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This is a book that I’ve seen lurking around social media for so long now as part of the lead up to its publication earlier in March. Now it helps when a book is as gorgeous as it is brilliant so I can see why everyone has been raving about this one. So saying that, I wanted a piece of the pie and decided to finish my March off by reading this mystical novel.
SYNOPSIS: 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 is not the same. Whatever happened in that submarine, whatever it was they were supposed to be studying before they were stranded on the ocean floor, Leah has brought part of it back with her, onto dry land and into their home.
REVIEW: The book is only 250 pages but my god so much happens and the tension builds at such a fantastic pace. Part of that tension building is as a result of the short, quick chapters which give us titbits of information which make us more confused and eager to find out more. So from the first 20 pages, I was hooked and I loved the format of the book which switched from Miri’s narrative to her wife Leah’s. Leah’s narrative was told in the past and in a diary format whilst she was on board the submarine, whereas Miri’s narrative brings us back to the present and explains to us how her life has changed so much since Leah’s trip and return.
I felt incredibly sorry for Miri as it was clear that she was really missing the wife she used to have but it will come as no surprise that Leah is not coping with the return to life on land and it's this relationship dynamic that makes the story just as sad as it is weird.
The idea that you would be stuck on a submarine at the very bottom of the ocean with no way of getting back up to land has got to be one of my worst nightmares and I loved Leah’s description of life on the submarine during this time because it was so wonderfully weird and uncanny. I also thought that by splitting the book up into parts based on the deep-sea trenches, and the book becoming scarier and stranger the deeper the submarine falls and the deeper we go into the story was absolutely fantastic and an element of the book that makes it so special and original.
I would say that the ending is quite ambiguous but I suppose the magic of the book is to let the reader decide what happened for themselves which too makes the story so unique. I would love to discuss the book with anyone who has read it because there are SO many questions and theories that I had whilst I was reading it and I have to say, I was absolutely hooked on this book and for 250 pages, this little strange story will take over your life.
READ THIS IF:
🌊 You’re looking for a great short read
🌊 You like books that are wonderfully weird
🌊 You enjoy books that switch between two narratives
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