I saw this book everywhere a while ago and decided that I quite fancied checking it out.
Our Wives Under the Sea
Julia Armfield
Miri thinks she has got her wife back when Leah finally returns after a deep sea mission that ended in catastrophe. It soon becomes clear, though, that Leah may have come back wrong. Whatever happened in that vessel, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has carried part of it with her, onto dry land and into their home.
To have the woman she loves back should mean a return to normal life, but Miri can feel Leah slipping from her grasp. Memories of what they had before – the jokes they shared, the films they watched, all the small things that made Leah hers – only remind Miri of what she stands to lose. Living in the same space but suddenly separate, Miri comes to realise that the life that they had might be gone.
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I’ve struggled over this review for a couple of days now, for some reason this book is just challenging to accurately give my thoughts on because I’m still not sure what I make of it. I’d seen a lot of people talking about this book and whilst I didn’t look into it too much I knew it was mostly positive so I decided to pick it up.
The writing is beautiful and conveys the atmosphere of both the flat and sea vessel amazingly well, I definitely started to feel the tension the further into the story I got. I like that the story was told from Miri and Leah’s perspectives as it slowly introduces the suspense of what happened to Leah, but I will admit the build-up was very drawn out.
I didn’t dislike the characters but I also didn’t feel wholly invested in them either. I think because their relationship is so fractured at the beginning of the book it was difficult for me to connect with them. However, perhaps that is something the author was aiming for since it was difficult for the characters to be around each other.
This is the kind of story that I’m not going to say too much about, as I feel I might give the game away in trying to explain it, but it is a story that leaves a lot of things open to interpretation. You have to draw a lot of your own conclusions and whilst I do enjoy a story that I can think about and that will stay with me, I know that’s not for everyone.
I listened to this on audiobook and the narration by Annabel Baldwin and Robyn Holdaway was great it really added to the atmosphere of the story. I also liked that there was a voice for each character, gave them both a bit more definition.
I did enjoy this book, especially the second half of the story as we hear more from Leah and start to get a clearer picture of what happened, but I feel like I still can’t tell you why. It’s an unusual one that’s for sure.
everywhere-and-nowhere.com 