paperbacks_and_priyam's reviews
349 reviews

over 500 pages of victorian lesbians, gloomy gothic houses and evil uncles, obsessives and frauds, plot twists worthy of soap operas, foggy cramped victorian london of fingersmiths, baby farmers, & conmen and at the heart of it all the love story of two girls connected by fate and lies. the atmosphere, the pacing and the angst!! made for a perfect reading experience. i smiled, giggled, eye rolled at the men, was scared, and just devoured this book.
might be 4.5 on a different day but the five stars are straight from my heart for sue and maud and also sukhee and hideko(the handmaiden remains an adaptation for ages.)

'i know someone who kisses the way
a flower opens, but more rapidly.'

faves: i know someone, walking to indian river, the first day, roses, leaves and blossoms along the way, cobb creek, that tall distance, this and that, the pond, late spring

longing, desire, shame, obsession, disgust, tragedy and the sheer mess of love and queerness and life. james baldwin just wrecks your heart.
"then, for the first time in my life, i was really aware of another person's body, of another person's smell. we had our arms around each other. it was like holding in my hand some rare, exhausted, nearly doomed bird which i had miraculously happened to find."
wuthering heights, price of salt and now giovanni's room completes my trilogy stories of love in their beauty and ugliness.
"If I could make you stay, I would,' he shouted. 'If I had to beat you, chain you, starve you-if I could make you stay, I would.' He turned back into the room; the wind blew his hair. He shook his finger at me, grotesquely playful. 'One day, perhaps, you will wish I had." 

this was fun 😁

'not god: nature and its tendency to decay.'
gobbled up the bogs, rotting bodies, plants and people of this book. not the best horror ever but gothic lesbianism in a half rotten manor and bog bodies and ghost companions make up for everything. beautiful world building.

my introduction to tolkien and the lotr was a pleasing read. the dragons, the treasure, and the battles are fun but the creepy forests, feasts, singing and drinking with friends and having a nice breakfast is always better i get you bilbo baggins. loved the breaks in between adventures and the world those woods, the mountains, rivers, tunnels and even the giant spiders.

this book seeps you in. one of those stories where just few pages are enough to feel like you are living in that world, in that seemingly utopian world, a 'perfect' society created by the softest invasion. loved the world building. it's a good mix of alien invasion sci-fi and grief and identity and the end of a loving marriage. would have been a 5 star read if based on the first half which is so crazily lovely and sad and perfect. but the later chapters felt kind of rushed (?) not sure how to describe it but i would have loved to see more of trina's journey. nonetheless, a very unexpectedly comforting read with gorgeous prose. also the seep reminded me of annihilation and once again i love this subgenre of science fiction.