Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Affinity by Sarah Waters

3 reviews

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!

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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

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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

nialiversuch's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Classism, Forced institutionalization, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Misogyny, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Addiction, Confinement, Drug use, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Abortion and Child death

Minor: Alcohol and Terminal illness