A review by sproutedpages
Private Rites by Julia Armfield

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Thank you so much to Julia Armfield, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for providing me with an uncorrected digital galley of this novel! All opinions within this review are voluntarily given and entirely my own.

Private Rites has a narrative style that often feels similar to a stage play, with an omniscient narrator and several chapters that feel especially like stage direction told in prose— the chapter ‘Before,’ and those labeled ‘City,’ for example. It is easy to see the influence of King Lear, which Private Rites does reimagine successfully, I think, despite some major changes to the tragedy (which is not unusual in a reimagining versus a retelling). The prose is rich and evocative, and while I wouldn’t call it horror, it does oscillate between a vague sense of unease and a more palpable dread. A sense of treading water and then drowning, literally and metaphorically.

The protagonists- sisters Isla, Irene, and Agnes- are flawed and at times frustrating to endure, though I wouldn’t call them unlikeable overall. Private Rites does spend a majority of its length exploring the minutiae of each of their lives as they navigate the waterlogged end-times, and they are characterized so well that it seems as though they might swim from the page into being. The setting, despite never being named anything more specific by the text than ‘City’ or ’the city,’ also feels similarly tangible, like it could be a place that exists in the present rather than a work of fiction. The novel in general feels very relevant, which only amplifies the sense of dread looming (and building) beneath the narrative’s surface.

I’ve already placed a library hold on the audiobook, because I truly loved the narrative style of Private Rites, and think it would be so well-suited to the audiobook format.
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