ashavila1's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book captivated me from the beginning. Julia Armfield does an amazing job of creating a tense, rich atmosphere to explore themes relating to love, horror, decay, and memory throughout the story. I often found myself being so immersed in the story, I would need several minutes afterwards to recompose from the intensity of this book's grasp. This story falls along the lines of an intense study of character, grief, and love wherein the plot is pushed by internal reflection. This isn't going to be a book for everyone. It's intense and fueled by the atmosphere and it's themes. But if you're looking for heart wrenching sapphic romance with a touch of horror, this is an extraordinary book. Highly recommend for fans of gothic horror, mysteries, and tragic lesbians trying their best.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness
Minor: Sexual content, Medical trauma, Terminal illness, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Death, Vomit, Self harm, and Lesbophobia
saintyeehaw's review
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This reminded me so much of "The Rememberer" by Amiee Bender, one of my favorite short stories. Unfortunately, as a long form novel, I did not enjoy this as much.
Spoiler
I thought the amount of mystery and sinister secret society stuff was just right. The "boss" with his eye ring, the eye of the creature, the disappearance of the Centre--all of it made my stomach drop when the connections started appearing. I like that we don't get the full picture; what would you want to know? That there's a group sending sacrifices down to an ancient creature that is the ocean itself? I think it works much better unclear and up to your imagination.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Animal death, Body horror, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
victoria_catherine_shaw's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Body horror, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
flashandoutbreak's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Mental illness, Chronic illness, Confinement, and Grief
broccoli_j's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
This books reads like a mix of „a lady's guide to celestial mechanics“ by Olivia Waite and „Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead“ by Emily Austin with an amazing, thrilling story within.
If you liked the writing style of „Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead“ you will definitely like the writing style of Julia Armfield!
If you liked the writing style of „Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead“ you will definitely like the writing style of Julia Armfield!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Suicide, Violence, and Toxic friendship
Minor: Chronic illness, Gaslighting, and Dementia
kaiju_krispies's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This book is about a lot of things, but for me, it is primarily about the inextricable, inevitable relationship between grief and love. And like the book, I am left more with a series of impressions more than a concrete understanding of what happened here.
I'm a sucker for openers, the first fifty pages of a book to me are often my favorite; this is the rare one where it starts strong and just keeps getting better. I think the author is extremely clever in how and when we are fed a change of pace, a glimpse backward in time, or a grotesque new image. Prescient, also, to have written a book about the horrors of submarines in the deep ocean.
I spent most of the book feeling just slightly too stupid to gather all of the presented threads and tie them into a whole message. I can see the threads--the question mark of Miri's genetic illness and the pretending that we don't know what's going to happen even when we do, that grief is a ghost made vivid by memory more than it is about a person, that love is a void into which we stare and we are transformed by that love into something beautiful, grotesque, and impermanent--but I can't, quite, wrestle them into a whole, complete thought. This also feels right, because nothing about grief or love ever was just one thing. The night I finished it I cried to myself to sleep about my dog growing old, and in me is also the child crying for their old cat and only friend the night he died, and these are the same gritty pearl in the same body made different by time.
A book to read twice, but maybe not too close together, and an author to look out for. There were so many pitfalls here--over-flowery language, growing maudlin, making a thread too obscure or too obvious, revealing too much or too little, even letting the reader know it's okay that you know where this is going now, that's what a monster movie is--and by my reckoning they were all gracefully avoided. I cannot imagine what editing this was like. I appreciate being taken along on this story and will think about it for a long time to come.
I'm a sucker for openers, the first fifty pages of a book to me are often my favorite; this is the rare one where it starts strong and just keeps getting better. I think the author is extremely clever in how and when we are fed a change of pace, a glimpse backward in time, or a grotesque new image. Prescient, also, to have written a book about the horrors of submarines in the deep ocean.
I spent most of the book feeling just slightly too stupid to gather all of the presented threads and tie them into a whole message. I can see the threads--the question mark of Miri's genetic illness and the pretending that we don't know what's going to happen even when we do, that grief is a ghost made vivid by memory more than it is about a person, that love is a void into which we stare and we are transformed by that love into something beautiful, grotesque, and impermanent--but I can't, quite, wrestle them into a whole, complete thought. This also feels right, because nothing about grief or love ever was just one thing. The night I finished it I cried to myself to sleep about my dog growing old, and in me is also the child crying for their old cat and only friend the night he died, and these are the same gritty pearl in the same body made different by time.
A book to read twice, but maybe not too close together, and an author to look out for. There were so many pitfalls here--over-flowery language, growing maudlin, making a thread too obscure or too obvious, revealing too much or too little, even letting the reader know it's okay that you know where this is going now, that's what a monster movie is--and by my reckoning they were all gracefully avoided. I cannot imagine what editing this was like. I appreciate being taken along on this story and will think about it for a long time to come.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Body horror, and Grief
Moderate: Chronic illness, Death of parent, Dementia, Terminal illness, and Death
lyrapollock's review
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Death, and Body horror
Moderate: Sexual content, Chronic illness, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Lesbophobia, Mental illness, and Blood
Minor: Self harm, Eating disorder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
honigbieni's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Mental illness, Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Confinement, Gore, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Chronic illness, and Terminal illness
Minor: Sexual content and Medical content
gardens_and_dragons's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
The rating here was beautiful and flows so naturally. The themes of grief, and love her so tender and melancholic. There is also that touch of horror that was very compelling in a way that it interwove themes of loss due to a progressive illness versus lost to some thing great and unknowable like the ocean.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Grief, and Chronic illness
Moderate: Confinement
elliesonthemoon's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
As someone with crippling thalassophobia as well as intense discomfort with body horror, I truly regret not reading the content warnings for this book. Insanely disturbing, it made my toes curl and my stomach turn and my nightmares full of ocean.
That being said, I couldn't stop reading. The characters of Miri and Leah are both very loveable and real. The book is beautifully written and had me very emotional at times.
I rate it no more than a 3.5 because I kept waiting for answers as to what was happening, and I didn't get them. I turned the last page feeling desperate and unsatisfied. I definitely will read Armfield's other works, though.
That being said, I couldn't stop reading. The characters of Miri and Leah are both very loveable and real. The book is beautifully written and had me very emotional at times.
I rate it no more than a 3.5 because I kept waiting for answers as to what was happening, and I didn't get them. I turned the last page feeling desperate and unsatisfied. I definitely will read Armfield's other works, though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Terminal illness, Chronic illness, Body horror, and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent and Suicide