Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

348 reviews

exhaustrovert's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Haunting narrative, I don't often (ever) write in books but this one drive me to find a pencil and add my thoughts in the margins. I long for the sea, and grieve.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Medical content, Suicide, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Terminal illness, Dysphoria, Body horror, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

babayaga_babayaga's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious tense 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? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Suicide, Mental illness, Eating disorder, Blood, and Vomit

Minor: Physical abuse

snackattackisback69's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

4.0

The prose of this book was incredibly beautiful. There were definitely elements of horror but they were used primarily to convey the themes of the novel. The descriptions of being haunted by the ghost of what the characters relationship once was felt visceral. I did find it difficult at times to connect with the characters, especially Miri but the ending of the book still impacted me immensely. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Chronic illness

Minor: Death of parent

koyotekarlheinz's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• 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

4.25

I still have a lot of unanswered question and I'll just have to accept that. But the book is great for what it is and I am glad that me and my friends picked it for a buddy read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Chronic illness, Body horror, Suicide, Abandonment, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, and Vomit

Moderate: Death, Dementia, and Death of parent

frankyreadsbooks's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

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

5.0

The ending??? Hello?

I do feel kind of unsatisfied that we never got an adequate answer as to what the Center really was trying to research. What about the big ass eye at the bottom of the ocean that Leah escaped from? Why did she suddenly start turning into a sea creature? How would that even work? The book is not about all of that. I understand. This book is a story of loss in a sense and part strange fiction on my opinion - a genre I enjoy greatly. Plus I want to make the connection to the "Monstrous Feminine". A theory some might be familiar with. Pretty sure you could write academic articles about this novel.

...and on that note:

I NEED MORE OF THIS BOOK. I feel like if I read it again or talk about it more I will find many more world-building details I have missed on my first read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror

Moderate: Terminal illness, Death, Death of parent, and Suicide

Minor: Sexual content

izzybell's review against another edition

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

hardbackhoarder's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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? Yes

3.5

As much as I wanted to love this book, the characters, who are unfortunately the main focus of the book, read flat. I did love the parts on the submarine and those kept me the most interested. I found just a bit annoyed with Miri's point of view as it just seemed to drag and never end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Terminal illness

maddiechristine15's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective slow-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief

Moderate: Confinement, Blood, and Body horror

Minor: 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

todrick_the_tree's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Confinement

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Terminal illness