cwerber's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
***
WOW. This book blew me away. I found this recommendation somewhere on the Internet about gothic novels, I think, and it did not disappoint.
Miri's wife, Leah, comes back from a trip from the bottom of the sea that was supposed to last three weeks but ended up being six months. During that time, Miri had no idea what happened to her because of Leah's mysterious employer - only called the Centre.
When Leah does return to the surface, Leah is not the same. And as the book goes on, you see just how much she isn't the Leah who went to work. Miri now has to contend with her life being turned upside down again and a wife who isn't the same as she once was.
It's so much more than horror and be prepared there's body horror in the book, along with homophobia and fatphobia. At the heart of the book, Our Wives Under the Sea is about grief, mourning, and learning to let go of the person and perhaps the grief. Miri naturally represents the person grieving, and Leah the grief itself. Grief shows up differently in people. A grieving person often feels left behind by everyone else while they still feel moored by what they have lost.
The writing is lush and gorgeous but will not be for everyone.
Graphic: Body horror
Minor: Fatphobia and Homophobia
michaelion's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I like the book. It's nice. It's pretty slow. The thing you think is happening is, but it isn't revealed until you're closer to 3/4ths of the way done as opposed to halfway, which also makes it feels slow. That could've been fine, except the backstory showing what their relationship used to be is kind of a drag and doesn't really add anything. Most of those stories didn't feel charming or sweet or fun. Just boring. But I guess that's the point? Falling in love with the mundanity, with the little moments here and there. Remembering things you didn't think in the moment you'd need to remember later. Either way, it didn't work for me, personally.
I also liked the nerdy bits.
Graphic: Sexual content, Chronic illness, Terminal illness, Body horror, Confinement, and Grief
Moderate: Gaslighting, Death, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Blood, Vomit, and Abandonment
adi_mazig's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Body horror and Confinement
Moderate: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Grief, Death, Death of parent, Terminal illness, and Eating disorder
Minor: Misogyny, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Homophobia
lily_peach's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Body horror, Medical content, Abandonment, Confinement, Mental illness, Terminal illness, Gore, Vomit, Death of parent, Blood, Death, and Grief
Moderate: Sexual content, Animal death, Fatphobia, and Eating disorder
Minor: Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Dementia, and Homophobia
sophieissapphhic's review
4.25
This was unsettling and I loved it. This book will be lurking in my thoughts long after I've finished.
Content Warnings Below!
Graphic: body horror (including teeth horror, eye horror, nail horror, gore), confinement, vomiting, blood, grief,
Moderate: disordered eating, psychosis, parental death (cancer), hypochondria
Minor: fatphobia
Graphic: Confinement, Vomit, Grief, Blood, and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent, Eating disorder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Minor: Fatphobia