Twisting lesbians in hard London

Spanish Version. Anagrama. 

Fingersmith (Falsa Identidad) by Sarah Waters.

At last! This book was long overdue, a must-read-soon because it is highly recommended, it has a shelf in the lesbian curriculum, has two cinematic adaptations and ok, ok... got it!

First of all, I am not prone to the romance genre and this is full fledged romance, so maybe I can´t have an impartial opinion about it. I saw first the bbc mini-series, (totally forgotten by the time I read the book), then the book and lastly the movie. And this is one of the very rare occasions that I liked more (loved it actually) the movie than the book. The movie made me understand better a couple of things I thought troubled me in the book, I had the impression before that it was too implausible (English is not my native language and in Spanish there is a precise difference between some terms I can’t seem to identify clearly in English: one thing being improbable and another being completely unreal, but abiding to its own logic, the latter is the one I am referring), but that was not it, the movie carries in some extent the same plot (until it cuts out a whole part) and I found it blissfully. I don’t mind far-fetched stories, they just need cohesion and being good sports playing by their own rules. So I guess it boils down to the writing style and the character development, but lets make a note here, the characters are great, they are complex and intriguing, not the morally black and white type, their story and choices at the standpoint are compelling, the execution through the writing, dialogues and plot was what left me unconvinced. I am so neurotic, I know.

Random mumbling.

The first part felt like dragging and it is confusing because Sue could have been sassily leading the story with ease, but it got boring instead. Then comes the twist… it is awesome indeed and somewhat Maud lifts up the story with her perspective, but again, it drags and becomes repetitive and by the third part I just wanted out, more twists and… whatever. It seems to me you can’t redeem whole sections of the book with twists. It is an ambitious book and full of promise, but it didn’t live up to it, sadly. And where The Handmaiden succeeded (in my opinion), being more dark and twisted (my bad, I like more dark and twisted than romantic stuff) the characters are poignant and lively, living up their complexities, the tension is carried flawlessly and they cut out a whole chunk of the plot, with excellent results. In an additional note, the cinematography is gorgeous, but hey… it is Park Chan-wook, you know.

And then...

There is a great story there in the book, with great characters in an atmospheric period mood with a flawed execution. I don’t regret reading it, but it didn’t satisfy neither my expectations, nor what it could have been.