Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

23 reviews

saintyeehaw's review

challenging emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

This reminded me so much of "The Rememberer" by Amiee Bender, one of my favorite short stories. Unfortunately, as a long form novel, I did not enjoy this as much. 

I thought the amount of mystery and sinister secret society stuff was just right. The "boss" with his eye ring, the eye of the creature, the disappearance of the Centre--all of it made my stomach drop when the connections started appearing. I like that we don't get the full picture; what would you want to know? That there's a group sending sacrifices down to an ancient creature that is the ocean itself? I think it works much better unclear and up to your imagination.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

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.

---

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

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!

---

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!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent

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

Minor: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, and Dementia

yoursam's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad fast-paced

4.5

Sometimes I think you prefer it down there, (...), you go so deep you forget you're supposed to come back.

a gorgeous story about love and grief, holding on and letting go and how painful both are. a wonderful steady build up through glimpses of love and frustration and fear. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Death of parent, and Panic attacks/disorders

bi_n_large's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Blood, Death of parent, and Grief

Moderate: Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Lesbophobia, Violence, Sexual content, and Biphobia

megaoboid's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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

3.0

an emotional and very internal story. would’ve been a five star but there were parts that felt very unsatisfying and far too unfinished, more as though the author didn’t know what to do with them or couldn’t be bothered to shape them a bit more succinctly as opposed to simply wanting to leave them open. 

i also removed another star because there was also a strange moment of very casual and in-your-face biphobia in the line of ‘bisexual women are actually just annoying straight women who desperately want attention’, which was absolutely and utterly bizarre, especially considering that this was the only time LGB sexuality is mentioned by name (other than sarcastic quips about ‘straight people’) in a book quite literally about two women married to one another. put a very foul taste in my mouth unfortunately, especially as the character - poppy - is only ever referred to negatively in every instance that she appears (her traits are introduced as follows: bisexual, attention-seeking, loud, annoying, always complaining). also seems as though we’re supposed to feel terribly sorry for her boyfriend, who we know nothing about? really strange and entirely unnecessary. it’s pretty easy to assume this stems from the authors personal beliefs, and it was horribly off putting and lingered through the rest of the book for me. very disappointing.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

bronzeageholly's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Lesbophobia, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Gaslighting

Minor: Suicide

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.

---

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

saltycoffee's review

dark emotional reflective sad tense 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

3.25

---

Content Warnings

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