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The Paying Guests

Sarah Waters

Start date: December 7, 2014

Finish date: January 17, 2015

Discussion: Buddy Reads

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What Members Thought

Nov 28, 2014 Vic rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: lesfic, favorites, historical

Well, I feel somewhat wrung out like an old dishcloth after finishing this book.

I'm in two minds slightly (several minds in fact) about it. Did I love it? Did I even like it? Did I just spend several torturous days pouring over the pages only to be punched in the solar plexus by the last few chapters? Was the ending perfect? Were the characters still likeable when all was said and done? Desperate and clinging, and often crazed with calamity as they were. Did I in fact grow to feel for them, hop
Well, I feel somewhat wrung out like an old dishcloth after finishing this book.

I'm in two minds slightly (several minds in fact) about it. Did I love it? Did I even like it? Did I just spend several torturous days pouring over the pages only to be punched in the solar plexus by the last few chapters? Was the ending perfect? Were the characters still likeable when all was said and done? Desperate and clinging, and often crazed with calamity as they were. Did I in fact grow to feel for them, hope for them, plan for them, only for them to let me down?

All of the above and more besides.

I can't fault the book on its wordiness, its atmosphere and depth. That's what you get with this author. I felt slightly oppressed by it in Affinity, it worked perfectly in Tipping the Velvet, and I especially cherished it in Fingersmith. This book drew me in the same, brought the characters to life, and had me reading until my eyes were raw in the hopes I could finish it, sit back and feel that everything, after all, would end up ok. Or some semblance of ok that I could live with at least.

I could live with this. It's not picture perfect. It's not all tied up in a neat bow and done with once you finish. I want to know what happens next. I need to know the rest of it, but that's not to say I wasn't satisfied with the ending; it just felt like I'd been drug there through so many bramble bushes and puddles of wet cement that I craved something more. Having said that, I felt the journey was worth it - though I do think that part 3 went on a little bit too long, with its aching need to keep me reading until I could barely stand the twisted anguish these two main characters found themselves in. It got a little maddening, but then I suppose that was the point.

But read on I did, and when I finally finished I instantly wanted to pick up another book that would toss me about so skilfully, leave me feeling both weary and contented at once, satisfied yet somewhat suspended and flailing about as I hoped for more to the story. Unfortunately, there are not many books that can evoke that kind of reaction in me, not many authors who get the balance right. And I'm fine reading the kinds of books that don't linger quite as much, or leave quite the impression, pull you in to the point you forget it's just a book and the characters aren't actually real. I thoroughly enjoy reading the frivolous books, the books that follow the same tried and tested patterns, hold the same basic stories, the same - mostly insubstantial - indulgences. They're like delicious snacks (and I do love snacks), but this book was a meal. I took a bite and couldn't stop eating, even when I was sure I was full and needed to take a breather I soon went right back to it, fork in hand

The Paying Guests will certainly live on in my stomach, and my head, for a while; the good and the bad. Though to be honest I can't find much at all in the way of bad thoughts. Not everything sat quite right with me with the book - the overly long third part, the bleakness of some of it, some unresolved things here and there that will prickle at me - but overall I can put it aside feeling like I read something that stands out from the crowd. A story that taunted and tested me, with characters that I came to care about even though they were sometimes undeniably in the wrong.

Well written characters have always been a big draw for me. Characters I can understand and empathise with, feel for, are what can make or break a book, and Frances had me right there with her every step of the way. I'm so glad the book was solely from her point of view, it felt much more intimate that way, much more compelling.

And the setting, so well structured, and detailed without being detached. I could picture every room, feel every room. It was as if I was right there scrubbing the floors alongside Frances. Sarah has such a skill with this (as far as I'm concerned), and it never fails to capture me. Emotions were tangible with these distinctive and developed characters, and the maddening inflexibility of the era came across perfectly.

There was a an overall tenseness to this book because of the era, and some scenes were fraught with uneasiness, possibility, and often danger. There are scenes that I can picture so easily, so well were they presented.

I know I'll reread this at some point in the future and enjoy once again the way the author draws you right into these lives, this plot, and the eventuality of it all. I'll embark on the journey with a surer step - knowing the destination, the outcome - hopefully avoiding the dishcloth feeling that the anxiety of the plot, and the not knowing, brought about. It's definitely a meal that needs to be savoured a second time.

I think I've convinced myself that I did in fact like it rather a lot after all. ...more

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