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thisotherbookaccount 's review for:
Affinity
by Sarah Waters
I approached this book with the right attitude. That is, I was not expecting this to be another runaway masterpiece like Sarah Waters' other book, Fingersmith — and that is a good thing. Affinity does not quite 'get there', but the fact that I managed my expectations allowed the journey to be a relatively enjoyable one. For the most part, that is.
Let's begin with the positives: no one will finish reading this book without feeling like they have physically been to the prison itself. The dark cells, in particular, make me feel uncomfortable just reading it off the pages. Waters, yet again, does not rely on graphic descriptions to highlight the sensual and the sexual — a point which I brought up in my review of Fingersmith as well. Her erotica does not come across as being overtly or unnecessarily sensual. She gives just enough clues and descriptions to entice, and I personally feel that that is the best way to approach sexuality on the page. On a side note, this is also the reason why The Handmaiden, the South Korean adaptation of Fingersmith, is not as good as it could have been. The film turns the sexuality up to 11 for no good reason at all, discounting the romance.
With that out of the way, the negatives. Having written this book directly before Fingersmith, I get the sense that Waters was warming up and using this book as a practice. There are story beats that feel similar to Fingersmith. If you have read both books and know the twists, you know what I am talking about. It is as if Affinity is really just a stepping stone for Waters to get to a better headspace with Fingersmith, a better, more masterfully plotted novel.
Spoilers ahead:
As for the story, well, we know that Waters is not writing a supernatural story here. This means that, going into the book, you know that spiritualism is just a whole lot of bullshit. Incidentally, I read a book called Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer a few years ago. It is a book on the history of magic, and how early spiritualism practices were really magic tricks engaged to con dumb rich people. Going into this book with knowledge about the con definitely dampened the story for me. You see the twist coming from miles away, and you cannot help but think that the protagonist is a dumb. Like, girl, it's RIGHT THERE. The clues are IN YOUR FACE. Spiritualism is BULLSHIT. She's CONNING YOUR ASS.
So, not the best book in her body of work. It receives just a passing grade, but no more. Then again, it's good that this books is relatively short, and I was not expecting much out of it anyway.
Let's begin with the positives: no one will finish reading this book without feeling like they have physically been to the prison itself. The dark cells, in particular, make me feel uncomfortable just reading it off the pages. Waters, yet again, does not rely on graphic descriptions to highlight the sensual and the sexual — a point which I brought up in my review of Fingersmith as well. Her erotica does not come across as being overtly or unnecessarily sensual. She gives just enough clues and descriptions to entice, and I personally feel that that is the best way to approach sexuality on the page. On a side note, this is also the reason why The Handmaiden, the South Korean adaptation of Fingersmith, is not as good as it could have been. The film turns the sexuality up to 11 for no good reason at all, discounting the romance.
With that out of the way, the negatives. Having written this book directly before Fingersmith, I get the sense that Waters was warming up and using this book as a practice. There are story beats that feel similar to Fingersmith. If you have read both books and know the twists, you know what I am talking about. It is as if Affinity is really just a stepping stone for Waters to get to a better headspace with Fingersmith, a better, more masterfully plotted novel.
Spoilers ahead:
As for the story, well, we know that Waters is not writing a supernatural story here. This means that, going into the book, you know that spiritualism is just a whole lot of bullshit. Incidentally, I read a book called Hiding the Elephant by Jim Steinmeyer a few years ago. It is a book on the history of magic, and how early spiritualism practices were really magic tricks engaged to con dumb rich people. Going into this book with knowledge about the con definitely dampened the story for me. You see the twist coming from miles away, and you cannot help but think that the protagonist is a dumb. Like, girl, it's RIGHT THERE. The clues are IN YOUR FACE. Spiritualism is BULLSHIT. She's CONNING YOUR ASS.
So, not the best book in her body of work. It receives just a passing grade, but no more. Then again, it's good that this books is relatively short, and I was not expecting much out of it anyway.