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A review by eyeowna
salt slow by Julia Armfield
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I am a Julia Armfield FAN. Her writing is beautiful and she depicts horrific/creepy things with a kind of understated mundanity that is delicious. I think I might love this collection of short stories even more than her novel Our Wives Under the Sea. Reading this second, I see some of the motifs/themes that she explores in depth (ha) in her novel, such as sapphic love and grief. I just can't get enough of the feminine monstrosity, rage, and yearning in these stories. Also teeth. Drink every time Armfield mentions teeth literally or as a metaphor (it's great).
I will continue to think about "Mantis," "The Great Awake," "Formerly Feral," "Stop your women's ears with wax," and "salt slow" in particular for some time.
Ratings for each story (with summary/themes):
“Mantis” - 5/5⭐
- catholic school girl goes through a different sort of puberty than her peers, following her family’s birthright. themes: body horror, girlhood, becoming.
“The Great Awake” - 5/5⭐
- a woman from a small town moves to a big city. soon after, most of the city has their “Sleep” (a kind of ghostly doppelgänger) step out of them and become sleepless. themes: unsettling, urban life, sapphic yearning.
“The Collectables” - 3.5/5⭐
- three graduate student housemates commiserate about their trouble with dating and men. one of them starts an "interesting" collection.
“Formerly Feral” - 5/5⭐
- preteen acquires a wolf stepsister and becomes more wolf-like than the wolf. themes: imperfect girlhood, inhabiting an animal body despite humanity’s mind/body dualism, growing up, becoming, neglect.
“Stop your women’s ears with wax” - 5/5⭐
- main character films video diary-documentary following wildly successful all-woman band who has a strange, violent affect on its female fans. themes: obsession, fan-hood, girlhood, sapphic, violence against men.
“Granite” - 4/5⭐
- nearly-30 yo woman reflects on her first relationship with a perfect-seeming man. themes: loving someone “too much,” being unlovable, womanhood, catch-22 of heterosexuality for women.
“Smack” - 3/5⭐
- woman newly-divorced hides out in her ex-husband’s beach house while a strange phenomenon of jellyfish mass-death occurs on the beach. the writing is beautiful and I’m fascinated by the helplessness of the main character (is she spoiled, depressed, what’s going on?) but otherwise this story didn’t grab me as much as the others.
“Cassandra After” - 5/5⭐
- woman is visited by her dead ex-girlfriend. themes: loving someone “too much,” being “new” to queerness, grief.
“salt slow” - 5/5⭐
- a pregnant woman and her male partner are adrift on a boat in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. themes: another story about love, grief, examining heterosexuality, but this time with the body horror (and not) of pregnancy.
I will continue to think about "Mantis," "The Great Awake," "Formerly Feral," "Stop your women's ears with wax," and "salt slow" in particular for some time.
Ratings for each story (with summary/themes):
“Mantis” - 5/5⭐
- catholic school girl goes through a different sort of puberty than her peers, following her family’s birthright. themes: body horror, girlhood, becoming.
“The Great Awake” - 5/5⭐
- a woman from a small town moves to a big city. soon after, most of the city has their “Sleep” (a kind of ghostly doppelgänger) step out of them and become sleepless. themes: unsettling, urban life, sapphic yearning.
“The Collectables” - 3.5/5⭐
- three graduate student housemates commiserate about their trouble with dating and men. one of them starts an "interesting" collection.
“Formerly Feral” - 5/5⭐
- preteen acquires a wolf stepsister and becomes more wolf-like than the wolf. themes: imperfect girlhood, inhabiting an animal body despite humanity’s mind/body dualism, growing up, becoming, neglect.
“Stop your women’s ears with wax” - 5/5⭐
- main character films video diary-documentary following wildly successful all-woman band who has a strange, violent affect on its female fans. themes: obsession, fan-hood, girlhood, sapphic, violence against men.
“Granite” - 4/5⭐
- nearly-30 yo woman reflects on her first relationship with a perfect-seeming man. themes: loving someone “too much,” being unlovable, womanhood, catch-22 of heterosexuality for women.
“Smack” - 3/5⭐
- woman newly-divorced hides out in her ex-husband’s beach house while a strange phenomenon of jellyfish mass-death occurs on the beach. the writing is beautiful and I’m fascinated by the helplessness of the main character (is she spoiled, depressed, what’s going on?) but otherwise this story didn’t grab me as much as the others.
“Cassandra After” - 5/5⭐
- woman is visited by her dead ex-girlfriend. themes: loving someone “too much,” being “new” to queerness, grief.
“salt slow” - 5/5⭐
- a pregnant woman and her male partner are adrift on a boat in a flooded, post-apocalyptic world. themes: another story about love, grief, examining heterosexuality, but this time with the body horror (and not) of pregnancy.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Body horror