101 Books to Read Before You Die discussion

I don't know how the chapter breakdowns are in number of pages, since I don't have the physical copy from the library yet, but we'll just read Part 1, 2, and 3 and see how that works out. Discuss part 1 in this thread.

Bookfetisher, since you nominated this one, did you have any particular way you wanted to discuss this one? We could have separate threads based on themes, etc, if you'd like. Or other ideas from anyone else?

@Alana Nah! Its fine. We can discuss Part wise.
I planned to read 100 pages a day as it's a chunk of a book and I'm somewhere in 300 now. That is Part-2.

Part-1 was kind of cozy at the beginning where a Orphan is well cared for and loved. But the Orphan , Susan is with Fingersmith's ( thieves ) and is supposed to prove herself by cheating a heiress to marry Gentleman. Gentleman, one more thief but well bred.
Story ends in a new level of cheating by the time Part-1 ends. Susan is the sole narrator here and it's from her perspective we see the world.


But I tell you, I had heard to be of Dicken-style novel. It's nothing like that. Dickens story had a different aura around it. This one is just like a slap on your face. All bold and roughed up with LGBT Romance.
And it has it's own beauty which makes you read on, the mystery that just make you want to read it in a sitting.

Just starting this one!

Up to page 135- I'm immersed. The storyline is moving pretty quick. Up to where Susan & Maud are leaving to catch up with Gentlemen. I wonder what will fill the rest of the pages at this rate!

I'm surprised at how quickly things progressed with these ladies, but I am enjoying it. Can't wait to see what happens next.

So I re-read The Woman in White right before this. I can't help but wonder if this is supposed to be a sort of re-telling of the story, but from side of the "bad guy" instead of the "good guy?" and with just enough extra twists to make it different. You've got the rich young niece, the fastidious and quirky uncle, the drawing master coming to fix the drawings with the master of the house, and wooing the young heiress, then the heiress marrying someone to escape the clutches of her uncle, the asylum setup, the switch.... too similar to be coincidence, I think. It will be interesting to see how it continues, since we have a bit of a twist in the relationship of the women at this point.

I don't quite understand what both Gentleman and Maud have to gain by all this, though. Gentleman, obviously, for money (and to keep Sue from giving the game up and from having to pay her) but Maud? Just to get out from her uncle's thumb? And what does Gentleman think is going to happen once all Sue's people get wind of what happened? If the saying is true, about honor among thieves, he is worse than a dead man... they will utterly DESTROY him.

I have a feeling there's more to Maud then meets the eye. I get the impression that Gentleman is playing both of them for his own ends, and that somehow in the end, they are going to end up working together to bring him down. But maybe that's too cliche and easy of an ending.

I also get a bit of a feel of Jane Eyre, in the stiflingly dark, cold house, the odd servants, etc. The gothic Victorian feel is fitting for this colder wintry season, I'm quite enjoying it. :)

It has been more than 20 years since I read Woman in White and it was not a very good time in my life, so I don't remember very much about it. I am intrigued by your comparison. Fingersmith is certainly a twist on the classic Victorian novel; all the elements are there.