Fingersmith
May 17th, 2007
This skilled BBC adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel is a lesson in structure: the intricate plotting of the Victorian crime story has been simplified by screenwriter Peter Ransley, but the carefully layered revelations still affect and surprise. Casting is excellent, with Elaine Cassidy and Sally Hawkins as the tender lovers embroiled in Dickensian intrigue and Imelda Staunton as baby-trading Mrs. Sucksby. The academic in me is itching to write a treatise called “‘You Pearl:’ Voice, Identity, and Female Desire in Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith and Marcy Dermansky’s Twins.”
Fingersmith. Aisling Walsh, 2005. ****
- YouTube is full of fan-made Fingersmith music videos, but they’re bound to spoil it.
Fingersmith
March 13th, 2007
Marcy’s been raving about this Victorian crime/love story for months, and after finishing Against the Day, I finally got around to it. Fingersmith is a period mystery that begins with a tip of the hat to Oliver Twist but quickly finds its own ground: Susan Trinder, an orphaned London thief, is sent to a remote country house as a maid to cheat a young lady out of her inheritance — and leave her in the madhouse. But the two fall in love… and then the plot goes through such carefully arranged reconfigurations that I can’t say another word for fear of ruining it inadvertently. Waters (Tipping the Velvet) has constructed a magic puzzle box of a novel that reveals layers upon layers of gothic surprises and 180 degree reversals, executed with deftness and astounding precision. The Guardian has the first chapter and a reasonably spoiler-free review.
Fingersmith. Sarah Waters, 2002. ****
