A review by brnineworms
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.5

I’ve looked at some other reviews, and it seems a lot of readers were left feeling let down or confused. Maybe they went in expecting a romance or horror story when, in reality, Our Wives Under the Sea is neither of those things. And both.

I would describe this book as weird fiction. It’s all about the vibe, the gut feeling that something is off. Armfield does a fantastic job of building that unsettling atmosphere through her haunting prose.
I don’t think I’d go so far as to say I was disappointed by the ending, but it didn’t quite work for me.

I think the compelling aspect of Leah coming back “wrong” was that it was hard to pinpoint exactly what was wrong with her. Maybe there was actually nothing wrong with her and it was all in Miri’s head; a hallucinatory rejection of Leah upon her return. The sea creature and Leah’s transformation made the horror too literal, too tangible, which kind of made it lose its grip (ironically). For me at least, the uncertainty as to what’s real and what’s imagined is precisely what makes this kind of horror work.

That said, I can’t deny the thematic resonance

(the idea of “letting go” as it relates to loss and mourning)

CONTENT WARNINGS: body horror, blood, sickness, suicide, death, grief, psychosis (hypochondria, hearing voices, dereality)