A review by samiiinah
Private Rites by Julia Armfield

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

3.75

Armfield owns the genre of spooky, gay, and wet. The backdrop of the novel, a collapsed climate where everything is soggy and slowly sinking underwater, is full of dread.  Our three queer sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes are coming together to grieve the loss of their father and cannot seem to put their childhood roles behind. 

Isla being the oldest is still trying to bring her sisters together and take care of them, a fact she herself is resentful of - especially because she feels like her sisters simply do not care about her or each other at all. 

Irene becomes her worst self in the presence of her older sister. Argumentative, defensive, and unable to back down from her anger and grudges. 

Agnes being the youngest doesn’t seem to care much about anything at all. She turns her phone off and becomes unreachable to the world with no concern.

Throughout the novel, there is an undercurrent of tension and this feeling that something is going to happen. But what? And when? 

Similar to how I felt about Our Wives Under the Sea, I wanted more of the what and why of the ultimate conclusion. Why did the pale girl throw herself off the boat in front of Agnes? What is this cult the girls mothers were apparently apart of? What do they think this ritual is going to do? Why these girls? Why now? What does their father’s architecture have to do with it, if anything at all?

I understand that Armfield’s point is that it doesn’t matter why, because it will happen anyway whether you understand it or not. I suppose as a reader, I feel entitled to know. I want the reasoning behind the horrors. Both this novel and Our Wives Under the Sea left me unsatisfied because the mysteries I wanted answers to - the squid and the cult - were never fully brought to light and explored in the ways I wish they were. 

I suppose next time I will have better expectations. I plan to enter Armfield’s next novel with the clarity of a character study and the acceptance that my questions will not be answered. All that to say, I do greatly enjoy the queer representation and the way Armfield consistently uses water as a metaphor for the queer experience. Still on the surface, but what is hiding beneath?
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