The Paying Guests

November - The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters

I'm not sure how Sarah Waters's book came to my attention. I get emails promoting books, and I have books recommended by websites, friends, and authors. But thinking about this one, I'm not sure how it came to my attention. Without knowing too much about it, I purchased the audible version and started listening on my walks.

I really want you to have that experience with this book. So I am writing a review and not telling you a lot about the characters or the plot. One thing I will tell you is that it's 577 pages. But I only looked it up after I finished it.

If you're going to time travel back to 1922 London, it's going to take some time. Getting to know Frances Wray, her mother, and the new boarders Leonard and Lillian Barber is how Waters makes the story work. When everything is a stake, we feel their emotions.

A few times, while listening to this book, I wondered if I should have read it for myself. Not because of the narration. I thought the narrator did an excellent job. But the narrator influences how you interpret the words through their choice of inflection and tone, and sometimes I'd like to know how I would have heard the words in my own head.

The second thing I discovered about listening to Sarah Waters's book was that there were moments that I am sure I would have sped right through, but the narrator did not. Sometimes we speed-read through a section because the writing drags; that wasn't the case here. The details, the circumstances in certain scenes were so intimate or so painful; I was physically uncomfortable. That's great writing, but I am certain I would have breezed right through those sections to get to a place where I could breathe normally.

I also wanted the ability to go back and reread. Easy enough to flip back through a few pages when you're reading an actual book or even an ebook, but not so easy on audio. And to be clear, the only reason for going backward was that there were gaps between listening sessions, and I wanted to refer back to a detail.

Or go back because the writing is stunning. There were moments where I wanted to read the line again. One of my favorites: "It felt like the tired turn of the world."

Other than the way language is used, Waters does a remarkable job of not saying things. Not mentioning them so artfully that I wanted to scream at the characters. "Close the door!" "What are you doing?" The narration, at crucial moments, does not mention the danger or draw attention to it. The tension on the page (or in the headphones) is more intense for it.

This is a long book, and the story develops slowly. It requires some patience on the part of the reader, and patience is not my long suit. But the sum of the book is more startling than the parts. It's a book that creates an atmosphere for thought. It asks for introspection. The journey is more than worthwhile. By the time I finished, I wanted to read it all over again.