Affinity by Sarah Waters Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Affinity
Book Review: Great read!!
Summary: 5 Stars
After her father's death, Margaret Prior becomes despondent. Before he died, she was to have gone to Italy with him and her friend, Helen, with whom Margaret was in love with. Now Helen is married to Margaret's brother and their sister, Priscilla is also getting married. Her physician suggests that Margaret become a Lady Visitor at Millbank Prison, to be a comfort and example to the women. Margaret meets several of the prisoners and becomes obsessed with one, Selina Dawes, a spiritualist imprisoned for fraud.
I don't want to say much more about the plot for fear of giving something away. But let me say that I loved this book. It takes place in Victorian London, it has a Dickensian prison and wardens. It has psychics and mediums. Margaret is a lonely character. She does not want to marry or have children. She is haunted by her love for Helen and desperately sad over the loss of her intellectual father, the only one who understood her.
Margaret's story alternates with that of Selina's and we see how she ended up in prison.
Though I was not a fan of Waters' The Little Stranger which everyone else raved about, I thought Affinity was incredibly well-written, with fleshed out characters and a brilliant plot. Her descriptions of Millbank Prison, the matrons in charge of the women prisoners, and the prisoners themselves are very well researched, as are stories of the spiritualist community.
This book is a must, must read! It is very atmospheric and Gothic-like. In case I didn't mention it, I loved it.
my rating 5/5
Book Review: Great...for any other author
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a tough review. I have read both of Ms. Waters other books, 'Fingersmith' which is fantastic and 'Tipping the Velvet' which is very good. 'Affinity' is her middle book the second one. And its good well written etc but there's the rub for me, the style is there but not the substance. Maybe its the style of writing, diary entries back and forth or something, the book just does not seem to flow as well as the others to me. Ms. Waters' books are very character driven and I just did not 'connect' to either of the characters in this one. As always the surroundings and feel of the period are there but in this book that almost overwhelms the characters themselves.
But again this is a good book. Its a good read..an afternoon into the evening type thats hard to put down. Four stars, to me, mean a better then average read and this book clearly is that. Its just not as great as her other two books in my opinion.
Book Review: Haunting.
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't think I will say too much, except that this book has touched me in a place where nothing else has. I was enthralled right from the beginning. Sarah Waters writing is so, so beautiful. Every single word was written with care.
When I got the the end, I was struck with pain. It's very, very powerful and has stayed with me ever since.
Book Review: Highly recommended
Summary: 5 Stars
"Affinity" is a wonderfully atmospheric novel, set amongst the dank prisons and fog shrouded streets of Victorian London. It is much more than that, though: it is a feminist tale with lesbian undertones, a thriller, and a supernatural shocker with a twist ending that delightfully turns on its ear endings like "The Sixth Sense" and "The Others". (I read this for a book club, and NO ONE was expecting that ending.) There is a pathos to these characters lives -- it was not easy to be a woman in such a repressive society, especially a spirited one.Highly recommended... there's something for everyone in this one.
Book Review: Incredibly atmospheric but was just missing something to make it great
Summary: 4 Stars
When I finally learned how to read at the late ago of seven I stopped seeing words as a series of letters and started seeing pictures instead. Not just the picture one word projected or one sentence, but the whole book. I started reading books as though they were movies and so learned to read faster because I was so immersed in the atmosphere of the book.
Atmosphere has always been the most important part of the book to me. If I can't really believe my surroundings while I'm reading then the book just isn't worth finishing.
From the very first page of this book I heard creepy piano music, saw dim lights that were almost depressing and a lot of the color gray. This may not seem like an atmosphere you'd want to spend 350+ pages in, but it fit the story so well that I was just lost in the book. The author's power of description was perfect and made reading this book a true experience.
"Affinity" is told in two parts, a narrative in diary form set about a year in the past from the main story from the point of view of Selina Dawes, a young spiritualist in 1870's London arrested for assault and fraud and a diary by Margaret Prior a wealthy spinster who has become a lady visitor at a prison to take her mind off some mystery shrouded event in her life.. The two alternate-Selina with extremely vague and short entries that leave you wondering if she has spiritual powers or is just a clever fraud and Michelle detailing everything that happens in her unhappy home life and her obsessive visits to Milbank prison. The two together bring forth at atmosphere of grayness, misunderstanding and silence, weather imposed by prison guards or polite society. Truly they do so seem to have an affinity to them.
But as the book progresses and we learn more of Selina and Margaret strange things start to happen. Items disappear from Margaret's bedroom and Selina says that the sprits took them-and on top of that she knows things Margaret could have never told her. A sort of link develops between the two leading to their final plan and the revelation that changes everything.
I liked this book a lot and was very surprised by the turns and twists its story took. That atmosphere as I've said was excellent and really did its job of transporting the reader into the story. But for some reason the story didn't call out to me so while I did like this book I didn't love it.
Four stars