Review ↠ The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters

[Sparrow]

TITLE: The Paying Guests
AUTHOR: Sarah Waters
GENRE: Historical Fiction
TAGS: Historical Fiction, WWI, London England, 20th century, social class,
RATING (1-5): ★★★1/2



❉An Advanced Reader Copy was provided to me, free, by the publisher. It has in no way impacted the content of this review ❉

This one was hard for me to get into, and I love Sarah Waters- but ultimately, I'm glad I stayed the course. Despite a rather clunky first 100 pages, it picks up, & the week I spent slogging through those first chapters were quickly forgotten in the two days I took to read the remainder of it.

A basic summary of the plot: Mrs. Wray, and her single, 26 year old daughter Frances, have struggled through the war,only to face more obstacles. Frances's brothers were killed in the war; then her father passes- but only after making a series of bad investments that left the two women more or less fiscally strapped. To compensate, they cut corners- the maids & cooks were let go, and Frances took up their duties. Having closed off some of the rooms in the large home, they finally decide to rent them out to lodgers to help make ends meet. Enter Lillian & Leonard Barber: two married 20-somethings of the clerk class. While they settle cheerfully into their new home, Frances stoically bears the burden of these changes- the scrubbing of floors on her hands and knees, the frayed edges of clothing they could ill afford to replace. The strangeness of seeing her dead brothers rooms occupied was only slightly tapered by the strangeness of now sharing her home with two strangers, with whom she had little in common. Amidst all this are various nosy neighbors attempting to introduce her to a potential suitor, and the embarrassment Mrs. Wray constantly feels, having had her station knocked so low, so suddenly. There are brief conversations and snippets of thought that allude to Frances in her younger years as a suffragette, and a disasterous love affair that ended with her family learning that her paramour was in fact, a woman, which ultimately led Frances to close the door on the future she'd planned, and choose her family over her happiness. And now, by the standards of the time, she was precariously close to spinsterhood, but unable to really do much about it, since her mother now needed her indefinitely since their father was gone.

A friendship develops between Frances and Lillian, and initially they seem to fit well as friends, both likely longing for the companionship of people other than the ones they'd been tethered to. But friendship evolves into something more, and as is the hallmark of Waters's work, chaos and madness and deceit ensue, tangling everyone's motives and intentions and secrets up into a hopeless mess. This is what Waters does best- sapphic love, founded in the illusion of something more. A bleakness, tricked out into the sun by hope; the unluckiness of this life. She has a definite formula, but it works for her- I turned every page almost certain I knew what was coming next, but I was outwitted at every turn. That Waters can use more or less the same story arc with a bit of tweaking, and yet still surprise you, and still grab you, is a testament to her talents as a story teller. She weaves outside characters and places in seamlessly, then lets them out just as soft. Her books are generally set in the Victorian period; The Paying Guests takes place in 1920's London, on the heels of WWI.

It isn't my favorite book of hers- I much prefer the bawdy grit of London's underbelly in the early Victorian period, amongst the poor and the truly passionate people she has written about, but it is still a good book. Riveting enough to keep me guessing and hanging on every page by the time I was almost through with it. Somehow more enamored with the particular period would probably appreciate the nuanced details of the era far more than could. If you already enjoy her work, by all means, dive into it, and if it feels slow, stay the path, it’s worth it. For someone new to Waters, I don't think this is the book to cut your teeth on. Start with Fingersmith or Tipping the Velvet, or even Affinity- then return to The Paying Guests. You'll be able to appreciate it more, I think.

[Fran]

I've just started ... only 20+ pages into it. Like you I loved everything I've read by Sarah Waters so I expect to enjoy this one also.

[sdeerfield82]

Great review and thank you for the insight. I haven't read anything by Sarah Waters but have taken a great interest in this book for some reason and it is pretty high on my "to read" list. Now I'm wondering if I should take your advice and read some of her other work first. Either way, I appreciate the suggestion!

[GABSTER]

Unfortunately I did not love this book. I found it extremely difficult to get into the real plot line of the story as it was littered with other small plot lines. I understand those were meant to build the characters backgrounds but no me they were more of a distraction then a lesson on the characters past. The book moved very slow for me and I felt that it could have been much more direct and to the point. There were characters that wasted their time in the novel that didn't serve a purpose other than to drag the the story on. The basis of the novel was original and invited a lot of thought and reflection on the time period on London after the war, I unfortunately found the journey from beginning to end arduous.

[anushreevaishnav18]

Thank you for review. I want to read this