Post from the The Shadow of the Wind (The Cemetery of Forgotten Books, #1) forum
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Farewell My Concubine
Lilian Lee
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Guapa
Saleem Haddad
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The Shadow of the Wind
Carlos Ruiz Zafón
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Our Wives Under the Sea follows this lesbian couple; one part of them is a marine biologist who goes on these submarine expeditions and the other person is her wife Miri. But on the latest trip something goes wrong with the submarine and no one can figure out what. Leah and her crew gets stuck at the deep trenches of the ocean for 6 months. She was only supposed to be gone for 3 weeks. One thing that I really love about this book is that each chapter alternates between the different points of views from Leah and Miri. Every other chapter precisely we have Leah’s story of how she became interested in the ocean and her journey as she gets stuck on the submarine, and then we have Miri’s as she navigates life without her wife and after she gets her wife back. But when Leah comes back it’s clear something else has also happened. To no surprise she is traumatized and is dealing with ptsd, but her behaviour and her body’s reactions seems to indicate something more. It’s almost like there’s something supernatural going on and that is the way the story insinuates at the beginning. Whether or not that seems to be the case we will find out later. But the switching of the point of views adds to the eeriness and keeps the suspense always at an all time high. I find myself captivated. The more I read the scarier it got and it now has become my current favourite book of the year! Be prepared to get scared but also really sad!
Submarines are really freaking scary man, and also pretty cool, but as someone who is terrified of the ocean they give me dread. I really don’t want to imagine how Leah and the crew must have felt.
”My Leah”😭 ”I think that this might always have been inevitable, that perhaps she had always known it but had wanted to hold on for me”😭
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Our Wives Under the Sea
Julia Armfield
Post from the Our Wives Under the Sea forum
Holy shit I am actually obsessed!!!! I love that the chapters alternate between Leah and Miri; it adds to the eerie mystery of whatever the hell’s going on. I am so intrigued to find out more😍
AlvaReads commented on saturnia's review of Thirst
I absolutely loved Yuszczuk's style of writing, and the plot itself. the change in narrative from part one to part two is a little jarring and felt somewhat rushed/vague, but that being said both parts are beautiful in their own way. I really liked the contrast between the two narratives on dealing with death and isolation, and the exploration via dealing with the main character's mother's terminal illness was an interesting choice.
I do think some prior world-building or context would have helped it feel a little more fleshed out in parts, particularly the second half, but I suppose I could also see it as a sense of detachment from the world as her mother's illness progresses and she starts the grieving process. I do agree with the other reviews that the ending felt quite abrupt (and, to some extent unbelievable) which let the book down unfortunately. it's also not as sapphic as I would have expected, their relationship at the end still seems fuzzy at best, and ultimately by the end I was just left wanting just a bit more from it all.
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Our Wives Under the Sea
Julia Armfield
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Thirst
Marina Yuszczuk
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String Theory: A Valentine's Novelette (Love Cynics Anonymous)
L.M. Bennett
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Fireheart Tiger
Aliette de Bodard
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The Red Scholar's Wake
Aliette de Bodard
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The Curse of the Goddess (The Queen and the Heiress #1)
C.C. González
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The Empress of Salt and Fortune
Nghi Vo
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Cages of Alyssum (The Moonbond Trials, #1)
Ava Hardwick
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No Body No Crime
Tess Sharpe
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The Ride of Her Life
Jennifer Dugan