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A review by broro117
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield
2.5
I'm very intrigued by water and stories that feature water as a central component, but this just never clicked into place for me. The lush prose was a little too lush while also trying too hard to be edgy and gritty. I never felt a connection to Leah or Miri; their relationship and they as individuals felt cold and removed. The fact that their voices were nearly identical didn't help the matter.
Leah's chapters were very brief while Miri's were overlong, and this should have been the other way around. All of Miri's chapters felt like they were saying the same thing over and over again, and I was far more interested in what happened on the submarine voyage than in Miri talking about her late mother in vague terms ad nauseam or getting coffee with a "friend" she doesn't even like for the 15th time.
The horror elements were by far the most interesting part, and I wish this book had fully committed to being a horror novel.
I agree with other reviewers that it almost certainly would have worked better as a short story. Some more snippets from other reviews that I wholeheartedly agree with: "lack of substance," "prioritizes language over characters or story," "structural haziness," "screams MFA."
*Listened to audiobook
Leah's chapters were very brief while Miri's were overlong, and this should have been the other way around. All of Miri's chapters felt like they were saying the same thing over and over again, and I was far more interested in what happened on the submarine voyage than in Miri talking about her late mother in vague terms ad nauseam or getting coffee with a "friend" she doesn't even like for the 15th time.
The horror elements were by far the most interesting part, and I wish this book had fully committed to being a horror novel.
I agree with other reviewers that it almost certainly would have worked better as a short story. Some more snippets from other reviews that I wholeheartedly agree with: "lack of substance," "prioritizes language over characters or story," "structural haziness," "screams MFA."
*Listened to audiobook