Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

32 reviews

koyotekarlheinz's review

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

kenrya's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Lesbophobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Mental illness, Body horror, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Grief, Terminal illness, and Vomit

_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

houseofjules's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.0

 Although my time with this book oscillated between transfixed curiosity and exasperation to reach the point, I ultimately think this is a really well written and mostly captivating story. Despite the many questions I kept posing while reading, I understand they were sacrificed for the vibes. And the vibe is immaculate, albeit sad and weird. But in a good way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, and Death

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

kfergy's review

dark mysterious medium-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? It's complicated

3.5

Enjoyed reading, I would say that it's certainly a read that intentionally leaves you feeling uneasy throughout. The first half takes time to build your perception of the characters, allowing the second half to lay out the sequence of events under the ocean and on land.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Body horror, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

thecrimsoncorsair's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

I did enjoy that this book had a lesbian couple as the main couple, and that their lesbianism wasn't a main focus. They were just treated like any other couple would be. But damn, was this a struggle to get through. Even listening to it. It was just so dull. I'm genuinely convinced that the characters all died down in the sub, and what we're witnessing is the grief induced mental breakdown of Leah's spouse. That the pov of Leah down in the sub even is just a story that Miri has made up to soothe herself. It's all such a strange narrative. Magical realism, but also not. I don't know. I'm so confused lmao. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, Death of parent, Mental illness, Confinement, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

senwithers's review

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

…I’m still not sure how I feel about it.

The first 65 pages had me enthralled—heartbroken and anxious. Then it got *weird*. But there was a kind of beauty in its lack of detail. Because it didn’t feel like the horrors that befell Leah were all that important anyway. It was Miri’s grief amidst her unwavering love that hooked me.

I spent 4 years caring for a loved one with dementia, who was less and less like herself as time went on. Yet we loved her fiercely anyway and did whatever we could to keep the new version of her comfortable while grieving the person she used to be.

And that’s what Miri did. Despite her fear and grief and confusion and horror, she took care of her wife.
While I don’t feel wrecked by this book, I’m left feeling a little hollow. Wanting something more, knowing it’s in there, but unable to find it.

But that seems to fit the theme.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Gore and Panic attacks/disorders

jillisonline's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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

Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Death of parent

helenferg's review

dark emotional mysterious sad

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, Death of parent, Suicide, and Panic attacks/disorders