_lydlyds's review
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- 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? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Body horror, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Dementia
ptara's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Body horror
Moderate: Death of parent
Minor: Dementia
rabidteddybear's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Amazing book and I love the tone, the atmosphere, and the romance and that's the only it isn't a full 5 stars for me
Spoiler
but I wish there had been more information on the centre's and what their true plans had been
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death of parent, Grief, and Mental illness
Moderate: Dementia
Minor: Self harm, Suicide, Acephobia/Arophobia, and Lesbophobia
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
deviya's review
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Heart breaking heart shattering changed me forever I will never be the same God it hurts terrifying mysterious 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔 5 stars <3
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Blood, Confinement, Death, Grief, Vomit, Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping, Dementia, and Lesbophobia
emburs9's review
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief
Moderate: Dementia, Death of parent, and Death
horizonous's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Body horror, and Confinement
Moderate: Dementia, Terminal illness, Blood, Death, Death of parent, and Mental illness
Minor: Sexism, Injury/Injury detail, and Vomit
◦ Mental illness = Hypochondriablacksphinx's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I feel like, since I loved Annihilation, I should have loved this too? But I didn't. They have a lot of elements in common - a female scientist encounters something unexplainable while doing research for an mysterious organization - but I don't think the dual PoVs worked for me. It felt less like a horror novel or weird fiction than an exploration of the grief you feel to having a loved one die of a degenerative disease and/or dementia.
If you have issues with body horror (especially eye injuries) DO NOT read this book - it made me physically ill.
If you have issues with body horror (especially eye injuries) DO NOT read this book - it made me physically ill.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Terminal illness, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Gore, and Confinement
Moderate: Death, Death of parent, Suicide, Dementia, and Mental illness
Minor: Lesbophobia, Homophobia, and Eating disorder
megaoboid's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
an emotional and very internal story. would’ve been a five star but there were parts that felt very unsatisfying and far too unfinished, more as though the author didn’t know what to do with them or couldn’t be bothered to shape them a bit more succinctly as opposed to simply wanting to leave them open.
i also removed another star because there was also a strange moment of very casual and in-your-face biphobia in the line of ‘bisexual women are actually just annoying straight women who desperately want attention’, which was absolutely and utterly bizarre, especially considering that this was the only time LGB sexuality is mentioned by name (other than sarcastic quips about ‘straight people’) in a book quite literally about two women married to one another. put a very foul taste in my mouth unfortunately, especially as the character - poppy - is only ever referred to negatively in every instance that she appears (her traits are introduced as follows: bisexual, attention-seeking, loud, annoying, always complaining). also seems as though we’re supposed to feel terribly sorry for her boyfriend, who we know nothing about? really strange and entirely unnecessary. it’s pretty easy to assume this stems from the authors personal beliefs, and it was horribly off putting and lingered through the rest of the book for me. very disappointing.
i also removed another star because there was also a strange moment of very casual and in-your-face biphobia in the line of ‘bisexual women are actually just annoying straight women who desperately want attention’, which was absolutely and utterly bizarre, especially considering that this was the only time LGB sexuality is mentioned by name (other than sarcastic quips about ‘straight people’) in a book quite literally about two women married to one another. put a very foul taste in my mouth unfortunately, especially as the character - poppy - is only ever referred to negatively in every instance that she appears (her traits are introduced as follows: bisexual, attention-seeking, loud, annoying, always complaining). also seems as though we’re supposed to feel terribly sorry for her boyfriend, who we know nothing about? really strange and entirely unnecessary. it’s pretty easy to assume this stems from the authors personal beliefs, and it was horribly off putting and lingered through the rest of the book for me. very disappointing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Medical trauma, Chronic illness, Grief, Body horror, Abandonment, Death, Death of parent, Mental illness, and Terminal illness
Moderate: Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Biphobia, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence