Book Review

[kenjari]

Fingersmith
by Sarah Waters

This book was wonderful - great writing, exciting plot twists, interesting characters. It's set in early 1860s England and is pretty much the sort of book Dickens or Collins would have written if they could have been separated from the restraints of Victorian society. Fingersmith is the story of two young women, Sue and Maud, who get involved in an intricate plot involving mysterious identities, a conspiracy to steal a fortune, and a lot of secrets.

The plot of Fingersmith is a huge reference and homage to Wilkie Collins' The Woman in White. A couple of the characters are also references to the earlier book, especially Maud's uncle. But Waters goes where Collins does not: she actually brings the narrative into the insane asylum. She also adds more frank sexuality and violence.

Maud's upbringing and its results are, I think, a metaphor for the Victorian ideal female sex partner. Maud's uncle is a collector and cataloger of pornography - his life's work is a scholarly bibliography and index of erotic literature. He has raised his niece to be a strikingly competent assistant and secretary to him, training her to be able to deal with and even read aloud these books with a complete lack of embarrassment or even arousal. He often has her do readings for visiting male friends and business associates. Thus, Maud is like the Victorian ideal female sex partner: able to provide erotic services competently but while maintaining emotional and sexual distance and having no real sexual feelings or needs of her own.

Comments

[epilimnion.livejournal.com]

My favorite aspect of the book was the contrast between Sue's telling of the story and Maud's. Everything I thought I knew about the characters and their schemes, especially the kind of person Maud was, turned out to be wrong. I only wish there could have been some of Maud's narration in the last third (post-asylum) of the book. I also enjoyed the way the inheritance-hikacking scheme was revealed in layers, all the way down to Mrs. Sucksby, who had a surprising streak of long-term vision and patience, and more cunning than anyone else involved.

[jenaflynn.livejournal.com]

Ok.
This sounds like a wonderful book. Now I need to get through my current 5 books before I can pick this up.

[sylphae-minuo.livejournal.com]

I so need to get recommendations from you for the daughter. She is into historical novels and get very pissy if they deficient i n the research.

[kenjari.livejournal.com]

Sharon Kay Penman is one of my absolute favorites. I read Here Be Dragons when I was in high school and it made such an impression on me that I went to Wales for my honeymoon over a decade later.
Mary Renault writes very good books about the ancient Greek world.
I've always enjoyed Cecilia Holland's books. She covers a wide range of time periods and geographical areas.
Judith Tarr is also wonderful. She writes both straight historical fiction and historically-based fantasy novels. For the latter, look for the amazing Hound and Falcon trilogy.
I also like Pauline Gedge, Gillian Bradshaw, Dorothy Dunnett, and Edith Pargeter.
There are probably more, but that should get your daughter off to a good start.

[sylphae-minuo.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recommendations. I will forward them to her and see what she likes. Right now she is into the ebooks feature of the Cleveland library.