Excellent plot and marvelous writing. The switched identities of the principal characters are cleverly done and the plot line is intricate. The allusion to a "Dickens" style of novel is an apt one. The book is a bit longer than it needed to be, but well worth the read. The BBC series, available on Youtube and "The Handmaiden" on Prime video, are based on the book. I had previously read 'The Night Watch" by Waters and found it excellent also. ( )

Review: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. 4* 08/30/2023

This was a well-written book. I liked the character's developments and the organization of the story. As far as the content of LGBT romance, set in the Victorian era, a scam artist, prison, and a lot of twists and turns throughout the book. The author describes Victorian London with its dark moments and Gothic atmosphere. I thought the dialogue between characters was really good and convincing. The author also concentrates mainly on the plot which admittedly is very strong.
I also like some of the secondary characters such as "Gentleman" and Mrs. "Sucksby". Their roles in the story were so creative and enhanced the story delightfully. There were so many events happening page after page that I didn't want to put the book down. I read over some pages twice to make sure I didn't miss something. Sarah Waters is a great historian writer and a mastermind of creativity when writing her stories. ( )

Big "what the fuck did I just read" energy. I thought this was going to be dark, and it started that way before going for some soap opera twists which nevertheless worked for me. Wish the guy (Richard Rivers) didn't have such a prominent role; he pushes the leads so hard to betray each other that it ends up feeling like it's his fault entirely, when I'd like them to have both been a little worse people. But I was very happy with the ending. ( )

It’s hard to review this historical thriller without spoilers, because much of the fun is in the twists and turns of the plot as the various characters and their machinations are revealed. It’s well-done, too. I wasn’t able to correctly guess any of them, at least until the very end. But this is not only a cleverly plotted story. It is peopled with interesting characters, none of whom are wholly sympathetic. This is not a book for readers who want at least one likable character that they can identify with. But I was able to connect, to empathize to some extent, with several of them, for they were well-drawn and all very human. For me, that is the best kind of book. I did find it a little weak at the end, where events do tie up a little too neatly for my taste.

Audiobook, purchased via Audible. Juanita McMahon’s performance was excellent.

I read this for the 2017 Booklikes-opoly challenge, for the square Paradise Pier 30: Read a book with a twist, or that is tagged “suspense” on GR, or that has more than 555 pages. This book meets not just one, but all three criteria.

Previous Updates:

5/28/17 40% Wow. Just, wow. I knew there was a twist coming. I expected it. I anticipated it. I had about 3 theories about it. And it still took me completely by surprise. Take a bow, Ms. Waters, that was amazing. Now I can't wait to gobble up the rest of this book.

5/29/17 56% It is amazing to me that at one time, "doctors" genuinely believed that providing a woman with an education and allowing her to read novels could cause insanity. And given the state of mental health care at the time, I think I'd have rather pretended to be stupid and uninformed than to be permanently committed to an insane asylum.

5/30/17 76% "We have a name for your disease. We call it a hyper-aesthetic one. You have been encouraged to overindulge yourself in literature and have inflamed your organs of fancy!"

This would be hilarious if it wasn't a historically accurate portrayal of psychiatry. ( )

If you enjoy books like Bleak House, David Copperfield, and Oliver Twist, but want more female protagonists in such stories, you might like Fingersmith. This is a story about a London thief and a sheltered country girl with a sordid childhood, and a fortune that is just enough of a temptation to ruin several lives. And, there is a LGBTQ element to this book, a romance between the two female main characters. Thankfully the romance is not too dominant as a theme for the novel any more than romance is dominant in David Copperfield (I am not fond of romances regardless of which characters hook up). The way some people talk about this book, I was not sure if I would be wading through erotica for most of the book, and if that is what you are hoping for, you may be disappointed; there is one sex scene, and it is not overly explicit or very long. And the story is mostly about a multilayered con aimed at securing a fortune, with some fun twists and Scooby-Doo moments.
I enjoyed this book, and do recommend it to just about anyone, though at over 500 pages some readers will consider it a tome, or long read. ( )