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

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

Could have been a third shorter.

Great narration. Cool premise and had a great first act, then grew tedious in a few sections thereafter. Should have been about a third shorter.

Torally absorbing

Where does Fingersmith rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This is one of my favourite audio books. The reading was perfection and the story fascinating.

What did you like best about this story?

I loved the author's knowledge of the time period and development of the two main characters.

Which character – as performed by Juanita McMahon – was your favorite?

Mrs. Suxby

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Love and intrigue.

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed 'The Paying Guests" but found this book even more satisfying.

Enjoyable, but long

I enjoyed all the twists and turns, kept me engaged to the very end. The characters were wonderfully flawed and complex in their own ways, but I found myself rooting for both girls.

Another awesome novel!

I am enamored with Sarah Waters' writing style combined with Jauanita McMahon's narration! I don't think there's another duo I'm as impressed with. This is another wonderfully spun tale centered in the misogynistic time of the Victorian age where our two protagonists must suffer many evils to find themselves and each other.

Great Book!

A great story teller! Very long but worth it! I defiantly would recommend it! I'm sad it's over!

So glad I listened!

I found this book to be worth the 23 hrs and 36 min of listening time. At times it dragged a bit, but the plot was intriguing and didn't disappoint. It was certainly an interesting ride. I don't want to give any surprises away so best to say that nothing is what it seems to be. Just keep listening and you will be glad you did- and glad you weren't a woman in the late 19th century