Naomi answers “What’d everyone think of the ending? I...”

Rachel Welch asked this question about Our Wives Under the Sea:

What’d everyone think of the ending? I found it a little disappointing, I was hoping it’d elude to what happened to Leah under the sea. I’d love to hear other peoples interpretations

Naomi

This answer contains spoilers… (view spoiler)[I loved the ending because it was about the heartbreak of loss - and of choosing loss. Miri eventually realises that she has to let Leah go for a second time, after already thinking she was dead and getting her back, because Leah never really came back from the sea at all. It's about her doing what's best for Leah - letting her dissolve back into the ocean that's claimed her, or been in her forever - even though it feels like she's the one 'killing' her like the disappeared-loved-ones forum poster observed. It was heartbreaking and nuanced and about what love looks like when the reality surrounding it is deeply painful and unfulfilling. As for what happened to Leah under the sea, I personally liked that it was ambiguous as I often find that an author overly explaining a mystery makes the whole story lose its magic. We learn that there's a creature with one eye (a method of communication, of personality) which can speak to the crew, though Leah herself cannot make actual sense of anything it says, and that the Centre sent the team down there to make contact with it without their knowledge. The Boss wears an emblem of an eye on his ring, and there is an eye on the submarine's console even though it isn't the Centre's logo. Was the team sacrificed by the Centre? Did the team need to be ignorant of the creature in order to most let its influence into their psyche as the Centre may have wanted? The creature's effect on the crew is murky as well - is it friendly, or innocently curious? Is it nefarious, as Jelka seems to believe? I like that the author has left it up to us. In my interpretation, the team connected with something cognizant in the ocean that then recalled them back to a primordial state of being, as at the ending I found it challenging to discern what exactly Leah was turning in to. Was she becoming something like a jellyfish, an ocean creature, or was she gradually dissolving into water itself? You could of course also argue that she is becoming the same creature as that in the deep because she is left with only one eye at the end. But what's common throughout the book is that once Leah gets over her fear of swimming, the ocean becomes her safe place. She's comforted to be in the ocean when the submarine first sinks, she befriended a great octopus as a teenager, she largely feels at ease with the sounds around them and is the one crew member who remains the most calm. So though it's heartbreaking that Miri loses Leah, that she has to say goodbye for a second and final time, it is somehow comforting that Leah may have lost her humanity but not her peace. The book is nebulous, challenging, and mysterious, and I found that I enjoyed the overarching themes more than any definite answers. (hide spoiler)]

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Zoë Wilkinson Wow, that’s an incredible answer, so much food for thought. I’ve just finished this book and loved it - incredibly dark but intriguing and I’m sure I’ ...more
Dec 09, 2022 01:21AM · flag

Holly Thank you for this answer, I feel much less stressed about the ending now
May 01, 2023 04:03AM · flag

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Our Wives Under the Sea

by Julia Armfield

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