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A review by emmaisnotavampire
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
dark
mysterious
sad
medium-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? No
4.5
Weird girl books! That’s my jam!
I knew this novel was supposed to be dark, to be fair the label of psychological horror was exactly why I picked it up un the first place; nonetheless, I was still expecting said darkness to pertain primarily to the realm of emotions, narrating a marine biologist’s descent into madness. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, while definitely including that element, the story more widely handled her descent into inhumanity, her psychophysical decay. It felt obscure, tense, twisted, all of my favourite things in literature, enhanced by the multiple flashbacks and narrator shifts which showed the contrasts between pre and post trauma, between the struggle of the victim and that of the carer, a sane mind versus one that’s been driven insane.
Loved loved loved the structure of the book, how it was divided into parts, “zones”, getting progressively darker and more disturbing just like the ocean does. And the plot twists! Going from “what an unfortunate accident they faced” to “woah people really have no moral scruples” hit hard, in the best way possible. I adore reading about going too far and playing with other people’s lives in the search for knowledge… maybe I also have no scruples, I don’t know.
Aside all the suspenseful horror, it was also a heartbreaking love story, which painfully reminded me of some dynamics between my boyfriend and I: I especially found it adorable how Leah automatically stored information in the perspective of telling it to Miri, which made me feel a newfound wave of tenderness towards my boyfriend’s infodump love language.
I knew this novel was supposed to be dark, to be fair the label of psychological horror was exactly why I picked it up un the first place; nonetheless, I was still expecting said darkness to pertain primarily to the realm of emotions, narrating a marine biologist’s descent into madness. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that, while definitely including that element, the story more widely handled her descent into inhumanity, her psychophysical decay. It felt obscure, tense, twisted, all of my favourite things in literature, enhanced by the multiple flashbacks and narrator shifts which showed the contrasts between pre and post trauma, between the struggle of the victim and that of the carer, a sane mind versus one that’s been driven insane.
Loved loved loved the structure of the book, how it was divided into parts, “zones”, getting progressively darker and more disturbing just like the ocean does. And the plot twists! Going from “what an unfortunate accident they faced” to “woah people really have no moral scruples” hit hard, in the best way possible. I adore reading about going too far and playing with other people’s lives in the search for knowledge… maybe I also have no scruples, I don’t know.
Aside all the suspenseful horror, it was also a heartbreaking love story, which painfully reminded me of some dynamics between my boyfriend and I: I especially found it adorable how Leah automatically stored information in the perspective of telling it to Miri, which made me feel a newfound wave of tenderness towards my boyfriend’s infodump love language.