|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
|
Product Description
From Amazon.com
Fingersmith is the third slice of engrossing lesbian Victoriana from Sarah Waters. Although lighter and more melodramatic in tone than its predecessor, Affinity, this hypnotic suspense novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets, orphans, grim prisons, lunatic asylums, "laughing villains," and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad." Divided into three parts, the tale is narrated by two orphaned girls whose lives are inextricably linked. Waters's penchant for byzantine plotting can get a bit exhausting, but even at its densest moments--and remember, this is smoggy London circa 1862--it remains mesmerizing. A damning critique of Victorian moral and sexual hypocrisy, a gripping melodrama, and a love story to boot, this book ingeniously reworks some truly classic themes. --Travis Elborough, Amazon.co.uk
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
In Victorian London, the orphaned Sue Trinder is raised by Mrs. Sucksby, den mother to a family of thieves, or "fingersmiths." To repay Mrs. Sucksby's kindness, Sue gets involved in a scam but soon regrets it. From the award-winning author of Tipping the Velvet.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twists and Turns That Make the Heart Patter,
By
This review is from: Fingersmith (Paperback)
Set in the Victorian slums of London, and subsequently the English countryside, this is a tale of twists and turns that make the heart patter. I won't go into any details on the plot as I think it would be very hard not to give any spoilers. This is, simply put, a brilliant book. The story oozes with atmosphere. It is an incredibly Dickensian tale with characters that are eccentric and deliciously evil. It turns out I had already seen the BBC dramatization so I knew some of the secrets but still I found myself reeling in amazement with each twist and turn the author dares to throw at the reader. Sarah Waters most certainly is a gutsy and brilliant storyteller. I want to run out and read every book she's written. Most definitely and highly recommended!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Completely caught me off guard at how good a book it is,
By
This review is from: Fingersmith (Hardcover)
I decided to give this book a read after it made a critics 'top 10' list. Thus I picked up the book blind, having no idea who the author was nor what the premise of the included. Having just finished the book I can honestly say I was not disappointed.Waters manages to capture the sights and sounds of Victorian England quite well. Details are richly rendered, and each character is developed such that the reader feels like they can almost reach out and touch them. Progressing through the book, the reader is left with a very different impression of what Victorian England might have looked like, as say compared to how Dickens's might have portrayed it. Waters also does a fantastic job of keeping the reader on edge. Plot turns and twists ensure that this is one book the reader will not want to put down. Anyone who is interested in books centered around Victorian England, and/or who like books where the unexpected is almost the expected, should definitely give this book a read.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A genuinely sensational contemporary "sensation novel",
By Jay Dickson (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Fingersmith (Paperback)
Since John Fowles's THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT'S WOMEN three decades ago many British novelists have tried to recapture the style and feel of the great pageturners from the novel's heyday, the Victorian era, often with mixed results. Sarah Waters, like Charles Palliser, has carved out a career for herself almost wholly in this subgenre, and succeeds even more brilliantly than Palliser. Her latest novel, FINGERSMITH, beautifully recaptures the can't-put-it-down excitement of her literary forerunner Wilkie Collins, and narrates the story of a group of thieves who engineer a cruel plot to commit an heiress to a madhouse with real aplomb and skill. But the novel is even better than that: it brings out into the open social and cultural concerns Collins or Dickens could not have spoken about quite so directly (particularly pornography and same-sex eroticism), and shows great insight into the metafictional issues involved in reworking this subgenre of the sensation novel. I recommend this extremely highly.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
