Shawna Ayoub moves "beyond a book review" in not only recommending great books by diverse writers but highlighting a technique to apply to your own writing.
Our Wives Under the Sea, by Julia Armfield
Julia Armfield is a queer fiction writer living in London. Her novel, Our Wives Under the Sea, is a shorter read that stays with you. Miri sends her wife, Leah, off on a standard deep-sea mission. Neither of them expects it to take long. But Leah’s sub loses power and disappears, falling to undetermined depths. This story takes place in two timelines: from Miri’s point of view after Leah has returned, and from Leah’s point of view as events unfold during the dive. The language is poetic and haunting, which is appropriate because Leah has not come back the same as she left. Miri is grieving for the wife she lost while struggling to understand the wife that has returned to her. Through revelation of what happened below the water and what is happening on land, this story explores the painful landscape of thwarted expectation and the ways love persists even when it bears little resemblance to plans or dreams.
What is real?
I loved this book so much that I did a little research into Armfield. I found that she won a Pushcart Prize in 2020. I also read “Scream Queen,” published in Granta. “Scream Queen” is a short story about Jenny and her girlfriend, Coral. As in Our Wives Under the Sea, something is "wrong" with one of the women. Jenny is pulled deeper into the mystery of what ails Coral through videos fans have taken of her scream-queen girlfriend behaving oddly in public. But the videos begin to overlap with times Jenny and Coral are together. Are they deepfakes? The question of what is real arises, and Jenny finds herself tormented.
The horror of not knowing what is real is the common theme between these pieces. It’s also an appropriate theme for this time of year. Leading into the holidays, we can find ourselves struggling with knowing where to uphold boundaries, especially with those we love. Expectations are high, and because they come from multiple sources, the opportunity for conflict is also raised. So how do we hold onto and honor love while still honoring ourselves?
Armfield’s main characters struggle with this question. They succeed and fail, and that makes them essentially human. We will also do both, but we can plan for success. With that as a goal, our writing prompt will look a little different this month. Instead of trying to generate a story, we will focus on generating a list of needs to take control of our own real-life story over the coming weeks and months.
A writing exercise (30 minutes)
For 10 minutes, think of an upcoming social event that makes you a little uneasy and create a list of positive outcomes for it. Consider who will be there and what difficulties might arise before, during, and after. What does your ideal event look like?
For the next 10 minutes, create a list of ways to make that ideal outcome happen. Think about who you need to talk to in advance. Write down what you need to tell them. Make a note of why. This can range from contacting a caterer to reminding your brother he needs to kennel his dog to deciding not to discuss politics. Be specific.
For another 5 minutes, circle/highlight/underline anything that’s non-negotiable. These are your needs. This list might shrink or grow, and that’s okay.
Finally, be sure to check in with yourself. How did generating this list make you feel? Do you need to ground yourself in any way? Please take the time to care for yourself. This type of planning is hard work.
If this book sounds intriguing to you, consider purchasing your own copy of Our Wives Under the Sea at Bookshop.org and supporting independent bookstores across the U.S.
Related reading
Beyond a Book Review: Reality as horror in Out There Screaming
Beyond a Book Review: Risking it all in Fault
Beyond a Book Review: Writing other languages in Vampires of El Norte
Beyond a Book Review: Uncertain futures in How High We Go in the Dark
Beyond a Book Review: Sentences as paragraphs in The Last White Man
Beyond a Book Review: Alternate futures in Womb City
Beyond a Book Review: Beginning at the End in Tomb Sweeping
Beyond a Book Review: The “What if?” of The Deep Sky
Beyond a Book Review: Grief and Hope in All We Are Told Not to Touch
Beyond a Book Review: Once Upon a Time in Dovelion
Beyond a Book Review: Narrators and Compassion in Finding La Negrita
Beyond a Book Review: Research as Connection in Through the Banks of the Red Cedar
Beyond a Book Review: Intuition in River Woman, River Demon
Beyond a Book Review: Timeline(s) in Becoming AppalAsian
Beyond a Book Review: Unwieldy Creatures and retelling our stories
Beyond a Book Review: Containers as safe spaces in Nonwhite and Woman
Beyond a Book Review: Footnotes in Belly to the Brutal
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