A review by ergative
The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

dark emotional reflective tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

 I really, really liked this book. I found it easy to sink into the narrative prose; I found all the awkward uncertainties about how a relationship is progressing very convincing; and I think the ending could have so easily taken an easier way out (fess up;  or don't fess up but be ruined by guilt ever after), and instead somehow managed to make things (maybe) come out okay. When I was little, I remember my father (??) explaining that it's easier to write a sad ending than a happy ending, because 'rocks fall, everyone dies' is easier to plan than a solution that fixes the problems you'vve introduced into the narrative. This book is perhaps not quite so binary as sad ending/happy ending, but I kept on expecting things to end badly in a way that felt rather inevitable, and the fact that Waters managed to avoid that in a way that still felt believable was very impressive. 
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