Showing posts with label sarah waters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sarah waters. Show all posts

Tuesday, 29 December 2015

[spoiler]REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

spoilers sign photo:  tumblr_lm2zgfWGGE1qbioxc.gif
**not mine, taken from Photobucket, credit to the creator who is linked in the image**
Okay, so this review is an alternative, almost discussion-style post as opposed to my spoiler-free review here, so if you do not wish to be spoiled, please head there!

This book took me an aaaaaage to complete, at least that's what it felt like! But it's a big book, that requires commitment, which I seemingly lacked. 

I absolutely adored the down-to-earth characteristic that Sue displayed, although I did disagree with Sue's lifestyle, but hey-ho, in that time period, needs must right? And I'm certain she wasn't the only one being a fingersmith. I felt that her development through the book allowed us, as readers, to feel like we were living it up with her, in the sense that we felt how she felt, even though we knew what she didnt. One thing I did not like however, was that we knew a lot more of the truth than Sue did, way before she did. That was one thing I felt that let me down, as I could not sympathise as much with Sue whilst she was hating Gentleman and Maud with all her might, yet so desperately clung onto the idea that Sucksby was looking for her, which was, as we all know, is far, far, far from the truth!

Maud. Oh Maud, you seemingly naive, yet cunning girl. Yes, we understand your frustration with your lifestyle, and your Uncle, but you were looked after well, fed, and everyone tried to do the best for you. Hell, even I sympathised with you and I was Team Sue all the way! Well, I sympathised with you until you went, unsupervised, into the library and did the thing. I think, a part of me actually wanted Sue to carry out her hateful thoughts onto you, just for that act. Yes, I understand there was smut in probably every single one of those books, but someone took the time and effort to create the thing and you went ahead and destroyed at least one! You went down in my expectations after that Maud, especially when we discovered you were penning your own in the future. Not good. 

This is just a couple of my initial thoughts on the book, mainly on two of the characters. Is this something that you would like to see more of on my blog? A spoiler-free review, followed by a spoiler/discussion style post as well, where I offload all my thoughts which are free to discuss with you as readers? Let me know in the comments if this seems like a good plan. 

That's it for now, I'll be back in the New Year!



REVIEW: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

***Please note, this review may not remain spoiler free***

Recently, I had the pleasure of picking up Fingersmith. I got it for a pound (£1) in one of my local charity shops, and had heard so much about the author, and with a new release of hers looming, I thought I may as well try her out, to see what her writing is like.

When I first read the back (I know some people refrain from doing so because of spoilers, but ultimately, how would I know if I was interested or not?), I got the impression that Sue Trinder (our lead female) was a sort of female version of Oliver Twist, and that the white gloves on the cover of the book were of some sort of significance to this line of work. Oh how I was not wrong.

The book follows Sue, who lives in London with her mother-esque figure Mrs Sucksby, as well as Mr Ibbs, John and Dainty, with the occasional visit from a man named, well, Gentleman. It is through Gentleman that Sue undertakes the biggest 'pickpocket' task of her life, and leaves her in a rather strange predicament....

I'll leave it there, incase of spoilers!

Basically, this book contains love, lust, greed, jealousy, rage, spit, murder and above all, bravery. I would highly highly recommend this book to anyone who loves a good Dickensian novel, with a little bit of a twist thrown in there! If you've read the novel, please let me know down below so we can discuss it further - there will also be a spoiler blog post on this novel coming up, so avoid that like the plague if you wish to remain spoiler free!

See you all soon my lovelies!

R