I liked Night Watch enough that I got all of Sarah Waters’s other books out of the library in the hopes that I would be getting a grand new favorite author. Tipping the Velvet was evidently her first, and I didn’t like it as much as Night Watch, sadly, but I still totally enjoyed it. So much I stayed up until three last night finishing it even though I have a paper to write today. I’m doing that straightaway after I write this.
Lots of interesting Victorian underworld in this book. I spent a lot of this book trying to work out what all that mad Victorian slang was about, which was jolly. Though I did get fed up with Nancy when she was window-shopping at the tobacconist and the dude came up and talked to her and she was dressed as a boy and she like totally talked back. I was in my room going “Well that’s just GREAT, Nan, you WINDOW-SHOPPING HUSSY. Hope you’re enjoying offering that UNEQUIVOCAL SEX INVITE with all that crazed WINDOW-SHOPPING TALKING you are doing. He is OBVIOUSLY trying to pick you up and that might be okay if you weren’t a GIRL, you humongous MORON.” Not really fair to get so cross about it. She didn’t know.
I got seriously worked up about Nancy’s behavior and what I wanted to happen. Like Florence? I was against Florence from the beginning. Why’s everyone always ending up with snotty righteous uninteresting people? It was like that time Dorothea married Casaubon, only more ugh and no dashing young Will for her to hook up with later. What if Jane Eyre had married St. John? Ugh. About forty pages into the book I went and read the end, and there was this random-ass Florence character I’d never met, so I took against from the beginning, and when she finally showed up I was like PFFT, Florence, I hate that bitch. So it was good really that she was such an aggravatingly virtuous character and I didn’t have to reconsider my early unfriendly assessment of her.
Well, that’s neither here nor there. Sarah Waters is a good writer. Tipping the Velvet was good. We’ll see, won’t we, whether my fondness for her survives reading her other two books. I’m saving Affinity for last because it’s about spiritualism. I like spiritualism. Hester Whatsherface received a whole play all from Oscar Wilde.
Jenny's Books 
The only Sarah Waters I’ve read is Fingersmith which I liked a lot. It’s quite a dark novel and I was amazed by the number of twists and turns Waters managed to pack into one novel. I have Night Watch and Affinity on my tbr pile so am looking forward to reading those sometime this year.
When will you be reading, “Swish: Maria in the Mourning?”
There are 23 five-star reviews on Amazon.com
“About forty pages into the book I went and read the end, and there was this random-ass Florence character I’d never met, so I took against from the beginning, and when she finally showed up I was like PFFT, Florence, I hate that bitch.”
Hahahahahaha. I’m glad someone else went through this, too.
So unkind of me! I should really reread this and give Florence a chance. I was much more into the romance in Fingersmith when I read it the second time.