Affinity

I bought a hardcover copy of the book. But the book came paperback

This book is as close to perfect as any book I’ve ever read. It sticks with you in both imagery and emotion. Out of all of of Waters’ books, I consider this her best work.

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.

Affinity has to be one of the most amazing books I have ever read. I don't come across very many books that I consider literary classics, but this one definitely fits that catagory. Set in Victorian England in the 1800's, the book gives a very clear insight into life in those times, especially life for women who remain unmarried. It also gives a look into spiritualism, and the conditions of women's prisons. The book moves at a leisurely pace and lulls the reader into thinking not much is really happening, but like a river with a still, dark surface, there are undercurrents beneath. The author is a master of language and writing technique. She skillfully layers the story, and when you reach the conclusion, you will be both stunned and yet see how very logically it all comes together like the perfectly fitting pieces of a puzzle.

Reading this book was like riding a smooth roller coaster. It told you a beautiful story and gave you a punch in the end that would make Saki smile. This story can be read on several levels, like many readers have discovered. I don't however, consider it to be "lesbian" fiction. It is purely about passion and goes beyond gender, like Selena's spirit friends. The story is quite simple really, Selena Dawes is in prison for fraud and assault. When she was free she used to be a spiritualist and had a control spirit, Peter Quick, who hurt a young girl. Margaret Prior is a visitor to the prison, a lady who talks to the prisoners to make them "better", to teach them how to be a lady like her. Margaret falls in love with Selena, but a conspiracy is already brewing and Margaret is the perfect pawn for Selena and her key to freedom beyond the dreary prison walls. The story is a mystery, a one-sided romance, a love triangle, a passionate depiction of the Victorian world seen from the prison walls. By the end of the story, the reader gets the feeling, that Selena took Margaret's identity, while Margaret became a prisoner herself. Amazingly written, this story demands attention, respect and complete loyalty. I couldn't stop reading it and I couldn't find flaws with it, I was swept away into a strange world, where the people are caught in strange dealings, but the emotions are the same as yours and mine. A worthy read.

This book will disappoint if the reader is expecting a lesbian novel. Though female characters are attracted to other female characters -- after all, the main setting is a women's prison -- there are no moments of lesbian love-making or other conventions of the typical lesbian novel. (To say more is to give too much of the plot away.)But it is a wonderful novel showcasing the incredible skills of its author Sarah Waters. You can read _Affinity_ on so many levels. You can read it for its intriguing plot with its O. Henry conclusion. You can read it as a treatise on 19th century prisons or as a history of Spiritualism in England. If you like 19th c. English novels, you can enjoy _Affinity_ for its faithful emulation of that form. (But remember that the pace will be slow; give yourself 100 pages or so to get into the novel.)Waters' first novel, _Tipping_the_Velvet_, was enjoyed at its deepest level by any reader with some knowledge of the conventions of the picaresque novel and a scat dictionary handy. The same sort of thing is true of _Affinity_. For example, the two books Margaret reads to her mother are not accidental choices. (Think about the theme of Dickens' _Little_Dorrit_). The name of Selina's "spirit control" is too close to the "Peter Quint" of _The_Turn_of_the_Screw_ to be coincidence. Finding the little secrets that Waters sprinkles through her novels are a large part of the joy of reading them.