sneaking in a reading Wednesday

[felinejumper]

Not a full report, but I've been reading Sarah Waters' Affinity and wow, is it a claustrophobic queer horror experience. I think I really like it,but it's almost too intense an experience to enthusiastically recommend. It's visceral and creepy and deeply disturbing.

My brother & his partner did me the immense favor of showing me The Handmaiden--which, incidentally, watching that bath scene? That buttons scene? With a family member? Do NOT recommend, I've never been so turned on in the presence of a family member before, I can't tell if they know how hot those scenes are-- and I was like yes, I sure do need more of this in my life. And thus, Affinity.

I described Handmaiden as "body horror", but in reading Affinity am realizing that maybe Sarah Waters falls into more of a "soul horror" category; or that those are equivalent categories for me in a way that differs from the norm. The creeping sense of spirits and ghosts that are not actually beyond mortal ability, & the extreme tightness of narration both keep me off balance in a very particular way. It's reminiscent of Carol in some ways--the claustrophobia, the ever-present doom, the hidden machinations of others -- in ways that seem, ah, perhaps just recognizable. I can't quite figure out why "body horror" is the right term for all of that, but I think it reflects a horror with the body as a whole, with embodiment, rather than the mutilation of the body being made un-whole or unwell.

Somewhat unfortunate that I'm about to meet a new person in checks watch now o'clock while completely mired in the horrors of Millbank and Victorian era prisons, but hey, whatcha gonna do.

Comments

[breathedout]

I'll be interested in your take on the ending of Affinity. I have... characterization issues with it. But I do love the claustrophobic atmosphere, and I love your comparison to Carol!

[felinejumper]

I finished it! I can have feelings about it! I think the ending felt somehow a little flat on Selina's end, as if her intermittent journaling about the spirits was to hoodwink the reader, rather than to explore/capture her actual internal state. Margaret's journal is so clearly Margaret's journal, blinkered to the rest of the world, but Selina's naiveté seems inconsistent to me with the very clear tactile deception she's practising from Millbank. Peak enjoyment time for me was in the 60%-90% completed range, before the specific plot unraveling but during maximum Margaret slo-mo breakdown. I would be *exceedingly* interested in your thoughts on it as well!

[breathedout]

Yes, this was exactly my issue with the ending as well, although it sounds like I had it to an even greater extent than you did... I mean it's a clever plot twist but I just don't think there's any way for it to make sense, on a characterization level. If Selina actually buys her own schtick, then how does she justify to herself all the active deception she perpetrated on Margaret, AND ALSO all of the facts that she OBVIOUSLY KNOWS about Ruth, & how they make the con work? I feel like I can buy living with a high level of cognitive dissonance, but that exceeds even my ability to believe. Unless Selina is writing for the benefit of someone else, off-screen, whom we never meet... which is equally unsatisfying as there's no way to extrapolate the existence of such a person except by extending Sarah Waters an incredible amount of readerly credit that I don't feel she really earns here. I actually wrote a whole Affinity fanfic trying to find a way around this problem that I could believe, but I failed to convince myself. Those two Selinas are just too incompatible.

[fhionnuisce]

Yeah, Affinity was A LOT and freaked me out...

[felinejumper]

Do you REC it to people? I have been, genuinely, struggling with this all week: "A book happened to me. It could happen to you too!" I'm very glad DW has come through with for me on the "Affinity sure is weird, huh" empathy train.

[fhionnuisce]

No. I had it recced to me. It was really weird bc of the context of the rec. So I would not impose in the same way.

[chestnut_pod]

Agreed entirely on the claustrophobia and horror aspects - Affinity was a hard read for me but I can acknowledge that I think it's one of her best.

[felinejumper]

Aha, I'm amused & quite empathetic to your begrudging "this was hard but fine, it's also good"; agreed on all counts. My reading material has shifted heavily towards books where at the end I am never sure whether I liked them, but...I do feel I experienced something possibly important. Waters, I suspect, will continue to fall into that category.

[sea_changed]

Oh yes, I love Affinity, and for just the reasons you mention ("soul horror"!). There's such and airless, obsessive, breathlessness to it, that completely pulls you under.

[felinejumper]

Airless is exactly right! I believe I also described it as "like drowning, but for the length of a novel", which somehow did not convince my listener they should investigate? I cannot imagine why. I'm also excited to try to figure out how, writing-wise, she manages to create that effect so clearly.

[achray]

Yes, I find the ending of Affinity tricky too. Have you read The Little Stranger? I think it is even more visceral and disturbing than Affinity.

[felinejumper]

I haven't read any other Waters (yet)! I will, but I'm very glad to know ahead of time what I'm getting myself into with Stranger.

[breathedout]

FWIW, The Little Stranger is probably my second-favorite of the Waters oeuvre, and I think it is rock-solid on a characterization level in exactly the way Affinity is not.

(My favorite-favorite is The Night Watch, which is a much different kind of novel but also excellent.)