Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher Flatiron Books for a free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I'm disappointed to say that I just don't think Julia Armfield's writing is for me. I wanted to like Our Wives Under the Sea, and I didn't really, but I thought I would still give Private Rites a chance. This book was incredibly slow, and I felt like I was slowly sloshing through most of it, hence why it took me over a month to finish it. The world building was admittedly super cool--the water rising higher and higher throughout the novel as the rain almost never stops its endless pouring; the feeling of hopelessness so present in this society where the wealthy are able to climb higher in buildings tall enough to withstand flooding, while the poor experience flooding similar to that scene in Parasite. Compared to the slow pacing of the whole book, the ending was way too fast, events happening so quickly in the final 5-10% of the book that I couldn't even tell what was transpiring. Cults? Sinking? I couldn't tell you. It kind of reminded me of the ending of Night in the Woods, but more confusing. My favorite part of the book by far was the troubled relationship between the sisters as they halfheartedly try to get along with each other, but ultimately just get on each others nerves at every turn, or perhaps don't like each other that much. It reminded me a lot of my brothers and I, and I related heavily to Irene as the sibling who feels stuck in the anger of my childhood, which is how my family will always view me. If you like reading about messy sister dynamics, this is for you.