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

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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 book has its audience most certainly, but i do not think it is the audience that the book is marketed towards. the "horror" is not necessarily horror, aside from a handful of scenes, largely relegated to leah's pov chapters. this book is mostly literary, and its immediately evident from the writing style, and themes. it is a book heavily concerned with loss, losing others, yourself, your faculties, your relationship, and previous way of life. i think in some ways in relied on themes too much, nearly to the extent that a reader may be writing the book for her in their imagination. it is not plot driven, or particularly well explained, preferring to leave the reader in the dark as much as the characters. frankly, i think this book could’ve been a bit longer, especially concerning the final pages of miri’s pov, which i think would’ve benefited from it somewhat.

there are moments of genuine arguable horror, but this is not a horror book. it does not concern itself with the horror genre, instead leaning towards dissecting the human psyche. this is not a happy story, and does not have happy ending, but with the tale the author set up, i truly don't think it could've ended any other way. 
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