Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

65 reviews

natbrooke94's review against another edition

dark emotional sad 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Dementia, Body horror, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content and Lesbophobia

frankieclc's review against another edition

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Body horror

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: Sexual content

littleblackduckbooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Body horror, and Death

Moderate: Sexual content

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.

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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

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Terminal illness, Death of parent, Body horror, Confinement, Grief, and Medical content

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Vomit, Dementia, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Incest, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Homophobia, and Sexual harassment

leanne_miron's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Grief, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Body horror, Death of parent, and Medical content

Minor: Sexual content

alexisgarcia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

i loved the premise, the writing, the character development, etc. but i feel like there was a tiny bit left to be desired in terms of the ending. however, i do not know if more would actually increase the amount i enjoyed this or totally destroy the ambiguity. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Toxic friendship, Body horror, Death of parent, Dysphoria, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Chronic illness, Grief, Mental illness, and Sexual content

lily_peach's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder

Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Homophobia

niyou's review against another edition

mysterious reflective 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

4.75

Our Wives under the Sea takes soft horror and uses it to tell a poignant love story. At the beginning, Miri announces her intent to make us not just understand – but feel. This definitely succeeded with me. I felt Miri and Leah’s love for each other, and their panic and grief at its impending loss. The horror shifts between the eerie mystery at the heart of Leah’s story and the soft body horror we see through Miri’s eyes. At first, I did not care for the body horror as it didn’t have the same emotional impact. Then I realized that this disconnect is as much part of the story as Leah’s mystery. It’s so sad that they never got to experience each other’s narratives, the way you do as a reader. I expect that I’ll return to this story often to explore its hidden depths (pun intended).

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content and Body horror

Minor: Homophobia

sarah984's review against another edition

challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

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

4.0

This book is definitely not for everyone - it's a slow, almost meditative book and it doesn't exactly tie up neatly at the end - but I really enjoyed it. Miri's wife Leah was missing for months after her submarine mission for a mysterious oceanography centre went awry (or did it??), and upon her miraculous return, she's changed in some pretty fundamental ways. The book is divided into sections where Miri is dealing with her grief and frustration in the present, and where Leah is telling the story of what happened on the mission in the past.

I do wish that Leah had gotten a POV chapter in the present, and a few of Miri's chapters had some weird biphobia for no real reason, but other than that I loved it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, and Grief

Moderate: Death, Medical content, Terminal illness, Blood, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

Minor: Ableism, Homophobia, Sexual content, Suicide, Biphobia, Vomit, Animal death, and Eating disorder