the paying guests Sara Waters

[firefly78]

Ive just finished this. Was totally gripped. Anyone else read it? i think shes an incredible writer.

I read this a while ago.

I also loved it. I've read a few of hers - Fingersmith and The Little Stranger, as well as this.

I love the creepiness of them. I also like the way class and sexuality are explored in the books.

I must read some more of them.

ive read tipping the velvet, the little stranger and the nightwatch. The little stranger is very disturbing!

i just thought the paying guests was great. really wasnt sure what was going to happen at the end. didnt really like Lillian though, prefered the character of Frances.

There's an older thread about this book www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/2205111-Sarah-Waters-The-Paying-Guests-SPOILER

I was disappointed with it. Fingersmith IMHO is the best of her books I read so far.

I agree Fingersmith the best. The Paying Guests is a novel in two parts with the second part far pacier. I loved how she captured the period so well though

Agree Fingersmith is my favourite of the Sarah Waters novels I've read so far. It has a thrilling fast paced plot that just doesn't let up. Couldn't put it down.

im so excited as i haven't read fingersmith so just downloaded it onto my kindle

I have just downloaded this from iTunes to read on my computer. Thanks. I wasn't aware of this one!

So after a slightly ploddy start, imho, I am well stuck into this and stayed up into the wee hours reading it last night.

I LOVED this.
TBH I liked the slower, more character driven (as opposed to plot driven) first half. Having said that I used to live in Camberwell and know the places she describes really well, so it was very evocative for me.

I've enjoyed all of her books, but the Little Stranger was my favourite. Properly creepy.

Oh its gone all torrid sex scenes. I don't need that. A good book never needs that. I'd prefer to have it left to my imagination thank you.

Will wade through the corset ripping and hope that something tragic and moving takes place on the other side...

And the basic premise reminds me a lot of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin. Anyone else notice this?

This is the onebook I didn't care for.

Loved Nightwatch, then Little Stranger, then is it fingersmith with the girl sent to be a maid for a young lady who has a fortune? Loved taht too

But paying guests was not creepy / layered enough

definately recommendnight watch and little stranger

Fingersmith is a real treat. This one, not so much.

Good point about Thérèse Raquin, yes.

I was disappointed by the inconsistent character of Lillian. She could have been one of any number of women and she altered for the sake of the plot rather than the plot being character driven. Many of the other characters were little more than a one dimensional sketch, Mrs. Wray, the Inspector, Leonard himself.

And something never quite sat right about the period it was set in. It was supposed to be 1920s but often felt older and then almost 1950s. To do with the skirts and the cars and such.

Loved this book. It was the first Sarah Waters I have read. As soon as I had finished it I went out to buy Fingersmith. Now I am cursing having somehow given The Little Stranger to a charity shop. Should I buy it again or try Affinity?

the little stranger still gives me heebie jeebies and i read it about 5 years ago!

The Little Stranger, for me,is her best. Really disappointed by The Paying Guests, and I was so looking forward to it.

Reading The Little Stranger at the moment. My God, it's creepy (in a good way).

Yes, and those closing few lines that are so important....

I loved The Paying Guests.
I have enjoyed all of Sarah Waters books.
Yet to read Tipping the Velvet though.