere on the Internet about gothic novels, I think, and it did not disappoint.
Miri's wife, Leah, comes back from a trip from the bottom of the sea that was supposed to last three weeks but ended up being six months. During that time, Miri had no idea what happened to her because of Leah's mysterious employer - only called the Centre.
When Leah does return to the surface, Leah is not the same. And as the book goes on, you see just how much she isn't the Leah who went to work. Miri now has to contend with her life being turned upside down again and a wife who isn't the same as she once was.
It's so much more than horror and be prepared there's body horror in the book, along with homophobia and fatphobia. At the heart of the book, Our Wives Under the Sea is about grief, mourning, and learning to let go of the person and perhaps the grief. Miri naturally represents the person grieving, and Leah the grief itself. Grief shows up differently in people. A grieving person often feels left behind by everyone else while they still feel moored by what they have lost.
The writing is lush and gorgeous but will not be for everyone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Fatphobia and Homophobia
michaelion's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I've said it before and I'll keep saying it. White people can't write magical realism! An overgeneralization, I know. I don't fully mean it of course, not 100%, maybe just 90-something%, but the elements of it were there and there was still something missing.
I like the book. It's nice. It's pretty slow. The thing you think is happening is, but it isn't revealed until you're closer to 3/4ths of the way done as opposed to halfway, which also makes it feels slow. That could've been fine, except the backstory showing what their relationship used to be is kind of a drag and doesn't really add anything. Most of those stories didn't feel charming or sweet or fun. Just boring. But I guess that's the point? Falling in love with the mundanity, with the little moments here and there. Remembering things you didn't think in the moment you'd need to remember later. Either way, it didn't work for me, personally.
I also liked the nerdy bits.
I like the book. It's nice. It's pretty slow. The thing you think is happening is, but it isn't revealed until you're closer to 3/4ths of the way done as opposed to halfway, which also makes it feels slow. That could've been fine, except the backstory showing what their relationship used to be is kind of a drag and doesn't really add anything. Most of those stories didn't feel charming or sweet or fun. Just boring. But I guess that's the point? Falling in love with the mundanity, with the little moments here and there. Remembering things you didn't think in the moment you'd need to remember later. Either way, it didn't work for me, personally.
I also liked the nerdy bits.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Confinement, and Grief
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Blood, Vomit, and Abandonment
lily_peach's review
dark
emotional
sad
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? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Abandonment, Confinement, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Gore, Vomit, Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder
Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Homophobia
sophieissapphhic's review
dark
4.25
"To know the ocean, I have always felt, is to recognise the teeth it keeps half-hidden."
This was unsettling and I loved it. This book will be lurking in my thoughts long after I've finished.
Content Warnings Below!
Graphic: body horror (including teeth horror, eye horror, nail horror, gore), confinement, vomiting, blood, grief,
Moderate: disordered eating, psychosis, parental death (cancer), hypochondria
Minor: fatphobia
This was unsettling and I loved it. This book will be lurking in my thoughts long after I've finished.
Content Warnings Below!
Graphic: body horror (including teeth horror, eye horror, nail horror, gore), confinement, vomiting, blood, grief,
Moderate: disordered eating, psychosis, parental death (cancer), hypochondria
Minor: fatphobia
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Vomit, Grief, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Fatphobia
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