Reviews tagging 'Lesbophobia'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

70 reviews

izzybell's review

mysterious 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? No

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement and Body horror

Moderate: Lesbophobia 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

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

itsheyfay's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Body horror, and Grief

Moderate: Physical abuse, Death of parent, and Death

Minor: Lesbophobia

thebetterstory's review against another edition

mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

This is well-written, and it has moments of insight about life that are interesting to see reflected back on the page. The suspense builds over the course of the novel, as you wonder what happened in the ocean, what the Centre really is and what Leah is becoming, but the overarching mystery is never really resolved, and while the ending is fitting I left the book as a whole feeling a bit ambivalent about the whole thing.

Leah and Miri aren't badly written, but I had the same issue as I often do with modern literary fiction, which is that everyone felt a bit interchangeable. Yes, they had carefully specified quirks, and their backstories and families were developed. All those elements were there, but in the end they felt pretty much interchangeable aside from those. The same goes for the rest of the cast. Names would appear in the story, and despite how short the book was I couldn't honestly tell you who Sam or any of the rest of them were or when they'd been introduced, specifically.

Similarly, if you asked me to name a character trait for either of the leads, it would have to be "nice" for Leah, which you know mostly because the book and Miri tell you so, and...I really don't know for Miri, actually. Withdrawn, maybe, or cold. They have all those insightful human moments grafted onto them and their stories, but they never really feel like they make the narrative theirs, which also makes the romance—which does have its poignant moments—feel a touch bland as well.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, and Terminal illness

Minor: Lesbophobia, Alcohol, and Ableism

hedsek's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad 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

4.75

Truly an amazing read. Extremely gripping and the descriptions of how things used to be are so realistic and slice of life that it becomes heartbreaking. The horror elements go really well with the emotional stuff.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Mental illness, Death, Vomit, Eating disorder, and Terminal illness

Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Lesbophobia, Gore, Homophobia, Chronic illness, and Emotional abuse

Eye stuff

beccaand's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Grief, Confinement, Terminal illness, Mental illness, and Death

Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide

Minor: Lesbophobia

tocelot's review against another edition

mysterious reflective fast-paced

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

4.5

4.5
I read this right when I needed to read it. It’s crazy when things work out that way. I liked the tone and it just felt very easy to read; it was cozy and familiar to me, in a mysterious horror kind of way. I would have given 5 but

the ending was a small let down- I wish it had toed the line with the supernatural a bit more hazily

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror

Minor: Lesbophobia

litliz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Suicide, Sexual content, Vomit, Death, Grief, Chronic illness, Confinement, Dementia, Dysphoria, Blood, Body horror, Death of parent, and Lesbophobia

candace's review

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Suicide

Minor: Lesbophobia