private rites ⟡ julia armfield
"king lear and his dyke daughters"
I went into private rites having previously read armfield's novel our wives under the sea which i loved immensely and i expected to like private rites a lot more than i did. this is not to say i didn't like it, i just found reading it to drag out in a way i didn't experience with our wives under the sea. the novel is inspired by king lear and i found that noticeable throughout. this was definitely a plus for me as i love referential fiction and the layered experience of reading it. i don't think a knowledge of king lear is essential to enjoying private rites but knowing general outlines of the play did help me.
the novel uses polyvocalism alternating between the views of the three sisters but as a reader i still felt as though i was missing information throughout the book. further there are sections labeled "the city" where armfield zooms way out and gives a snapshot of the greater environment her novel takes place in. as someone who likes when environment plays a role in plot and writing i wish this had been a bigger part of the novel as it was one of my favorite parts.
"early closeness coupled with deep resentment, with panic that no one else was going to help"
the plot is heavily relational and almost serves more as an extended character study of each of the three sisters than as a narrative surrounding them. i enjoy novels like that but the length of private rites does make the introspective character study style a bit tiring at times especially if thats not really your thing.
overall i really enjoyed the novel and this is a terrible book review 8/10
images: cordelia comforting her father, king lear, in prison by george william joy (1886)
