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.