A review by abrdoodle
Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield

dark mysterious sad tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

This was a beautiful book with compelling themes of love, grief, and learning to let your loved ones go. I saw a strong parallel to learning to accept a loved one who has developed dementia for who they are now and coming to terms with the fact that the person you once knew is gone. The author wrote lyrically and used some excellent sea/water imagery and metaphors throughout the book that really helped shroud the story in its shadowy, ocean-y atmosphere. For example: "There is nothing of the previous night, when she dipped her head into my shoulder. Something has crested the surface between us and sunk again, the water closing over its head." Great language and imagery! Also, although the ending was weird as hell, I still enjoyed it for its beauty and sadness. I can't imagine a different ending being more satisfying than the one she wrote.

I expected this book, in short story style, to have some open ends and things to make you think, and I was prepared for that and totally fine with it. I liked the ambiguity left with multiple plot points, such as
whether the Centre intentionally sunk the sub for 6 months, what the hell that Lovecraftian creature was, and even whether Leah turned into water or a fish..? (I'm pretty sure she became water but I'm not 100% certain).
However, I wasn't satisfied with how Leah's submarine escapades connected to the bizarre things going on with her back home. Like I said, I'm definitely okay with some mystery and ambiguity, but I just don't think there was enough reason for why
just seeing a monster would cause her to turn into the ocean
(Leah's arc concluded the way it did). There's not enough correlation there for me to convincingly connect those dots. Sorry to the people not reading spoilers; it's good, read it anyway!

I also think this book could have benefited from the voices of the two main characters, Miri and Leah, being more distinctly different. Each chapter alternated back and forth between the first person perspective of the two characters, and their voices were so similar that they could have been just one character. Additionally, and this is a small point because I understand that Miri was feeling very removed from the events occurring, I can't believe that they did not once go to a hospital! There was some crazy stuff going down, and that's one of the first things that I would have done, or at least once shit really started hitting the fan.

One more thing that I enjoyed was that Miri grew a lot over the course of the story; she accepted the caretaker role for Leah that she had hoped Leah would do for her when they became old, a role reversal that she didn't expect, and navigated through her resentment to that end. I appreciate when a character becomes a different person by the end of the story than they were when it started.

I couldn't put this book down and read it very quickly over just two days. I don't think this book will be for everyone, as I'm sure many people will find it slow-paced with not much plot happening. This book is much more about the characters and the vibes than it is about a plot. However, that works for me, and I found it engrossing and definitely moving. I would say to go into this book with expectations of a quiet, understated story about life and love that happens to contain horror and magical realism. If this sounds like your cup of tea, I think you'll really enjoy it.

"Problem is that ultimately you're really the one who has to kill them. Or not them but the idea of them–you have to make a choice to let it end."

4 stars

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