Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

15 reviews

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 Withdrawn, maybe, or cold.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

alisonfaith426's review against another edition

emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Body horror, Confinement, Sexual content, Death, Death of parent, and Grief

Minor: Animal death and Alcohol

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

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.

hannahpings's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Terminal illness, Medical content, Vomit, Blood, Death of parent, Death, Body horror, Confinement, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

seawarrior's review

4.0

Our Wives Under the Sea is a unique take on a haunting and deconstruction of a relationship. The start of the story mainly focuses on Miri's frustration that her wife, Leah, is profoundly different after her rescue from the deep sea, which I found slow and repetitive at times. Yet as the book continues, we learn terrifying details about Leah's journey that both women omitted until they were impossible to ignore. I most enjoyed reading Leah's perspective, as I also have a fascination with the ocean and the creatures that roam it. I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy both literary and horror fiction, and who appreciate stories that leave many of its answers to mystery.  

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Sexual content and Alcohol

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

sydapel's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.25

Mike Flanagan and A24 need to adapt this ASAP. Foreboding right from the jump, but what you don't expect is the emotions hitting you hard on the way out. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror and Death

Moderate: Alcohol, Death, and Suicide

veliana's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad fast-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Medical content

Minor: Lesbophobia and Alcohol

megmahoney1's review

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Confinement and Violence

Minor: Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Death, Alcohol, Gore, and Sexual content