Fingersmith

By: Sarah Waters

Narrated by: Juanita McMahon

Length: 23 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best-selling author of Affinity, Sarah Waters was named Author of the Year at the 2003 British Book Awards. Fingersmith was shortlisted for the Orange Prize and the Booker Prize, and was chosen as book of the year 2002 by more organizations than any other novel. Orphaned as an infant, Susan Trinder was raised by Mrs. Sucksby, “mother” to a host of pickpockets and con artists. To pay her debt, she joins legendary thief Gentleman in swindling an innocent woman out of her inheritence. But the two women form an unanticipated bond and the events that follow will surprise every listener.

©2002 Sarah Waters (P)2002 Recorded Books

Well Executed Plot

Excellent characterizations, compelling plot, and smooth narration. The last page left me a little unsatisfied.

Way too long

I just wanted it to end. I felt the need to stick it out since I had invested so many hours already. I listened at 1.4 speed and still it went on forever

Twists upon Twists

Great narration - the cadence, pitch, and style used for each character brought them to life. Waters has created memorable character, set them in a complex world she details richly. The plot twists and turns, leaving the reader surprised and delighted.

I liked the unpredictability of the story.

Excellent choice of reader. A bad reader makes a book unworthy of my time. A good reader enhances the story.

Started off weak finished off strong

After getting used to to the accents, lingo and the somewhat boring first section of the book, I was far from bored. The twist and turns that Sarah Waters takes you on is just as crafty as if she was a fingersmith.

Amazing performance by Juanita McMahon

Any additional comments?

Fingersmith is an excellent historical novel by one of my favorite contemporary writers. Juanita McMahon does an amazing job of narrating both of the main characters and sustaining them over a long book. Really excellent.

wow

I was so wrong about thinking this book boring. the twists and surprises are truly unsuspecting.
much kudos to the author.

just. wow.

Too much cruelty

Of course the narration was exceptional. While I appreciated all of the twists and surprises, at times it went on too long. Yet it was an amazing story that I could not put down. That being said , there was too much cruelty, including animal cruelty to thoroughly enjoy. Phrases like "they tied it's wings with twine", feeding matchsticks to birds and kicking dogs, along with a good amount of human cruelty caused visuals in my mind that seemed unnecessary and actually took away from this story.

Wonderful, but too long by half

I loved the plot and premise of this novel, and while the writing is superb, it really needed to be edited wayyyyyy down. There was so much repetition and scenes with too much over-explanation that sometimes I felt like the plot was just crawling along. I wanted to shout, "Get on with it!" a few times out of frustration. Sometimes I found myself distracted momentarily by something and whereas normally I would rewind another book to capture what I had missed, I found I didn't need to with Fingersmith because whatever I'd missed probably wasn't relevant to the plot in the grand scheme of things anyway. I think a tighter script would have resulted in a more thrilling novel and a better experience overall. The twists and turns were great but took far too long to get to, especially after Part 1 was over.

One glowing remark for this book is the narrator, Juanita McMahon. She did a great job capturing the different accents of the time and each character sounded unique. A terrific performance!

yes

great, great great great great great great great great great great great great great great yes really great i loved it