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mcicenia 's review for:
Private Rites
by Julia Armfield
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
i was pleasantly surprised with this! i wasn’t the hugest fan of our wives under the sea, but for some reason this novel captivated me. the character study really worked for me here, i think mostly because each character was incredibly complex and intricate. what stuck with me most was the illustration of these labyrinthine emotions:
“The problem with love, of course, is that it frequently asks too much of unlovable people.”
“To be misunderstood is one thing, but the curious hostility of a sibling's approach lies less in what they miss than in the strange backdated nature of the things they choose to know. A person can be thirty, thirty-five, and yet still largely described by her sisters in terms of things which happened to be true at the age of seventeen.”
i think this is the kind of novel that will stick with me for a while just for its characterization. the kind of novel that i’ll have to read again and again. my only qualm is that i don’t quite understand the ending. i liked the abruptness of it, the ambiguity - but even after sitting with it i can’t quite parse what it might mean. but overall i loved the concept of these little things scattered throughout the novel culminating in a rug pull twist. like you can feel it coming, you know these things have to mean something, but you don’t really know how.
anyways, i loved this. i might need to reread our wives and see if i have different thoughts now
“The problem with love, of course, is that it frequently asks too much of unlovable people.”
“To be misunderstood is one thing, but the curious hostility of a sibling's approach lies less in what they miss than in the strange backdated nature of the things they choose to know. A person can be thirty, thirty-five, and yet still largely described by her sisters in terms of things which happened to be true at the age of seventeen.”
i think this is the kind of novel that will stick with me for a while just for its characterization. the kind of novel that i’ll have to read again and again. my only qualm is that i don’t quite understand the ending. i liked the abruptness of it, the ambiguity - but even after sitting with it i can’t quite parse what it might mean. but overall i loved the concept of these little things scattered throughout the novel culminating in a rug pull twist. like you can feel it coming, you know these things have to mean something, but you don’t really know how.
anyways, i loved this. i might need to reread our wives and see if i have different thoughts now
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent
Moderate: Grief