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sandreline's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-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
4.75
"It’s exhausting, as it always was, to live with such a breadth of things to take up one’s attention—exhausting, the way there can be too much world, even in its final stages. Exhausting, to be so busy and so bored with no time left for either."
Slow moving apocalypses are the most terrifying. Through all the miniscule daily changes, you inevitably cling to the status quo, trying to fit your previous life into the realities of the present. Because it feels ridiculous to do otherwise. That becomes your normal and you accept it, but there's always a nagging feeling at the base of your skull that doesn't allow you to fully rest. Outside, the land has disappeared. The water is around your ankles.
But it's never too late to fight.
Private Rites is unnerving and bordering on absurdist. Julia Armfield is a true master of atmosphere.
While I loved this, I would be careful to reccomend it. It is more a series of musings and character studies than a straight-forward plot. It is one of those books you'll either love or hate, and I would not fault someone who is among the latter.
It's easy to focus the grief of this story, because it is heavy to the point of being suffocating. But the grief is in delicate balance with bright moments of sincere hope and love.
"I could be good with just this...If I could have this, I don’t think it would matter if things had been different or we’d had a different world or more to hope for. I could be happy here."
ARC provided by NetGalley.
Slow moving apocalypses are the most terrifying. Through all the miniscule daily changes, you inevitably cling to the status quo, trying to fit your previous life into the realities of the present. Because it feels ridiculous to do otherwise. That becomes your normal and you accept it, but there's always a nagging feeling at the base of your skull that doesn't allow you to fully rest. Outside, the land has disappeared. The water is around your ankles.
But it's never too late to fight.
Private Rites is unnerving and bordering on absurdist. Julia Armfield is a true master of atmosphere.
While I loved this, I would be careful to reccomend it. It is more a series of musings and character studies than a straight-forward plot. It is one of those books you'll either love or hate, and I would not fault someone who is among the latter.
It's easy to focus the grief of this story, because it is heavy to the point of being suffocating. But the grief is in delicate balance with bright moments of sincere hope and love.
"I could be good with just this...If I could have this, I don’t think it would matter if things had been different or we’d had a different world or more to hope for. I could be happy here."
ARC provided by NetGalley.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment
thegouldfish's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Absolutely glorious. I would like to know how Julia Armfield writes books that are so full of doom and yet also make me believe that love is not a lie. Set in the future, but throughout feels menacingly relevant to how things are at present. The slow, claustrophobic creep of horror is incredible and the writing deeply beautiful.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death of parent, Death, Self harm, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Mental illness, and Emotional abuse
Moderate: Blood, Religious bigotry, Suicide, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Dementia
jamieleepilk's review
challenging
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? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
'Private Rites' follows the story of three sisters after the death of their father. The world is now covered in water & won't stop raining, the novel follows the sister's fractured relationship as they each navigate their grief, their love lives (or lack of) while also dealing with what feels like might be the end of the world. The story is told through a present day narrative that at times gives us flashbacks into the past of each of the siblings as they start to believe that their parents may have kept a sinister secret.
.
Nobody writes like Julia Armfield. Nobody. Her way of writing is so beautiful that it sticks with you and leaves you breathless. She has this way of creating characters that you instantly connect with and this you know personally. The way she writes about queer relationships is phenomenal. While reading this you consistently get that really sinister feeling that something is going to happen, it fills you with dread as you start to piece things together! I adored how she writes about the sisters relationship and I think any one with siblings can identify with regardless of circumstance.
I thoroughly loved this book, as I knew I would! Julia is an insanely talented writer.
.
Nobody writes like Julia Armfield. Nobody. Her way of writing is so beautiful that it sticks with you and leaves you breathless. She has this way of creating characters that you instantly connect with and this you know personally. The way she writes about queer relationships is phenomenal. While reading this you consistently get that really sinister feeling that something is going to happen, it fills you with dread as you start to piece things together! I adored how she writes about the sisters relationship and I think any one with siblings can identify with regardless of circumstance.
I thoroughly loved this book, as I knew I would! Julia is an insanely talented writer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Death of parent, and Grief
Moderate: Stalking
Minor: Suicide
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