Affinity by Sarah Waters
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Book Reviews of Affinity
Book Review: blurring the lines of reality and 4 Stars
Sarah Waters brings to life this intricate story of a friendship that builds between two women of very different backgrounds.Margaret Prior is a young women from an upper class family who is recovering from deep depression and an attempt at suicide. On the advice of her doctor she decides to become a "Lady Visitor" at the prison. Her duties as such are to inspire the imprisoned women to aspire to a more virtuous life than the ones that got them incarcerated. Through conversation, example and encouragement it is believed that "Lady Visitors" will transform lives the unfortunate women's lives.
Selina Dawes is a prisoner. She is a self professed medium with an uncanny abilty. One of her seances goes horribly wrong, landing her in prison.
Margaret and Selina's lives collide, leading to a deep emotional bond. The question becomes who or what is the driving force that compels Margaret to go to any means to maintain contact with Selina.
The world of spiritualism and seance weaves its way throughout this amazing tale and the perception of reality becomes stretched beyond its normal bounds.
Sarah Waters breathes pure life into a story of betrayal, hope and trust, where the lines of truth and fantasy blur. She is without doubt a gifted writer.
Book Review: awesome
Summary: 4 Stars
In a novel whose plot revolves around a spisterish lady in 19th century England who visits prisoners at the goal (prison), Waters shines as an author. Margaret Prior visits those lonely souls at the gaol in Victorian England where she meets Selina Dawes, a self-professed medium/spiritualist in prison for doing harm to a young girl and causing the death of her hostess. Reading this book I wondered to myself if Sarah Waters hadn't perhaps been in communication or channeling the spirits of Anne Radcliffe and/or Jane Austin as she was writing. Affintity is a sensous novel delicately written in a hybrid of gothic and Victorian styles with the sensibility of the 21st century. Waters' writing style is beautiful, her prose luminescent and descriptive without being overly descriptive as to take away from the plot. This novel is creepy, with high tension without being melodramatic or artificial. In short I happily recommend this novel to readers no matter what their tastes normally run to, it is suitable and appealing on many levels, to an eclectic audience. So if you're looking for a good Victorian novel but have read all the Bronte Sisters' and Austin's not to mention many other fine female novelists of the period go read AFFINITY.Book Review: Starts a bit slow but it picks up if you stick with it...
Summary: 4 Stars
In Victorian England, a scholarly spinster with a tragic past who prefers feminine companionship becomes at the recommendation of her attending physician, a lady visitor at a women's prison. Expecting to forget her tragedy and heartbreak by doing charity work with women "more wretched than she", she comes under the spell of a spirit medium serving time for fraud and assault. Is the prisoner the real deal and an innocent woman wrongly sentenced or is she just a con-artist and seductress? Chapters alternate between the medium's diary told in flashback leading up to the events that caused her to be imprisoned and in the present of the story in the diary of the lady visitor. The twisted ending is revealed in the final 2 chapters of the book.
Loved this book, I found it a bit slow reading to start, but it does pick up. This is a must read if you like period stories. If you liked Michael Faber's "The Crimson Petal and the White", you'll like this.
Book Review: Great...for any other author
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a tough review. I have read both of Ms. Waters other books, 'Fingersmith' which is fantastic and 'Tipping the Velvet' which is very good. 'Affinity' is her middle book the second one. And its good well written etc but there's the rub for me, the style is there but not the substance. Maybe its the style of writing, diary entries back and forth or something, the book just does not seem to flow as well as the others to me. Ms. Waters' books are very character driven and I just did not 'connect' to either of the characters in this one. As always the surroundings and feel of the period are there but in this book that almost overwhelms the characters themselves.
But again this is a good book. Its a good read..an afternoon into the evening type thats hard to put down. Four stars, to me, mean a better then average read and this book clearly is that. Its just not as great as her other two books in my opinion.
Book Review: An excellent piece of Victoriana
Summary: 4 Stars
Please do yourself a favor -- if you like historical fiction, and especially if you like Victoriana, read this book. You won't be sorry; it's among the best of the best.
Now, do prepare yourself for the fact that there is not a lot of action in this book, beyond psychological action. It's a thinking person's book. However, it is quite suspenseful and the characters are fascinating, so you won't mind the fact that the events aren't happening at the speed you may be used to.
I gave this book four stars and not five because of some uneven editing in the book, especially in the antagonist's diary entries.
Overall, however, this book is top-notch. Read it and like it very much.
BTW, this isn't a "lesbian book" as it is often billed. There's nothing sexy in this book, and nobody comes out of the closet as a lesbian; it's all implied.