Sundries

[lunabee34]

1. We got Margaret settled into the assisted living facility on Monday, and she's done so well. By the end of that first day, she already had a gaggle of friends she was hanging out with, and they have activities all day long. She's so busy, we all have trouble catching her on the phone.

I think all of us had been waiting on tenterhooks and scared that she'd react poorly, but thankfully she didn't.

One down, one to go!

2. I don't know if y'all remember a few years ago when we hit a bear on the highway and totaled our car. Last week, Fiona and I were driving down the highway, and we saw a little bear cub frolicking on the side of the road at the exact spot where we had the accident. It freaked me out because where baby is, mama is not far behind. But we escaped unscathed this time.

3. I didn't post any real details about this book in the review, but I'd love to discuss this book!

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is absolutely masterful. I love a good Neo-Victorian, and this is the best one I've read maybe ever. The writing is beautiful, the focus on all the details that ground a reader in the 19th century (slang, dress, the grime) is amazing, and the sense of place (London, the asylum, the countryside forty miles from London) are all exquisitely drawn.

I love how twisty and turny this novel is. I don't want to say too much about the plot for fear of ruining it, but there's such an excellent payoff in the third act.

Highly, highly recommended.



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4. I'd love to discuss this one with anyone who's read it, too.

McTeague: A Story Of San Francisco by Frank Norris

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is a book in which deeply unpleasant things happen to deeply unpleasant people. The characters (and the narrative itself) are racist and sexist; child abuse goes unremarked and treated as a matter of course. Domestic violence, alcohol abuse, and murder feature prominently.

And, yet, Norris is a compelling writer. His descriptions of San Francisco and later of the desert are vividly written. His portrait of an unorthodox romance between two elderly characters is an oasis of sweetness amidst all the horror.

I enjoyed parts of this book but will not read it again.



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Comments

[hermionesviolin]

Have you seen The Handmaiden? It's a South Korean film (2016) which is inspired by the Sarah Waters book.

[likeadeuce]

The Handmaiden is so fascinating. . . There are things I didn't like about it as an adaptation (the focus on how evil the men are makes the women less interesting than they are in the novel, I think) but the cultural translation is so fascinating.

[minoanmiss]

points upwards This.

[lunabee34]

I gather the ending of the novel and the adaptation are very different. I'm going to watch the movie this weekend and report back.

[lunabee34]

No! I hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it.

We are apparently going to talk about it today at the book club meeting (I read Fingersmith for the Third Sex reading group of the Victorian Popular Fiction Association); a few days before each meeting, the organizers send out a reading pack that contains info about the writer, scholarly takes on the work, and discussion questions. There were a few pages about this movie.

I'm going to watch it this weekend. I'll report back.

[kore]

I was somehow totally unspoiled for Fingersmith and actually screamed "YOU BITCH" at the book when it came to that devastating twist.

[lunabee34]

I know!!!! You don't see it coming at all. And then Maud's section shows the same events from her perspective, and it's so heartbreaking how devious thinks she's being while being totally transparent. LOL

[jackandahat]

Glad to hear things are going well with Margaret, that's good news.

[lunabee34]

Thank you. We are deeply relieved.

I got the lovely necklace you made. It's going to be a gift for a dear friend who will adore it as much as I do.

[aurumcalendula]

Fingersmith is really good!

[lunabee34]

It really is. I've got Tipping the Velvet here. I read it so long ago that I don't remember what happens in it, so I will be reading it soon.

[likeadeuce]

I love 'Fingersmith' (also 'The Paying Guest' if you're interested in more Waters).

I know I read McTeague in a grad school class and I mostly remember the dental horror and the scenes in the desert that seemed like a pre-cursor to a scene I recall from loony toons... The most menorable thing is that I read this for a survey course on realism and at some I commented on how clever it had been for the professor to specifically select books that focused on money and he was like -?? Not on purpose!

Turns out that's just what realism is!

[lunabee34]

Yes! The whole novel is focused on money. As a naturalist, one of Norris's beliefs, apparently, was that people can be innately criminal (this is based on Cesare Lombroso's work from the 19th century). So McTeague and everyone else in his working class life don't have the capacity to be any better than money-grubbing and morally bankrupt.

One of the things I like least about the novel is the way that the two women who are murdered are implicitly blamed for their physical abuse and eventual deaths. McTeague is a terrible person, but his wife's thrift drives him to become worse. Maria's husband marries her because of the stories she tells about golden dishes, but then he kills her when she repudiates those stories.

And in the end, nobody gets the money they were all so keen to possess.

As far as Waters go, I am going to reread Tipping the Velvet next because I have it here, and then I will check out The Paying Guests!

[corvidology]

Lovely to hear Margaret is settling in so well as it's always so unpredictable who it will work for and who it won't.

[lunabee34]

*nods nods*

Thank you, friend.

[timespirt]

"HUGS"

Glad it's working out hon. Your mom in-law should be fine. Bet she will like to play bingo.

[lunabee34]

*hugs*

Thank you.

I bet she would, too. They have activities all day long and take the residents on trips. She is certainly not going to be bored.

[musyc]

we saw a little bear cub frolicking on the side of the road at the exact spot where we had the accident

Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I can imagine how that started the old heartrate to racing. Glad there wasn't a repeat!

[lunabee34]

OMG, it did it did.

I always scour the sides of the roads anyway when we drive along that stretch.

Such an unbelievable thing to have happened.

[amejisuto]

I'm glad Margaret settled in well. Hopefully, it will go as well next time!

So happy you just saw cubs, and didn't hit a bear again!

[lunabee34]

Me, too!

Oh, I am so glad it was just the cub. It's already unbelievable that we hit the bear in the first place. I don't want to be one of those lucky people for home lightning strikes twice.

[amejisuto]

Yeah, no. That would be bad.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

[lunabee34]

I hope you had a good one!

[amejisuto]

It was good! Thanks, darling!

[callmesandyk]

I'm glad things went well with Margaret! Yay!

[lunabee34]

Thank you! Me, too. It was a relief.

[spikedluv]

I'm glad the move to assisted living went well and she's already made friends! (I'm presuming this is your m-i-l?)

And yay for not hitting a bear! o_O *g* (Though I'm sorry it made you anxious.)

[lunabee34]

Yes! My MIL.

I'm so so relieved.

That whole stretch of road makes me nervous anyway. I'm always on the lookout any time I drive down it now.

[umadoshi]

I think all of us had been waiting on tenterhooks and scared that she'd react poorly, but thankfully she didn't.

This is so great to hear!

[lunabee34]

Thank you! We are very relieved.

[scintilla10]

So good to hear that Margaret is settling in. That must be relieving to you all.

Ahh, I love Fingersmith! It blew me away when I first read it. It's the type of book that you kind of long for the experience of reading again unspoiled. <33

[lunabee34]

Thank you! We are indeed very relieved, especially since she sounds like she's genuinely enjoying herself.

Yes! Fingersmith is so good; the way that mystery unfolds and all the twists and turns--that first read of figuring it all out is so so wonderful.

[princessofgeeks]

I enjoyed Fingersmith a lot. It was the kind of book that gave me a huge hangover and I didn't see the twist coming AT ALL.

I've never read anything else quite like it.

[lunabee34]

*nods nods*

It's so well-plotted. I love how once you get Maud's perspective, so many things about the previous section from Sue's perspective take on different meaning.

[princessofgeeks]

Neglected to put in my comment how glad I am for you all that M likes the assisted living place!!! OMG that is huge. Will Tom be able to move in with her there eventually? Is it more like an apartment that she has, or a room?

WISHING YOU ALL THE BEST

[lunabee34]

Thank you!

She has a room; the dining and all that is communal.

Tom is going to live with her there eventually once we get the house sold. Josh went last week to Jackson to engage a realtor, and he's there this weekend meeting with a guy who's going to run an estate sale this upcoming week and clean out the house. Then the realtor will put the house on the market. Who knows how long it will take to sell, but as soon as it does, we are getting him up there.

[princessofgeeks]

I am so glad that the house can get on the market soon. That is good news.

ALL THE HUGS

In other news, two days in a row now I have exercised and eaten right. Go me!

[lunabee34]

High five!

That's awesome.