Reviews

Private Rites by Julia Armfield

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libraryoflanelle's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

emilychau's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

virginiaberg's review

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dark slow-paced

5.0

I mean, what is there even to say? This is everything you could ever expect/want/need from a Julia Armfield novel — beautifully written, terrifying, chock full of dykes, atmospheric, heartbreaking, dread-inducing, utterly original, absolutely obsessed with water. Who else is doing literary horror like her?? If a contemporary gothic horror set during a slow-rolling climate apocalypse featuring very messy lesbians who kind of suck sounds appealing to you, definitely read this!!!

Also, several reviews mention that they felt misled by the publishers description so I went back and read it and they’re right, it’s weird! Why do publishers insist on writing descriptions that are just kind of inaccurate.

Also also, while I do like the US cover the UK cover is soooo good. They won this round unfortunately 😔 Will be ordering a copy from the UK!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC!

ellenwelsh's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad slow-paced

3.75

lores's review

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4.0

Julia Armfield has this addictive ability to completely absorb me in her prose. Just a chapter or two of her writing and I’m surprised by the real world, any thoughts that aren’t in her voice suddenly jerk me awake.

The drowned world she’s created is amazing and her ability to merge dread and the mundane should honestly be studied. This is a brilliant climate novel which will hit you with some home truths about how we relate to the world, the earth and the changing weather.

Perhaps because of how absorbed I was in those aspects of the story, I occassionally felt that the different halves of this book were on the cusp of being too many things at once. One character has a thought, suddenly, that ‘this is the wrong genre’ and despite that self-awareness, the sisters’ stories, the city, and the background mystery did sometimes feel like they weren’t quite in step with each other. The sister’s tensions are sometimes overwhelming and the twist ending felt both strongly signposted and oddly seperate to the rest of the novel, which was a shame after being pulled along so effortlessly for so long.

But I think Private Rites is going to linger with me regardless. It’s world is in my brain like Armfield’s vivid description of one sister’s memories of her mother; ‘spreading across her like lichen, like something resembling skin’