Affinity by Sarah Waters Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Affinity
Book Review: Another great novel from Sarah Waters
Summary: 5 Stars
AFFINITY by Sarah WatersAfter reading Sarah Waters' wonderfully written book FINGERSMITH, I had to get a hold of her other two novels TIPPING THE VELVET and AFFINITY. As with FINGERSMITH, I came away from AFFINITY with a very satisfied feeling of having read yet another great book. AFFINITY is a complex story set in Victorian England about a young woman, Margaret Prior, who has been suffering from bouts of depression and loneliness. She has just suffered from a breakdown shortly after her father's death, and because of a suicide attempt, her mother, with the hopes of making a full recovery keeps her secluded in the house and administered with medications.
When it is suggested that Margaret visit the local woman's gaol (prison) as a form of therapy, she agrees and begins her frequent visits. She is known as a "lady visitor", one of many that come to the prisons to read and talk to the prisoners as a form of goodwill and charity. Soon she finds herself meeting and conversing with the various women that are being held in this gaol. She meets women from all walks of life and sees the horrible conditions in which they now live. And then she meets Selina Dawes. Margaret takes extra notice of this quiet sad woman. The reader immediately knows that she finds Selina special, and soon she becomes obsessed with the prisoner, and her story. It is all she can think of day and night. It becomes her life.
Selina Dawes is a medium, who is able to talk to the dead and perform acts of the paranormal. She is in prison due to the death of a friend of hers, Mrs. Brink, who allowed Selina to live with her as she helped Mrs. Brink contact the netherworld. Mrs. Brink died during one of Selina's paranormal sessions, and is being charged for assault and fraud. Learning about Selina's "crime", Margaret is in total sympathy with Selina and knows that Selina is in prison for a crime she did not commit, and soon the two become close.
The viewpoints of both women are seen through the journals of each of them respectively. Selina's journal-entries lead to the day of the supposed crime, while Margaret's journal takes us through the present story. And, as the book becomes more and more complicated, the journals begin to reveal more and more secret thoughts of these two women. The ending, as with FINGERSMITH, will totally shock the reader. Sarah Waters is the master of the double-twisted plot device, and although the story started on a slow note, the pace of the book picked up and did not let up until the very last page. Beautifully written with subtle undertones of lesbianism, this reviewer highly recommends AFFINITY.
Book Review: Another winner from Sarah Waters
Summary: 4 Stars
Well worth the read -- interesting story line with surprise ending. I am a new Sarah Waters' fan!Book Review: Atmospheric and haunting
Summary: 4 Stars
Atmospheric and at times quite creepy, this novel explores the charlatans of Victorian England who pretended to be able to contact the spirit realm. Waters has a talent for creating characters who are likeable even when they do pretty distasteful things.Book Review: Compelling read, amazing twists
Summary: 5 Stars
Sarah Waters is trully gifted. Affinity is written in the form of the heroine's diary. But it's far from what other authors have done in their novels, this one is trully unique. It is unique because because the characteristics of the times are written with realism and attention to detail, and the characters are depicted with well thought-of depth and wit. It is unique because the intensity of the emotions make your heart race like crazy. And finally, it would take one clever writer to come up with such unexpected twists. I finished this novel shocked, disturbed, and kept thinking about it for the rest of the day. It doesn't happen everyday that a story has such a powerful impact. I can't wait to start reading Tipping the Velvet.Book Review: Easily One of the Five Best Books I've Ever Read!
Summary: 5 Stars
What can you say about a novel that when you are through reading it you actually miss the characters in it because they have almost become part of your life?
Margaret and I had become old friends. We had walked those narrow prison hallways together. We had wondered about Selena and her gifts and whether she was what she said she was. And we had decided to trust her. Actually, the point had come that we had no choice but to trust her because we were no longer capable of clear thinking where she was concerned. And we mourned together when we discovered how badly we had been used. I couldn't have asked for more in a book.
The characters were likable, recognizable, and fully human. The plot was old as time itself, if a bit out of mainstream for our puritanical day and time. Some may consider this a "lesbian novel" but I consider it a human novel. Just as Brokeback Mountain is much more a human story than it is a gay story. Its theme? Honesty, pure and simple!
Sarah Waters' work should be topping the best seller lists instead of most of the tripe that sits there now.