What do you know about your mother.
---The knowledge of knowing and Motherhood in Fingersmith
Fingersmith begins with a confusing confession of identity- ‘My name, in those days, was Susan Trinder’, followed by the still confusing discussion of the real beginning of the story whilst the readers witness the first of all struggles Sue had to go through in the next five hundred pages, or one-year time. Whether the visit of Gentleman to Lant St., or the chaotic theatre accident in which Susan first found herself pondering over the ‘the world and my place in it’ should be regarded as the real beginning of the story is left to the judgment of the readers; the story begins whatsoever.
The quest of the beginning, however, permeates the text. The endearing relation of Sue and Mrs. Sucksby predominated the scene before Sue’s trip to Briar, in which Sue acclaimed Mrs. Sucksby as her mother, if not the biological one. Before she embarked on the journey to Briar, Sue had a solid identity which never was questioned. The wicked plot then made her Sue Smith, lady maid of Miss Maud Lilly, who of the same age as Sue was also brought up motherlessly but far less fortunate.
Maud’s story began with a rueful reminiscing of ‘the start’ of all. Same as Sue, Maud found the start of her story troubling- ‘The start, I think I know too well. It is the first of my mistakes’. Maud grew up without the company of a mother figure. Mrs. Stiles was the very opposite, maltreating the young Maud on a phycological plate in addition to occasional physical ‘treatment’ that resembled none other than the madhouse matrons that made Sue’s life miserable than ever.
Some paper argues, fear of men towards women, or misogyny, is in part because men have no control over the beginning (of life) whilst women hold the mighty power. In Fingersmith, Sue and Maud’s failure of tracing down ‘the beginning’ is another indication that it is mothers that determine the beginning.
Fingersmith plays with the theme of ‘knowing’ thoroughly as the two-person perspective propel the readers to think what Sue knew, what Maud knew- about their love towards each other, about their part in the plot, about their switching of birth, about their own mother. Nevertheless, failed as they tried to figure out the true beginning of their story, they were not expecting the end of it either. Though Maud once wished to take a revenge on her biological mother by accentuating the fact that it was her birth that caused her mother’s death and thus manipulated the end, Sue missed the point and thought she was sorry for that.
The end was queerly elongated. The dreadful days to wait before Mrs. Sucksby’s execution was explicitly elaborated after the readers had already been told who the big ‘villain’ was. In the end, though, the twist of fate left a Susan shedding more tears of Maud than of Mrs. Sucksby and ‘how she had tricked me.’
But my thinking of the mother of two did not terminate. I think of the night Grace Sucksby made her decision and gave Marianne Lilly her infant daughter. I found myself asking when did this plot begin? Can it be long before, for all the unbearable destitution of ‘real life’? Is it possible that it is sometime after the life-changing night? What about the end?
What is the beginning of all?! No one can behold the beginning of his/her life. Few can foresee their end. But, mother, the creator of all does know. But, what do we know of her?
文中的伏笔随手皆是,比如Sue在去那个大庄园之前用一个凳子来当做Muad来练习给她穿衣服~然后在Muad到了这个骗子窝的时候,John说,I liked you better, when you was a chair。比如当再用Muad的视野来描述这个骗子窝的时候,一说道那个狗皮衣的Boy的时候,我就一下子蹦了出来John这个恶棍。
书里面大段的内容在描述女管家和Muad这只小蹄子之间的变态斗争。描述细致得让人特别的有代入感,我都有些忍受不了了,脑中瞬间的想法就是华老师一定特别的擅长SM!!!……话说我猜想维多利亚三部曲的另一部tipping the velvet 里面应该充满了这部分的描写……当年看完了fingersmith就抱着再看一部经典的心思看了tipping the velvet……好吧……我相信这本书才是华老师的实力发挥……反正无比忠实原著的BBC拍的电影里整个就是SM和SEX啊……真是屎一样的剧情啊……白瞎了我居然去看了,居然还被和fingersmith这样的神作排列在一起……好吧,神作就应该是只有一部的……
当然Muad也不是好惹的主,她知道了管家有个死去的小女儿Polly,然后就养了只猫,给它安了个名字也就叫Polly,然后每天唤它:Oh, Polly! what a pretty child you are!Come, kiss your mama. 以此来一次有一次的勾起管家的痛,然后折磨她,知道她最后受不了把那只猫给弄死了……==……然后为了同样的目的,Muad每晚都kiss有她母亲相片的挂坠,只是为了勾起管家的痛苦!然而她在心里却不断的在诅咒她母亲!最后这个动作就变成了一种习惯……多扭曲的小蹄子,我看电影的时候直到结束都一直跟Sue一样以为她是在想念她母亲……当然还有Muad折磨她的女仆总是掐得女仆身上青肿的那段就算小case了……
这种偏爱在part 3中的体现就是,又有一段书里的情节被删掉了……那就是结局……先说说Muad,她最后回到了那个猥琐的大庄园,继承了她叔叔的衣钵,在电影里怎么都觉得是她干不了别的什么事情,所以就开始操上了写色情小说的道路……但是,在书里,Muad是这样的:Sue 问她:You like it? 她说:I find I am good at it……所以说,Muad就是个赤果果的……额……我有点词穷了……
2、都要大结局了,Sue跑去跟Muad说她发现了秘密信件的事情,然后Muad一副我早就知道了的表情……Sue……即使是在为了Muad不顾一切的长途跋涉过来,写得love满满的情景下,还是来了一句描写:I had a moment of hating her then_just a single moment……==
3、在终于得知了Muad每天都在读色情书的时候,Sue的第一反应是“you knew it all”. Muad: I did knew nothing……显然她们不在一根线上……Sue继续像个被欺负了的小孩子一样来脾气:you knew it all ! you made me kiss you. you made me want to kiss you again !
最让人感动的是,在一毛钱都没有的Sue决定出发去找Muad的时候~she ran from the house……when she came back, she was clutching a pound. It was the pound she had put, so long ago, in the wall of the starchworks, that she had said we must use to bury her weh she has died.……这真是一个绝佳的从part1到part3伏笔啊!
Sarah Waters is one of my favorite contemporary author and this is my favorite of all of her novels,less frivolously than Tipping the Velvet,but less grim than Affinity,both of which I loved.
Despite the book length,reviews had promised a page turner and they were right.I couldn't put down,cuz I wanted to know what was going to happen next,sometimes I found myself stopping to admire Sarah as well.
Fingersmith is a difficult book to talking about without giving anything away,there are more plot twists and deceptions packed into 500 plus pages than any other book in recent.
Set in Victorian,it concerns about the life of Susan who was orphaned at birth and raised by Mrs Sucksby and her family.At the age of 17,Susan is drawn into a plot to Maud Lilly,the other orphan,who lives in a remote estate with her Uncle,out of her fortune,this plot and the effect it has in Susan's life,it told first from Su's point of view then from Maud's and it's intricate and filled with intrigue..
So the story begins but before too long you find out that practically nothing that you see in the first place is what it seems and there are lots of layers to peel away before we get to the root of it at all.
REALLY !! I don't have enough words to praise this book highly enough,suffice to say that all the glowing reviews and accolades that this book has received are richly deserved and if uou have not yet read this,you are in for a treat.
终于啊终于,终于看到Finger Smith里面 Maud和Sue躺在床上,Maud假装innocent地问Sue新婚之夜到底是怎么回事。笨Sue连这么明显的挑逗都没看出来,还傻乎乎的教人家怎样接吻,接吻之后怎样拥抱,然后“finish it”,某莫无辜的问什么叫“finish it”啊,finish啥啊,到底啥是完事啊,人家的嘴是不是木有某种功能啊。。。终于某苏暴起了,'For God's sake, miss. Are you a girl, or a surgeon? Of course your mouth will work. Look here.' 嘴在哪!!哎,于是,四片寂寞许久的唇终于碰到了一起。亲完之后小姐还是不满意,某苏终于说服自己,哎,就当是帮小姐克服婚前恐惧症吧,于是继续亲亲,继而摸摸“So smooth she was! So warm!”,good,之后就是shake啦,both。最后作者很隐晦滴说'You pearl, you pearl, you pearl.'遐想无限
LZ吐了好多槽啊!看的时候一定憋得慌吧 我说说对lz疑问的一些想法,书看完扔老家了所以都是印象自己没有考证,lz随意参考吧 首先这对mr和mrs生活一起我认为是利益驱使为主,没什么感情上的特殊关系。mr在gentleman被刺the blues赶来之后第一件想的是带上私房钱而不是站在血泊边的mrs,但最后一次他称她为grace而不是常用的mrs.s,也许是friends with benefits也说不定。。。开玩笑的。。。 第二个,小查尔斯对gentleman情深意重这点大家绝对有目共睹,我可以以我的钛合金基达之眼起誓。。。而另一方面,gent在走之后只抱怨过一句,I should have brought Charlse after all,其次,他在lant st看到小查尔斯我记得好像是摸了摸他的脸说了几句就晾在一边了。最后临死前他向屋内所有人求救无终后才想起可怜的小查尔斯(也不能排除他对后者性格太过了解以至于知道他绝对找不来surgeon)。 最后,Agnes那一夜间没有感染什么,在那种条件下也没有可能,gent只是,怎么说,践踏了她,并以此要挟。而那个病也不是A自己编的,而是gent让她这么说的,并把她的舌头弄得红肿就像那种病一样。再后来gent滴血到床罩上说他并不知道处女之血到底有多少,践踏一个女人的方法不止这一个。lz自己发挥想像吧