Fingersmith by Sarah WatersMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Darling of bloggers everywhere. Frequent winner of the 'favorite Sarah Waters book' contest.
I'd describe it as a somewhat saucy cross between Middlemarch and Wuthering Heights.
In which we meet: Two Young Women whose lives are mysteriously linked; The Gentlemen who seek to take advantage of them in one way or another; With many curious and sordid details along the way.
Further to the story:
- A Young Lady is shut up in a crumbling mansion with a nearsighted old scholar, dedicated above all to his research, which will provide a Key to Everything
- An orphan girl meanwhile grows up in a London ghetto full of thieves and scoundrels
- People go about disguising themselves as members of a different class in order to get what they want
- Somone is locked in an insane asylum
It's all true, what they've said. It's hard to put down. It has plot twists to get your brain in knots. It has shadows, whispering, blood, dark hallways, secret riches, and the ruination of women.
All the same, and you know how much I like noting down favorite passages, I didn't particularly notice the writing in this. Waters' prose is serviceable but I wouldn't say it's a feature that stands out on its own merit. Plot is what we're here for, this time.
I suppose that sounds like a criticism, but it might be unfair to expect a book to be everything to everybody. Unless it's Middlemarch, of course.
Reading Fingersmith brought Middlemarch back to me vividly (there were a few obvious parallels between the two books). What an exquisite masterpiece, an undying classic. Eliot achieved so much more than a good story; Middlemarch is social commentary, feminist protest, and a biting critique of the very structures that underpin English society. It deserves another read.
Fingersmith is a good story but that's all it is.
It's a perfect cure for the hangover caused by reading a book with no plot, as Sparkling Squirrel noted recently.
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there were a few obvious parallels between the two books
ReplyDeleteMy favorite part of Middlemarch was Casaubon's vast erotica collection.
JUST KIDDING! Yeah, I agree about Fingersmith: it's a page-turner, but I didn't find much more there. I forget, have you read The Night Watch? I think you did - that was my favorite Waters as far as strength of writing and depth of conception.
:) You don't KNOW what Casaubon was working on.
ReplyDeleteI listened to The Night Watch on audio and really liked it. I think I'll read it again on paper because I notice different things.
I actually prefered the little stranger overall but I did very much enjoy fingersmith. The plot is very very similar to The Woman in White so thats the book I had in my mind when reading it.
ReplyDeleteI haven't read The Little Stranger yet but I hope to read that one next (of her books, not in general).
ReplyDeleteI just bought The Little Stranger for $1 at an enormous book sale, I look forward to reading it. I didn't notice the parallels to Middlemarch, I thought it more closely resembled The Woman in White (or maybe it's because I read TWiW more recently.) And LOL to Emily's comment!! I hated Causaubon!! I have also just checked out Daniel Deronda from the library, hope it is as good as MM.
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