Affinity by Sarah Waters
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Book Reviews of Affinity
Book Review: Mediums and madness
Summary: 5 Stars
I first met Sarah Waters work in Fingersmith, her very Dickensian novel, and one that I adored. Affinity is even better.
Margaret Prior is a young upper-class Victorian woman. Following her recovery from a suicide attempt, she engages in the "good work" of a prison visitor to the women's prison at Millbank. There, she is drawn to Selina Dawes, a medium who has been convicted of assault following a séance that ended with her mentor dead and a young woman traumatized.
The book is told in two alternating stories: that of Selina, telling of the events leading to the fateful night, and that of Margaret, beginning as she starts her prison visits. Gradually, we learn a great deal about Margaret. Her father was a scholar of Renaissance art, she his amanuensis. Her intellectual leanings made her feel a bit out of place from the rest of her family, and her father's death hit her hard. The loss of the long longed-for trip to Italy is compounded by the fact that her about-to-be-married sister is to honeymoon there, and her socially conforming mother cannot provide the sympathy or empathy she needs. All the more so because yet another loss cannot be spoken of. How can she reveal that she and her brother's wife were once, it seems, more than friends? Her inner thoughts, her psychology, unfold.
Selina is not opened to us so much. Her story is more of action. "This is what happened, this is what I learned, this is what I did." Not so much of "this is what I thought", "this is how I feel". Miss Selina Dawes, medium, becomes aware of her spiritualist powers, is taken up by the community and learns how to use those powers, becomes the protegée of the wealthy Mrs. Brink and ends up in prison. Selina comes to us more through Margaret's reaction to her than through herself.
Waters' descriptive abilities are extraordinary. Her limning of the physical and psychological constraints of Millbank prison are dead on. And this book contains what may be one of the creepiest passages of writing I have ever read. Margaret has gone to a spiritualist society, where she has seen moulds of human parts, including one which is supposed to be the hand of Dawes' spirit guide, Peter Quick. She imagines that hand coming to visit Selina in prison. "It would be silent, dark and very still; the shelves of moulds, however, might not lie still. The wax might ripple. The lips upon the spirit-face might twitch, and the eyelids roll; the dimple upon the baby's arm would grow deeper as the arm unfolded -- so I saw it now, in Selina's cell, as I stepped form her and shuddered. The swollen fingers of Peter Quick's fist -- I saw, them, I saw them! -- were uncurling, and flexing. Now the hand was inching its way cross the shelf, the fingers drawing the palm over the wood. Now they were parting the cabinet doors -- they left smears upon the glass."
Note the name: Peter Quick. That's no accident. Affinity's ambivalence over the question of "ghosts or madness", its exploration of psychological control, of possession, of power relationships, owes a good deal to Henry James The Turn of the Screw.
This is a stunning novel. And the end will rip you up.
Book Review: Easily one of the BEST NOVEL written
Summary: 5 Stars
The Author:
Did thorough research of Victorian Era culture, geography, sociology, psychology and history. Articulate and beautiful words. The Queen's English may sometimes be very difficult to understand, however in Sarah Waters' writing, the language smoothly levitate off of the pages and absorb your soul to the point of you palpating the pulse of the characters and their stories unfolding. The skillful use of language were used to separate the narratives aristocratic social elite Margaret Prior to the street-wise caddish delinquent Selena Dawes. Cleverly weaving each plot points and devilishly fooling you until the end! Bravo Ms. Waters!
The Novel Plot:
Depressing, creepy, and heartbreaking.
Devastated by the recent passing of her very dear father and a recent failed suicide attempt, Margaret Prior occupies her time by volunteering at Millbank prison as a "lady visitor", one who provides company to and hope to reform for the women residents of Millbank. While there, she meets and befriended Selena Dawes.
Selena Dawes is a medium, incarcerated for murder. All the rage during Victorian England was holding seances. During one of said seances, Selena's sponsor (they say patron) dies. She was ... scared to death. Selena denies any wrong-doings and attributed the death to a very naughty spirit, Peter Quick.
Margaret was at first skeptical. Strange things started to happen. Items would mysteriously dissappear while other items appear to and from Margaret's residence and the prison. During the many visits and hearing Selena's tale, Margaret came to trust, believe, and falls in love with Selena. Selena claims to reciprocate the feeling.
We discover from Margaret's journal that the feelings she has, the way she thinks, and how she wants to live her life, that she is a lesbian. Of course Margaret didn't know what it was called or who she really was because of the stigma of one with "unnatural fansies" during 17th century England. Margaret had a really close friend, Helen. It was only suggested that they were really close and that there really weren't any physical romances between them, however, the emotional love was there. Helen couldn't bear the idea of being different, hence, she married. She married Margaret's brother.
So, finding and meeting Selena, Margaret felt alive again and fell heads-over-heels. With time, Selena convinced Margaret to help her escape Millbank.
The end is too good to reveal. Invest the time. Have the heart and patience through the first 100 pages, you will be rewarded. Pay attention to the different narratives.
Book Review: Another great novel from Sarah Waters
Summary: 5 Stars
AFFINITY by Sarah WatersAfter reading Sarah Waters' wonderfully written book FINGERSMITH, I had to get a hold of her other two novels TIPPING THE VELVET and AFFINITY. As with FINGERSMITH, I came away from AFFINITY with a very satisfied feeling of having read yet another great book. AFFINITY is a complex story set in Victorian England about a young woman, Margaret Prior, who has been suffering from bouts of depression and loneliness. She has just suffered from a breakdown shortly after her father's death, and because of a suicide attempt, her mother, with the hopes of making a full recovery keeps her secluded in the house and administered with medications.
When it is suggested that Margaret visit the local woman's gaol (prison) as a form of therapy, she agrees and begins her frequent visits. She is known as a "lady visitor", one of many that come to the prisons to read and talk to the prisoners as a form of goodwill and charity. Soon she finds herself meeting and conversing with the various women that are being held in this gaol. She meets women from all walks of life and sees the horrible conditions in which they now live. And then she meets Selina Dawes. Margaret takes extra notice of this quiet sad woman. The reader immediately knows that she finds Selina special, and soon she becomes obsessed with the prisoner, and her story. It is all she can think of day and night. It becomes her life.
Selina Dawes is a medium, who is able to talk to the dead and perform acts of the paranormal. She is in prison due to the death of a friend of hers, Mrs. Brink, who allowed Selina to live with her as she helped Mrs. Brink contact the netherworld. Mrs. Brink died during one of Selina's paranormal sessions, and is being charged for assault and fraud. Learning about Selina's "crime", Margaret is in total sympathy with Selina and knows that Selina is in prison for a crime she did not commit, and soon the two become close.
The viewpoints of both women are seen through the journals of each of them respectively. Selina's journal-entries lead to the day of the supposed crime, while Margaret's journal takes us through the present story. And, as the book becomes more and more complicated, the journals begin to reveal more and more secret thoughts of these two women. The ending, as with FINGERSMITH, will totally shock the reader. Sarah Waters is the master of the double-twisted plot device, and although the story started on a slow note, the pace of the book picked up and did not let up until the very last page. Beautifully written with subtle undertones of lesbianism, this reviewer highly recommends AFFINITY.
Book Review: An Enchanting Book
Summary: 5 Stars
I have just finished reading Affinity, not more than 5 minutes ago. This book was surprisingly intruiging to me, as I am not one to enjoy stories set in old time periods. I could not put this one down, however, and found the author's style of writing quite easy to read.
Having received this book in a bookcrossing.com book ring without knowing the exact pretense of the story, I went into reading it with several pre-conceived notions. Knowing that it was set in the 1800's, I thought that the text and storyline would prove to be difficult to follow. That could not have been further from the truth!
I will refrain from giving my synopsis of the book, as you should be able to gather that based on the excellent review entries above. I will, though, make some personal comments on some issues that personally spoke to me:
I understood the plight of our protagonist, Margaret, to be one of overcoming and/or enduring the challenge of being a lesbian woman attempting to find her place among the socialite set of 19th century England. She clearly had an understanding of being "different" from other women in her class, and felt considerable shame associated with her sexual desires. I think only her father understood her completely, and his death left her unable to envision a time or place in which she would feel free to be herself. Her realtionship with Helen (her brother's wife) was never expanded upon, but one can surmise that there must have been some sexual experience in their past that Margaret longed for, but Helen was unable to continue. After experiencing the loss of her father and the rejection of her lover, Margaret was lonely and vulnerable upon her arrival as a Lady Visitor at Millbank Prison.
The ending was perfect, and I had not guessed what was to come before it was right upon me. The author did an excellent job of slow-dripping clues throughout the story that all made sense in the end. I can't wait for the rest of the members of this book ring to make their comments! I will be recommending this book to my friends and family, and also hope to read more work by Sarh Waters.
Book Review: Great read!!
Summary: 5 Stars
After her father's death, Margaret Prior becomes despondent. Before he died, she was to have gone to Italy with him and her friend, Helen, with whom Margaret was in love with. Now Helen is married to Margaret's brother and their sister, Priscilla is also getting married. Her physician suggests that Margaret become a Lady Visitor at Millbank Prison, to be a comfort and example to the women. Margaret meets several of the prisoners and becomes obsessed with one, Selina Dawes, a spiritualist imprisoned for fraud.
I don't want to say much more about the plot for fear of giving something away. But let me say that I loved this book. It takes place in Victorian London, it has a Dickensian prison and wardens. It has psychics and mediums. Margaret is a lonely character. She does not want to marry or have children. She is haunted by her love for Helen and desperately sad over the loss of her intellectual father, the only one who understood her.
Margaret's story alternates with that of Selina's and we see how she ended up in prison.
Though I was not a fan of Waters' The Little Stranger which everyone else raved about, I thought Affinity was incredibly well-written, with fleshed out characters and a brilliant plot. Her descriptions of Millbank Prison, the matrons in charge of the women prisoners, and the prisoners themselves are very well researched, as are stories of the spiritualist community.
This book is a must, must read! It is very atmospheric and Gothic-like. In case I didn't mention it, I loved it.
my rating 5/5