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Ryan

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Private Rites

by Julia Armfield

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in June 2024

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Ryan said: " It is the end times in Julia Armfield’s new novel, and it’s all the things you’d expect: damp, bleak, distressing. The rain started getting worse when the Carmichael sisters, Isla, Irene, and Agnes, were only young girls; as adults now, any breaks in It is the end times in Julia Armfield’s new novel, and it’s all the things you’d expect: damp, bleak, distressing. The rain started getting worse when the Carmichael sisters, Isla, Irene, and Agnes, were only young girls; as adults now, any breaks in the rain are treated more like glitches. The downpour is a constant and has morphed not only the landscape but the very state of existence.

In addition to POVs from all three of the sisters, we get the POV of the city itself, which serves as a sort of omniscient view of how the rain has molded life, the landscape, etc. Occasionally we get other viewpoints, but the majority of the story is told through the sisters.

The sisters’ father was a renowned architect, famous for creating buildings that would be unaffected by rising water levels and flooding. He was also a narcissist, and loved to pit the sisters against one another, which means none of them are close to one another, and none of them seemingly want anything to do with the money/belongings he left behind. Their mother(s) are no longer part of their lives for various reasons that are kept somewhat close to the chest for awhile.

They are more or less forced together by circumstance after their father’s death, all against the backdrop of apocalypse.

Julia Armfield’s prose is so specific to her, and each time I opened the book I would get hooked by a punchy little sentence or a meandering one that seems to go on forever. She has so much variety but so many little hallmarks that make her writing her own. Thematically, I am interested in how water, considered the most life-giving substance, continues to be an antagonistic force in both of the author’s novels.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. It’s bleak and downright depressing, but there’s a subtle magic to it that continues to draw you in.

There were times where I had to trust that the plot was moving forward even if it didn’t necessarily seem like a lot of specific events were driving it. In the end, it all coalesced in such a satisfying way.

And that ending, I mean... I won’t spoil but the juxtaposition gave me chills. ...more "

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(page 175 of 327)
"Another re read" — Oct 18, 2025 03:29AM

Jun 19, 2024 07:49AM · see review