louzr's reviews
133 reviews

read: 28/06/23 - 03/07/23 | spoilers!
This was the first Julia Armfield book I read and it is safe to say that she very quickly became cemented as one of my favourite authors. First and foremost, I fell absolutely head-over-heels in love with her prose. I have always preferred poetic prose yet am often faced with pretention when trying to read it. However, Armfield writes so melodically that, whilst being poetic, I was not tripping over her words or having to re-read sentences to understand what was being said to me. She knows how to paint a picture and she knows how to do it seamlessly.
Her characters were defined and nuanced.

The only issue I had with this book was that I would have liked more pre-ocean scenes with Leah and Miri (eg: the one where they are locked in the cubicle together) to add a little more warmth to the book and further highlight the later disconnect. However, the scenes we did get were great showcases of the relationship and effective contrasts to the point where our book takes place.

I loved the plot. I have always liked the horror of the deep ocean and Armfield's blend of that idea with a sci-fi aspect was a theme that I adored. The pacing of the book was excellent, both with the equal distribution of the two narratives but also with the individual pacing of those two narratives. And I liked the creative decision to have each part of the book be a different level of the ocean, I found that very cool :]

I do not know the meaning for Armfield herself, but I took the book to be a heavy metaphor for PTSD, and I loved how the book slowly evolved to a more inhuman tone with that in mind. The need for water, the literal liquifying of Leah, it felt like a mirror for the way that, when we become accustomed to a certain environment, we cannot always be expected to return to our former selves. The theme of loving whilst letting go, of changing with environment, of the horror that comes with trauma, was clearly and mind-blowingly illustrated.

It was a beautiful book, gorgeously written and perfectly weird.

read: 21/06/23 - 26/06/23 | spoilers!
I had a fun time reading this book. The mocking narrative tone and sarcasm was thoroughly amusing and kept the prose punchy. I did think the characters could have been a little more explored. For example:

June mentions that Athena had some genuine controversies in her past, yet we never hear anything more of it; I think that could have been an interesting dynamic to follow. I also thought the AI-ghost-voice surround-sound ending was a little tonally dissonant from the rest of the book.

However, it was very entertaining! I enjoyed it.

read: 09/06/23 - 12/06/23
The book was my first proper introduction to Vuong's work and it definitely left an impression. His ability to create such humanity through words is beautiful, and the book shattered me emotionally. There was so much life to each person, so much complex emotion that was clear without being blatantly spelt out. I have seen the occasional poem by Vuong, which were initial testaments to his talent, yet this book really cemented him in my mind. I thought the prose got somewhat pretentious at times, but it could be overlooked due to how well-written the book was in general. Overall it was a gorgeous experience to read - his love painted so vividly, his grief portrayed so painfully, the generations of his family so unearthed - and I'm excited to read more of his work.

read: 30/05/23 - 06/06/23 | spoilers!
This book was successfully unnerving. Its political messaging speaks for itself, and the horror Orwell creates is chilling. With each changed promise, each rewritten rule, the narrative succeeds in making both characters and reader question themselves. I won't pretend to fully understand the history of the 1917 Russian Revolution, yet I am aware this story is on the nose, hence the importance of this book's publication and how it struggled to get published for quite some time, making it a clear example of freedom-of-speech within fiction.
The book has a personal horror to me.

Ever since I read 'Alice's Adventures In Wonderland' and saw 'Spirited Away' as a child, I have had an irrational fear of humans turning into pigs. This book ends with the opposite as the pigs 'turn' to humans - "The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again: but already it was impossible to say which was which." - yet it is still the same concept, which unsettled me greatly. I am aware it's an amusing fear, but is something that worked in Orwell's favour for my reading experience :]