decemberthirty | (no subject)

I'm just over halfway through Sarah Waters's Fingersmith, and I am loving it! It is fantastically atmospheric, intense, suspenseful. It's been a long time since I've read a suspenseful book, and I think I had forgotten how much fun it can be. There has been one plot twist already--an absolute stunner that I never saw coming--and I suspect there may be more on the way. Waters does a great job evoking her settings, whether they are the slums of Victorian London or the rooms and grounds of a very strange manor house. Even more than that, though, I love the characters she has created. Sue, passionate yet unworldly, with that secret white glove pressed in the bodice of her dress, and poor Maud, repressed and damaged beyond belief, nursing her secret emotions, clinging to the remark that gave her hope, and both girls being manipulated by a scheming man whose real name is never known... It's a fantastic book. If all my class reading is this good, grad school will be fun.

And now I'm off to write some fiction, goddamnit.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

i've only read tipping the velvet, but i totally loved it. i will definitely give fingersmith a try.

I've never read anything else of hers, but now I'm definitely interested. Ms. E read Night Watch and said that it wasn't as good as Fingersmith, so perhaps I'll try some of her earlier stuff instead.

I loved Fingersmith. I think Affinity is my favorite of Waters's novels.

Like I said above, Fingersmith is the first of her books that I've read, but I'm certainly planning on reading more.

Oooh, off to write fiction...I'm jealous.

I keep saying when I get to Austin I'll be so fucking relieved to finally get back to work I won't have a chance to miss Portland for a while. It's been a while.

This sounds FABULOUS. Thanks for giving us the heads up!