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dorynickel's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I enjoyed this book so much! It hit all its marks: gothic but not overwrought, lusty but not erotic, intimate but not constricted, mysterious but not inscrutable.
Sometimes the characters seem not fully fleshed out, but then the two main characters' respective malleability and opaqueness are so intentional that I can't really take away points for this.
Above all, Waters' prose and storytelling are what makes this book stand out within the oft-derided "girly novel" genre. (Although it did take me a chapter or two to get used to the journal framing, with its varying syntaxes and mixed tenses.) I will admit that I didn't take this book seriously enough at first, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mastery with which Waters weaves the substance of the story and its candid prose together with the tropes inherent in its subject matter. Give yourself permission to take a sapphic Victorian Gothic mystery ghost novel seriously, and you're in for a real treat!
Sometimes the characters seem not fully fleshed out, but then the two main characters' respective malleability and opaqueness are so intentional that I can't really take away points for this.
Above all, Waters' prose and storytelling are what makes this book stand out within the oft-derided "girly novel" genre. (Although it did take me a chapter or two to get used to the journal framing, with its varying syntaxes and mixed tenses.) I will admit that I didn't take this book seriously enough at first, and I was pleasantly surprised by the mastery with which Waters weaves the substance of the story and its candid prose together with the tropes inherent in its subject matter. Give yourself permission to take a sapphic Victorian Gothic mystery ghost novel seriously, and you're in for a real treat!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Classism, Mental illness, and Drug abuse
Moderate: Sexual assault and Suicide
Minor: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Homophobia
lidia7's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
Really enjoyed it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Infidelity, and Forced institutionalization
Moderate: Suicide attempt, Drug use, Death of parent, and Grief
Minor: Violence, Excrement, Abortion, Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Infidelity, Classism, Blood, Sexual harassment, Sexism, and Terminal illness
eleanor029's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I love Sarah Waters' writing but this book was so slow to build up. Had it been my first of hers, I'm not sure I would have finished it.
Having finished it, I see the full picture and can appreciate the story, but while reading it, I was not as hooked as usually when reading Sarah Waters.
This would be a good book club book to compare to 'Fingersmith', since I thought the vibes were similar in the end.
I did find it quite unsatisfying though, that Selina never came to Margaret at all. I would have found the betrayal greater had she maybe come to Margaret in her room, kissed her, taken the things and then left her standing. But then again, the context of her escape would have been harder to explain...
Having finished it, I see the full picture and can appreciate the story, but while reading it, I was not as hooked as usually when reading Sarah Waters.
This would be a good book club book to compare to 'Fingersmith', since I thought the vibes were similar in the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement
Moderate: Drug use
Minor: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death of parent, Medical content, Mental illness, Self harm, and Suicide attempt
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