hypnoticreport 's review for:

Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield

3.75

dark mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

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Such a quietly sad story about grief. The minute details of Miri and Leah's relationship made their love so lucid and tangible. Loved the prose, but sometimes the dialouge felt very writerly and it was difficult to distinguish specific voices for each character. But man, reading this felt like a dull, slow ache in your chest at you feel Leah slipping away.
 Personally, I see Leah's return as an allegory for grief itself. Miri tries to conjure "her" Leah as she would have her, but her mind can't construct a crystalline image of her, so what remains is this strange, "sunken" Leah, caught in the liminal space between life and death.
 But yeah. Good book. Definitely have to check out more by this author!