The Mystery, Crime, and Thriller Group discussion

This is the thread to discuss Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Nancy will be your moderator. A separate thread has been set up for spoiler comments. Enjoy.

Hello everyone! I read this book some time back and absolutely loved it. I will say that it is written in a Victorian-ish style, so you need to give this one some of your patience as it can get a bit wordy. If you stick with it though, you'll find a good, twisty story.

That's the warning. On to the reading!!

I'm starting today. Looking forward to it

I have a light day today, so I'll be starting it as well.

I read a couple of years back as well. It was different and interesting.

I also read Fingersmith some years ago, and found it disturbing and very dark.

Tone wrote: "I also read Fingersmith some years ago, and found it disturbing and very dark."

Dark, I'll grant you, but I didn't find it disturbing. Her writing in this book reminded me of both Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins.

I think I found this book disturbing because I could not identify with any of the charcters. I have enjoyed some of Sarah Waters' other novels, though. She is a good writer.

I started it last night. It’s good.

Tone wrote: "I think I found this book disturbing because I could not identify with any of the charcters. I have enjoyed some of Sarah Waters' other novels, though. She is a good writer."

That she most definitely is.

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "I started it last night. It’s good."

Oh, I'm so glad you're liking it so far!

Moving into chapter five now. The plot hatched by "Gentleman" is just wicked.

What a twisty betrayal!

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "What a twisty betrayal!"

The first time I read this book and got to that point, I actually yelled.

: D

Family issues seem to be dwindling, so I can get back to reading this book now and commenting.

Ended today's reading at the spot that will change the rest of the story. Even after having read it before, the "twisty betrayal" as April called it still made me gasp. I have to say that the author gives no clue as to what's coming up to this point -- well done.

This book definitely boasts the most memorable plot twists I’ve ever read. I gasped. I swore. I repeated “omg” as I processed the information.
My experience reading Fingersmith led me to other Waters books. They’re all good, but this is on another plane entirely.

Monique wrote: "This book definitely boasts the most memorable plot twists I’ve ever read. I gasped. I swore. I repeated “omg” as I processed the information.
My experience reading Fingersmith led me to other Wat..."

I think everyone who's paying close attention gets to that first twist and does the same thing. YOWZA!!!!

She's such a good writer. Her The Little Stranger is one of my all-time favorites.

At page 233 at this point. I'm not at all sure who is the worst villain here so far.

It's been about 3 years since I read this book. I just checked my review of it and from your comments I can remember the twists and turns this story took. Glad to see so many people enjoying it.

At p. 321. Since the last update, we are given not one, but two more twisty shockerinos as the story continues. I swear, this book is an excellent mix of Waters' great writing, Dickens' London, and the awesomeness of Wilkie Collins' sensation fiction.

Bill wrote: "It's been about 3 years since I read this book. I just checked my review of it and from your comments I can remember the twists and turns this story took. Glad to see so many people enjoying it."

twists and turns abound in this novel. What a mind she had to put it all together.

at page 451, and the plot, if it is at all possible, got even thicker. Seriously, people have no idea what they're missing. A shame, really.

Nancy wrote: "at page 451, and the plot, if it is at all possible, got even thicker. Seriously, people have no idea what they're missing. A shame, really."

Agreed!

Agreed! I’m on page 91 of my re-read. Every time I read this book, I am dazzled once again by the writing - the natural feel of all the historical detail, the characterisation, the narrative voice which never misses a beat, and the slow building suspense. And not yet at a hundred pages.

I’m at 300 pages now. I’m rediscovering all the revelations born of the switch in narrator. The sweet are actually nasty, the immoral are moral.

Monique wrote: "I’m at 300 pages now. I’m rediscovering all the revelations born of the switch in narrator. The sweet are actually nasty, the immoral are moral."

All I am saying is that the worm will turn again. Such a fun book!

Well, I finished it today, and I have to say that despite the 500+ pages, it went very, very fast. The first time I read it I did nothing for an entire weekend until I'd finished it.

I had the same reading experience, Nancy. And that’s how it’s going again with this reread.

Well, Fingersmith is done and dusted for the third time. Great book. Such a fantastic ride. I'm glad this group chat prompted me to pull it out again.

Borrowed it from the library about 6 years ago and really liked it.

Monique wrote: "Well, Fingersmith is done and dusted for the third time. Great book. Such a fantastic ride. I'm glad this group chat prompted me to pull it out again."

Oh, awesome! I'm so happy you had fun with it. We'll have to switch to the spoilers thread.

Christina wrote: "Borrowed it from the library about 6 years ago and really liked it."

It's really, really good!! Have you read her other novels?

Really enjoyed her other novels although none so well as Fingersmith. Affinity was good too and has a similar flavour to this one.

It's sad to me that this book got so many votes and then only a few people, counting myself, actually read it. Too much on the literary side perhaps; maybe its length also scared people off, but then why vote for it if that's the case?

Maybe the time of year and the state of the world got in the way?

That could be, or maybe this book it's simply not for everybody?

Tone wrote: "That could be, or maybe this book it's simply not for everybody?"

That doesn't quite answer the question of why so many votes. In the long run, in the overall scheme of life, it doesn't really matter. It's just a bit sad. In my opinion, people should vote for books they might actually consider reading. Otherwise what's the point??

In many of my clubs, a nominated book often gets dozens of votes. Yet, maybe two people do the read and/or post comments. Its typical, imho. Sometimes there might be twenty readers piling into comments. But normal seems to be 2 to five.

I do my thing, read the book, comment, expect to be the only one. I'm pleasantly surprised if there are more. Sometimes I click on "activity" under the book selection which shows the club members who have wrote a review through the years or it shows "currently reading". That program doesn't always pick up every member's status, though, but it shows many members. Sometimes voters read the book before and voted for it because they liked it but they don't intend to re-read it. However, I suspect some voters have good intentions, like someone who resolves to lose weight, but fails to follow through.

Considering many clubs have 20 to 20,000 members, clearly club reads aren't the reason people joined, but maybe book suggestions only are. I lurked in bookclubs for months back when I joined GR in 2010. ;D

Reading other reviews made me brave finally. I saw most of us were not Lit majors, and we are part of the crowd noise whatever you write anyway (although likes can juice one's day, but at the end of the day, it's only a website, not a job for most of us) and members only needed to be polite.

I am used to being the only one commenting a lot, though. I also talk to myself at home even though my husband goes " Hmmm. Oh? That's nice." - been married 40 years.....he can't ever remember anything I said....

aPriL does feral sometimes wrote: "In many of my clubs, a nominated book often gets dozens of votes. Yet, maybe two people do the read and/or post comments. Its typical, imho. Sometimes there might be twenty readers piling into comm..."

LOL. Just over 20 years married here and I hear you.

Nancy wrote: "Tone wrote: "That could be, or maybe this book it's simply not for everybody?"

That doesn't quite answer the question of why so many votes. In the long run, in the overall scheme of life, it doesn..."

I agree, and I understand your frustration, Nancy. Personally I only vote for books that I intend to read. However, I never hesitate to stop reading if I don't like them, and my guess is that most people do the same. That could - at least partly - explain what's happened here.