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A review by selfmythologies
Affinity by Sarah Waters
4.0
well, damn. should've seen that ending coming probably, but i'm gonna need a few days to fully shake this from my bones
If you've read Sarah Waters before, you know what to basically expect from her novels: an incredibly well written and researched Victorian gothic tale - with lesbians in it. There's always gloom and spookiness and an anxious sort of tension that keeps you glued to the page.
Affinity takes up two aspects of Victorian society: The prison system, specifically for women, and spiritualism, and connects them together in a highly intriguing way. Selina Dawes, one of the inmates of Millbank prison - the main setting of the novel, and a real place! - is a spirit-medium, imprisoned for fraud and treachery - but she may or may not actually have spiritual abilities, and be innocent. Her backstory is told through diary entries of her time before prison, which slowly reveal how she came to be where she is now.
Her mystery intrigues main character Margaret Prior, whose own diary entries form the main part of the story. She's an upper-class woman in a dark mental state - after a suicide attempt, she is struggling to reassemble into society, and decides to visit the prison (out of the hope that being a guide to women who are even worse off than she is might somehow make her feel better.) She is....not easy to like, but that's what I enjoyed about her. I think she's a very realistic picture of a woman who struggles with mental health, and perpetually feeling outcast from society - she's closed off, often hesitant and anxious, and just....lost. Her story is, above all, about the limits and (im)possibility of women's emancipation given societal circumstances.
The detailed descriptions of the harshness and loneliness of prison life contrast in an interesting way with Margaret's everyday life, which is filled with societal roles that also close her in and stifle her - she has to keep her attraction to women hidden, growing older as an unmarried women, and above everything there is a devastating sort of loneliness to her. That is....until she meets Selina.
There's also the issue of classism, which I caught up on from the beginning - the stories of the women in prison, often poor women who were driven to crime by the circumstances of their lives, leave a deep impression with the main character and change her perspective on her own life. And Selina was imprisoned on the charge of tricking rich women out of their money under the guise of spritual sessions, which carries its own classist assumptions. Without saying too much, this topic ends up being very important for the story as a whole.
I can't say much more about either story or themes, because, well, there's a twist ending that will connect every aspect of the story and make it all fall into place. That twist was one of my favorite aspects of Waters' other novel Fingersmith (I remember my complete and utter shock to this day), and it was, again, amazingly done here. I have so many thoughts on that ending, here are just some: it's so tragic and sad and devastating, as I said, I now have to get all this gloominess out of me. it's devastating because the possibility of self-realization and finally finding a place in the world seemed so real for the main character - and then it was all torn away. but on the other hand, for the ~tricksters~ Selina and Ruth, this really is a move of empowerment - stepping into the role of a male spirit and a female medium, tricking rich people, as a way to make it in the world as two working-class women in love. very Parasite-y. it's super complex, the way it's tragic and empowering at the same time. I like it, but also.... I just wanted Margaret to be happy once in her life.
Now, as I've said before, the whole thing is quite dark and gloomy, and deals with some very heavy topics. As always with Sarah Waters, the story is great but it only comes alive through the strength of the writing. Even though it can sometimes drag a little, especially at the beginning, it really starts to take you into its spell, slowly but surely. Before you know it, the atmosphere of subtle dread takes hold of you as a reader. I would.......not recommend reading this all in one go. It can get intense.
Overall, though, I'd definitely recommend it - especially if you, like me, have a thing for historical fiction with gothic vibes. this is absolutely A tier in that category
If you've read Sarah Waters before, you know what to basically expect from her novels: an incredibly well written and researched Victorian gothic tale - with lesbians in it. There's always gloom and spookiness and an anxious sort of tension that keeps you glued to the page.
Affinity takes up two aspects of Victorian society: The prison system, specifically for women, and spiritualism, and connects them together in a highly intriguing way. Selina Dawes, one of the inmates of Millbank prison - the main setting of the novel, and a real place! - is a spirit-medium, imprisoned for fraud and treachery - but she may or may not actually have spiritual abilities, and be innocent. Her backstory is told through diary entries of her time before prison, which slowly reveal how she came to be where she is now.
Her mystery intrigues main character Margaret Prior, whose own diary entries form the main part of the story. She's an upper-class woman in a dark mental state - after a suicide attempt, she is struggling to reassemble into society, and decides to visit the prison (out of the hope that being a guide to women who are even worse off than she is might somehow make her feel better.) She is....not easy to like, but that's what I enjoyed about her. I think she's a very realistic picture of a woman who struggles with mental health, and perpetually feeling outcast from society - she's closed off, often hesitant and anxious, and just....lost. Her story is, above all, about the limits and (im)possibility of women's emancipation given societal circumstances.
The detailed descriptions of the harshness and loneliness of prison life contrast in an interesting way with Margaret's everyday life, which is filled with societal roles that also close her in and stifle her - she has to keep her attraction to women hidden, growing older as an unmarried women, and above everything there is a devastating sort of loneliness to her. That is....until she meets Selina.
There's also the issue of classism, which I caught up on from the beginning - the stories of the women in prison, often poor women who were driven to crime by the circumstances of their lives, leave a deep impression with the main character and change her perspective on her own life. And Selina was imprisoned on the charge of tricking rich women out of their money under the guise of spritual sessions, which carries its own classist assumptions. Without saying too much, this topic ends up being very important for the story as a whole.
I can't say much more about either story or themes, because, well, there's a twist ending that will connect every aspect of the story and make it all fall into place. That twist was one of my favorite aspects of Waters' other novel Fingersmith (I remember my complete and utter shock to this day), and it was, again, amazingly done here. I have so many thoughts on that ending, here are just some:
Now, as I've said before, the whole thing is quite dark and gloomy, and deals with some very heavy topics. As always with Sarah Waters, the story is great but it only comes alive through the strength of the writing. Even though it can sometimes drag a little, especially at the beginning, it really starts to take you into its spell, slowly but surely. Before you know it, the atmosphere of subtle dread takes hold of you as a reader. I would.......not recommend reading this all in one go. It can get intense.
Overall, though, I'd definitely recommend it - especially if you, like me, have a thing for historical fiction with gothic vibes. this is absolutely A tier in that category