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carojust's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.75
Two different versions of horror, presented as alternating POVs of a landbound woman and her seabound wife. This is a fast read; Julia Armfield has so much talent for illustrative and suspenseful storytelling, balancing a rarely seen world of deep sea exploration with an aching portrait of the person left behind, experiencing their twin versions of darkness.
Still, I felt an emotional distance from these characters, and their hastily written co-workers, friends and parents. They're entirely defined by their confusion and disorder, with little snippets about their cozy past life, and their voices become indistinguishable from each other. Maybe that's intentional, that they are two halves of the same whole, and everyone else is an afterthought of their malfunctioning brains? Maybe they are the same person.
You'll enjoy this book if you're in the mood for something mysterious and creepy, with deeper perspectives on grief and the unraveling of losing someone you love.
Still, I felt an emotional distance from these characters, and their hastily written co-workers, friends and parents. They're entirely defined by their confusion and disorder, with little snippets about their cozy past life, and their voices become indistinguishable from each other. Maybe that's intentional, that they are two halves of the same whole, and everyone else is an afterthought of their malfunctioning brains? Maybe they are the same person.
You'll enjoy this book if you're in the mood for something mysterious and creepy, with deeper perspectives on grief and the unraveling of losing someone you love.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Mental illness, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
mklmy's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-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
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent
Moderate: Body horror, Mental illness, and Grief
Minor: Suicide and Lesbophobia
cloud_doggos's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
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
0.75
I believe the first ~170-ish pages are supposed to build tension or mystery, unfortunately for me they felt repetitive and boring.
Upon reading about the descent (not the initial submarine descent, but the cognisant one) of one character, Jelka, who takes the abrupt exit I yelped to my partner that something interesting had finally happened and it was 175 pages in..!
I wish I’d enjoyed this book more, but unfortunately I found the first 75% of the book tiresome, and the final 25% has left me with more questions than answers.
I wish I’d enjoyed this book more, but unfortunately I found the first 75% of the book tiresome, and the final 25% has left me with more questions than answers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement and Suicide
Moderate: Death of parent
phrogen's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent
Minor: Lesbophobia
andreanneveillette's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Grief, and Death of parent
mycarefulcardinal's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Terminal illness, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
beanaroni's review
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Suicide, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
cali_dee'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? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Mental illness, Suicide, Terminal illness, Grief, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Abandonment
Minor: Lesbophobia
melodyseestrees's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
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
4.5
The horror elements were left primarily off page or very vaguely described. It was like HP Lovecraft without all the racism. The creature(s) were barely described and were just some Other figure in the depths. I liked the potential of the split POVS but we were constantly flipping between them so we didn't really get to feel the unwinding of those in the submarine alongside the wife on shore.
The pace of the story is so slow that for most of it, the journey felt like "learning to love the spouse that came back wrong" but if the 'came back wrong' was a physical disability. This felt much more grief than horror and I'd been hoping for more horror than grief.
It's a grief metaphor! The whole thing is just Miri learning to let go! Leah might as well have never actually returned because then it would have been an interesting glimpse of a grief-stricken psychosis paired alongside the Husband in Space forum tangent.
The pace of the story is so slow that for most of it, the journey felt like "learning to love the spouse that came back wrong" but if the 'came back wrong' was a physical disability. This felt much more grief than horror and I'd been hoping for more horror than grief.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, and Grief
Moderate: Death, Suicide, and Death of parent
Minor: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Lesbophobia
bexxhenders's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
When something bad is actually happening, it’s easy to underreact, because a part of you is wired to assume it isn’t real. When you stop underreacting, the horror is unique because it is, unfortunately, endless.
I have been in a reading slump for months, and I knew by the end of the first page that this book would be the one to pull me out of it. And that it did, in less than 24 hours! I was immediately hooked by Julia Armfield's poetic writing style, which gave us such a beautiful and haunting story about love, loss, and grief. My only issue was the plot holes—I wish we had a few more answers. BUT, I also get why they were there and it probably wouldn't have packed the same emotional punch had everything been so neatly packaged for us. It's a brilliant, moving, thought-provoking read I know I'll be thinking about for some time.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Grief and Death of parent