Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Salt Slow by Julia Armfield

13 reviews

mariebrunelm's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Welcome to the wonderful feeling of falling in love with a short story collection.

Julia Armfield has a knack for writing intense, flawed female characters who are on the brink. Whether they are teenagers in that uncomfortable space between childhood and adulthood, or women going through a break-up or grief, most of them are teetering, and ready to embrace the mess that is their life. I loved that each story was very different from the others, but they had very tenuous, easy-to-miss links that tied this collection together. Most of them start off with a very strong concept that is given in the first lines of the story, and then explore the repercussions of that concept not on the grand scale of geopolitics (though the author easily could) but at the level of bodies. Be ready for both implied and full-on body horror depending on the stories, with a scrumptious taste for words and that delightful hesitation between speculative and realist.

My favourite story was The Great Awake, which was very timely (although a bit late) because I’ve just finished hosting a monthly writing workshop on the theme of sleep.

Rep: queer characters, mostly sapphic. One is on the asexual spectrum.

PS: I bought this book when I first went cat-sitting for a friend, so it is doubly special !

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, and Grief

Minor: Pregnancy and Miscarriage

sav_22's review

dark emotional reflective fast-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? It's complicated

4.0

This compilation of short stories is one that I highly recommend reading. The way she writes is just beautiful even during periods of simplicity to me, and each story leaves you before you leave it; it lingers and stays with you for quite a bit, and her way with allegories is just so raw and impressive. My favorite would have to be Formally Feral; something about it just resonated and truly felt special. Some of her literary decisions may confuse people, or disinterest people because she does not give you all the answers or hold your hand through it. She just expels the story and leaves it as is, so if you aren’t paying attention, or if you like books that don’t revolve around symbolism and metaphors, then this wouldn’t be as good as a read for you. I’d say it’s a niche topic coverage, and I’d even recommend buddy reading so you have someone to talk to about it after tbh. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Mental illness, Dysphoria, Grief, Child death, Violence, Miscarriage, Alcohol, and Chronic illness

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Mental illness, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Pregnancy, Blood, Medical content, Terminal illness, and Death

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Misogyny, Animal death, Death of parent, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Vomit, Animal cruelty, Self harm, Gore, Murder, Homophobia, Miscarriage, Bullying, Violence, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, and Biphobia

peggy_racham's review

4.0

A good collection of short stories. Sometimes body horror sometimes grief imbodied. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Cannibalism, Body horror, Confinement, and Murder

zany25's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

As a short story collection there were definitely ones I enjoyed more and ones I enjoyed less and the reaction from anyone will likely be similar. A mixed bag, but I don’t regret reading it. The Great Awake, Granite, Formerly Feral, Cassandra After, and the namesake story Salt Slow were definite standouts to me. I like the muted realistic way love is portrayed in many of these stories, it feels very unidealistic and grounded at times but still interesting. 

Definitely not a collection that’s going to scare you, but it may make you shiver slightly once or twice. Dreamlike and occasionally meandering I think it shows the good and bad of Julia Armfield very well. I personally look forward to more. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Death, and Grief

Moderate: Miscarriage, Injury/Injury detail, and Body shaming

Potential implications of “end of the world” or radical societal change/upheaval type scenarios in some of the stories, but is not graphic. Climate change and isolation come up as themes.

hanz's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Grief, Violence, and Pregnancy

bethsreading's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I really like Armfield’s writing style. I particularly like how the gothic elements of the stories are ever present in the background, creeping closer as each story progresses. They are unsettling and creative and pull you in. My main critique of them is that quite a few of the main characters felt a bit interchangeable. As they are short stories, the characters wont have as much depth as they do in a novel and Armfield does a great job of building these characters in a short number of pages; I was just left feeling like some of the outlooks and personalities of the main characters blurred together a little. It is a good collection though and I would recommend to people who liked The Dangers of Smoking in Bed.   

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Violence, Grief, and Body horror

Moderate: Death

Minor: Lesbophobia

aisabel's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Grief, and Pregnancy

Moderate: Alcohol, Biphobia, Blood, Cannibalism, Gore, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Stalking, Miscarriage, and Toxic relationship

jokehelldo's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

There were some stories I didn't fully liked, but Mantis, Cassandra After and Salt Slow have my whole heart

This was so beautiful, and even though we don't get explained almost nothing, you have a feeling you are living the stories with your whole soul.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, and Body horror

Moderate: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Grief

Minor: Lesbophobia and Misogyny

linguaphile412's review

dark mysterious reflective slow-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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Miscarriage, Death, and Body horror

Moderate: Violence, Grief, and Animal death

Minor: Religious bigotry, Lesbophobia, and Sexual assault