Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
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Book Reviews of Fingersmith
Book Review: Excellent read!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is a true treasure. I feel like I made such a great discovery that day I found it on display in a book store. Ms. Waters' writing is gripping and compelling, and her story telling ability is top notch. While the book partly involves a relationship between two women, it is not central to most of the story and the book should appeal to a broad range of readers.Fingersmith has some dark and gothic overtones, which makes it all the more flavorful of a read. The absolute best thing about this book, however, are the plot twists and turns. There are at least two points in the book where you simply don't see what's coming. I can't remember having ever been that surprised by a writer and I loved it.
If you enjoy books with historical settings, devious plot turns, wonderful writing, and/or unusual characters, then don't pass this one up!
(Note: Tipping the Velvet is also an excellent read. The other book I've read of hers, Affinity, is only for those who don't mind a dark story with no light to brighten it. It's very well written like the others and has some interesting plot turns, but left me feeling like a bit of a masochist at the end for reading it.)
Book Review: A VICTORIAN PAGE TURNER
Summary: 5 Stars
Set in Victorian England, FINGERSMITH tells the tale of the intertwined lives of Sue and Maud and their involvement in a scheme to get their hands on a large inheritance. To tell any more of the plot would possibly risk giving away some delicious tidbit. The reader should begin FINGERSMITH knowing as little as possible to enable them to fully appreciate all the twists and turns that are involved. Once one thinks they've figured it out they are once again left in the dark. Not until the last paragraph does one come upon the ending.There is so much enjoyment to be found in FINGERSMITH. The writing is beautiful and enchanting. There were so many scenes where I could really 'feel' what it would be like to live during this time period. I most appreciated Waters' portrayal of the mad house before the advent of modern psychiatric knowledge and care. What a grim and desolate place to find yourself in. I have not enjoyed a work of historical fiction as much as FINGERSMITH since I read Margaret Atwood's ALIAS GRACE, which is equally impressive. FINGERSMITH is well worth reserving time during the day to indulge yourself.
Book Review: An undeniably adventuresome read
Summary: 5 Stars
Want a book that will be so hard to put down it will seem like it's glued to your fingers?
Grab a copy of "Fingersmith" and you'll find yourself held in thrall until the book is done.
Despite the fact that this book, and Sarah Waters other books as well, are billed as "lesbian Victoriana", actually, they are just plain good stories first and "lesbian" second, if at all.
I would call Sarah Waters the "queen of the twists" much in the same way M. NIght holds that title in cinema.
I am looking forward to seeing the future books a talent as prodigious as that of Ms. Waters.
I only wish that people wouldn't pigeonhole her books as "lesbian." They really aren't. It's like stereotyping her books, and I don't like it. Sure, she has lesbian protagonists, but so what? Do we really, in our modern society, think lesbianism is so strange and alien that if someone in a book is a lesbian, suddenly it is a fringe book? Please.
Book Review: A very rare treat.
Summary: 5 Stars
I came to this book when a friend handed it to me saying, "It's by the foremost lesbian novelist in the world." Not exactly sure what to expect, based on that comment, I started reading. That characterization (which I've seen repeated in reviews) is unfair and does a great disservice to a wonderful novel, because it makes one believe that it promotes a viewpoint or that the story revolves around that narrow issue.As to the story, it involves two orphans, a plot to deceive, arcane books, weird noblemen, machinations of all kinds, and in short, every gothic device imaginable. It has echoes of Dickens, Jane Eyre, and modern masters of the thriller. Don't let anyone tell you much about the plot ... I just envy you the experience of reading it.
It is very rare that I can find the time to finish a near 600 page book in under a week, but Fingersmith gave me little choice. It has wonderfully drawn characters, astounding plotting, and enough interesting elements to make you stay up way past when you want to. Go read it.
Book Review: as brilliant as the flyleaf claims!
Summary: 5 Stars
The flyleaf accolades were right - Sarah Waters is an awesome writer! Encompassing two first-person narratives, this is the story of Sue Trinder, raised a Fagin's Gang kind of theif, who sets out to swindle Maud Lilly out of her fortune. Multiple double-crosses and revelations ensue before the story finishes, 500 pages later. Waters takes us through the worlds of London theives, dreary Victorian recluses, the erotica book trade, and madhouses before we're done, each terrifying and alluring in its own way. Like Dickens at his best, she manages to give each charater complexity and avoid explicit judgement - even the villian Richard Rives is enticing at times. She evokes, rather than discusses, the various ways women can be controlled and imprisoned, and lets us feel it through her two strong-willed heroines. The language and texture of the book are at once rich and seemingly historically accurate and also accessible to a modern audience. So much could be said about this book - brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!