Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rae_rif 's review for:
The Paying Guests
by Sarah Waters
there were a few times when i didn't mind this book, but overall it was really bad and i would not recommend it to anyone, nor read anything else the author wrote. it was super slow, and took forever to get going. there was a time in the middle once frances and lilian had started their affair that wasn't bad. the part about lilian getting her (second?) back alley, at home abortion via herbs and pills was probably the most interesting part. then lenny came home early and it all went to shit. liilan said she was leaving him, he assumed there was another man, frances admitted she was the other man, things hot quite heated and it was not clear if lenny was going to lash out violently. when lillian killed him by hitting him over the head with an ashtray, it seemed pretty clear they could go to to the police and claim it was self defense. but instead they dragged him out to the garden to be found the next day. a whole police investigation followed. turns out lenny and his friend charlie had girlfriends (though lenny was obvs married and charlie was engaged) and the girls themselves had other men as well. but lenny's girlfriend was named billie, and her boyfriend/fiance spencer had been the one to attack him earlier in summer. he ended up being tried for lenny's murder. frances and lilian kept telling themselves/each other they would come forward if the kid spencer was found guilty, that they wouldn't let him be hanged for the murder they committed. the part about him being accused reminded me a bit of the end of american psycho when he confesses and other people have already been found guilty of the murders. in the end, spencer is found not guilty, and its not entirely clear if lilian and frances' relationship can be salvaged in any sort of meaningful way. they talked big about loving each other, but the whole affair had been about half a year, and its hard for any relationship to get past a trauma like that.
there were some slightly interesting explorations of class and gender relations, but honestly reading about them RN, it was hard to care about 1920s england when we are experiencing so many more pressing and current social movements.the 2nd half of the book dragged on terribly. i def would not have finished it if i had not recommended it to bookclub, and i'm still not sure i should have.
there were some slightly interesting explorations of class and gender relations, but honestly reading about them RN, it was hard to care about 1920s england when we are experiencing so many more pressing and current social movements.the 2nd half of the book dragged on terribly. i def would not have finished it if i had not recommended it to bookclub, and i'm still not sure i should have.