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Henk's Reviews > Our Wives Under the Sea
Our Wives Under the Sea
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Sapphic Annihilation and/or Arrival under the sea. Through alternating timelines the author deals with trauma and its aftermath, but I found the conclusion a bit unsatisfying
It was very easy to offend my mother, rather in a way it is very easy to kill and orchid, it often seemed little short of inevitable
Our Wives Under the Sea alternates between two perspectives: Miri in a current timeline and Leah, her wife, during the undersea expedition gone wrong.
Miri her tale focusses on trauma (Living means relinquishing the death), closeness with a partner, loneliness, fear of mental disease and an overall battle with unseen, bureaucratic forces. Despite the wittiness and sharp observations in these sections I felt a bit unmoved overall, with Miri being very passive despite the disturbing things happening with Leah.
The observations Miri makes speak of a keen observer, so it is rather a shame she turns out to be less of an actor overal:
Carmen typically speaks about him the way one might refer to a degree, a three year period one has to enjoy for one to talk with overbearing authority on exactly one subject.
She is the world’s living expert on loving and losing thirty year old men named Tom.
In her quest for understanding, she visits message boards for fictitious husbands lost in space, while her own wife starts to feel more and more fictional as well:
If I cut her, I am not sure she would bleed
Catholicism has an important role in Leah her story, a claustrophobic tale that for me really breathed Jeff VanderMeer with an expedition gone awry and forces ill understood. Also Solaris crossed my mind.
These sections would work so wel as a movie, I don’t know how to tell you this, really one of the main characters says, and that is kind of a problem with these sections of the book in general. It just feels to me that the story that Julia Armfield tells would work better in a different medium.
Also the narrative voice is a bit too similar in the two alternating segments.
Still an intriguing book and tender and fun at times as well: You are the kindest person I know, and I know 6 or 7 people.
It was very easy to offend my mother, rather in a way it is very easy to kill and orchid, it often seemed little short of inevitable
Our Wives Under the Sea alternates between two perspectives: Miri in a current timeline and Leah, her wife, during the undersea expedition gone wrong.
Miri her tale focusses on trauma (Living means relinquishing the death), closeness with a partner, loneliness, fear of mental disease and an overall battle with unseen, bureaucratic forces. Despite the wittiness and sharp observations in these sections I felt a bit unmoved overall, with Miri being very passive despite the disturbing things happening with Leah.
The observations Miri makes speak of a keen observer, so it is rather a shame she turns out to be less of an actor overal:
Carmen typically speaks about him the way one might refer to a degree, a three year period one has to enjoy for one to talk with overbearing authority on exactly one subject.
She is the world’s living expert on loving and losing thirty year old men named Tom.
In her quest for understanding, she visits message boards for fictitious husbands lost in space, while her own wife starts to feel more and more fictional as well:
If I cut her, I am not sure she would bleed
Catholicism has an important role in Leah her story, a claustrophobic tale that for me really breathed Jeff VanderMeer with an expedition gone awry and forces ill understood. Also Solaris crossed my mind.
These sections would work so wel as a movie, I don’t know how to tell you this, really one of the main characters says, and that is kind of a problem with these sections of the book in general. It just feels to me that the story that Julia Armfield tells would work better in a different medium.
Also the narrative voice is a bit too similar in the two alternating segments.
Still an intriguing book and tender and fun at times as well: You are the kindest person I know, and I know 6 or 7 people.
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Reading Progress
October 30, 2021
– Shelved
October 30, 2021
– Shelved as:
to-read
April 4, 2022
–
Started Reading
April 6, 2022
–
Finished Reading
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Emily
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Apr 06, 2022 02:27AM
Haha, I thought I had no interest in this, but your lukewarm assessment actually makes me more likely to read it. That's a great quote about the mother. And Arrival under the sea... tantalizing.
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The premise is definitely tempting and interesting!
Hmm, I’m still curious but also glad I didn’t let the hype persuade me to pick it up once it came out.
This is the kind of book I could see as a great movie, like Under the Skin (or indeed Arrival) but that works less in its own medium in a sense.
Under the Skin movie was so good! Also Annihilation was incredible. Best examples of horror sci-fi
Definitely! Loved both 😁
Henk is wrong. 😉 I gave it 5 stars. 🤘
I think this is one of my favorites for 2023, but I completely understand how it’s not for everyone! I also kept think that this would make a great movie adaption which might make the grief & horror more palpable
Yes it would definitely work in that format I think!
Very much agree. Every time something very interesting was introduced I just felt like the follow through never matched the hype or anticipation. Also not sure I would totally call this a horror.
Overall medium
