The Pleasures of Men

Oct 02, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: zz-2012, faux-victorian, historical, literary-fiction, suspense, insanity, prostitution, femme-slash, surreality, keepers-historical-fic, hoopy-good-reads, reviewed, unreliable-narrator-lurve, almost-5-stars, corseted-macabre

Original review:

Better review tomorrow -- too brain-dead tonight -- but overall this was very good. (Bonus: I see from the Reading Group thingee that the author is currently working on a second Victorian novel about a governess & the mysterious family she works for. SQUEE.)

Update:

Days after finishing this, I'm still somewhat stumped in the review department. The advance praise page has a blurb comparing this to Sarah Waters & Michael Faber, which isn't a bad analogy; certainly the sexua...more Original review:

Better review tomorrow -- too brain-dead tonight -- but overall this was very good. (Bonus: I see from the Reading Group thingee that the author is currently working on a second Victorian novel about a governess & the mysterious family she works for. SQUEE.)

Update:

Days after finishing this, I'm still somewhat stumped in the review department. The advance praise page has a blurb comparing this to Sarah Waters & Michael Faber, which isn't a bad analogy; certainly the sexual identity issues & unreliable narration are very Waters-esque, while the gritty London atmosphere & quirky characters are similar to Faber. But for my part, I'd describe it this way: Sarah Waters + Poe + From Hell + a dash of Alfred Hitchcock.

I'm a huge fan of Victorian macabre, so most anything involving corsets & serial killers & 'female hysteria' is welcome on my TBR. But this is also Literary Fiction, which means there's more going on than murders & corseted thrills. One thing that stands out is the collected feel of the narration. At times it's highly surreal & tricky to follow, what with mundane activities triggering Catherine's flashes of instability (example: when distressed, she imagines flowers & vines sprouting from inanimate objects). Her persepective is further warped when other narrators take the reins for a chapter or two...or do they? The reader fights to remember that each voice is Catherine's fictional interpretation of their background & motivations. Is Miss Edwarda really a predatory lesbian? Does Grace have a nobler streak buried somewhere inside? Catherine is undoubtedly an unreliable narrator, but the Man of Crows claims her imagining of his early criminal career is eerily accurate -- so maybe these other women really are as Catherine portrays them.

...Then again, maybe they're not. ;)

Catherine's growing obsession with the Man of Crows has a definite creep factor, but the surreal edginess was what really kept each chapter wavering on the brink of chaos. I have to give credit where it's due; at two separate points in the story, I was sure I'd figured out the twist...but neither was correct. (If the author owes a debt to Sarah Waters for her heroine, she owes an equal debt to Norman Bates for the villain.)

I quite enjoyed this book. It's not perfect -- some metaphors were a bit overwritten, & there were a few times when Catherine's bridges between past & present were muddled. But the whole was satisfying to my taste & I would definitely read more by this author. (Special props to the art department for the US edition cover. While the UK edition has a surreal technicolor look, this one fits the story better. I love the focus on that fringe of hair on the nape -- it's an important motif in the novel. :))(less)

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Apr 15, 2012 Blair rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical, mystery-thriller-etc, read-on-holiday, 2012-release

In 19th-century London, Catherine Sorgeiul is living an isolated life in Spitalfields, where she is confined to her uncle's home. An insular and slightly disturbed young woman, she has a troubled history which always seems to be threatening to rise to the surface. When a serial killer, nicknamed 'the Man of Crows' by the press, starts to strike around Catherine's home, she becomes convinced she can get inside the heads of both murderer and victims, and that she is the only person who can solve t...more In 19th-century London, Catherine Sorgeiul is living an isolated life in Spitalfields, where she is confined to her uncle's home. An insular and slightly disturbed young woman, she has a troubled history which always seems to be threatening to rise to the surface. When a serial killer, nicknamed 'the Man of Crows' by the press, starts to strike around Catherine's home, she becomes convinced she can get inside the heads of both murderer and victims, and that she is the only person who can solve the riddle of who the killer really is. The narrative progresses through Catherine's attempts to identify the Man of Crows, and as it does, the secrets of her own past are uncovered.

This book was an odd one. It's hugely derivative, for a start: it's been compared to Sarah Waters by a lot of reviewers and critics, but then how could it not be when it features: lots of dank, dreary settings in Victorian London; a young woman with a troubled past being confined to her home by a cold, sinister uncle; lesbian liaisons between mistresses and servants; potential implications of supernatural goings-on which may actually be in the protagonist's head; a disturbing murder mystery, etc etc. I was quite surprised by how blatantly the story seemed to be inviting comparisons to Waters' work, and when I began reading, I didn't think there could possibly be anything truly original about it. Indeed, I found the first few chapters somewhat dull. Then, slowly but surely, I found myself being reeled in. Although some elements (including the ending) were rather pedestrian, the book had some sort of mysterious allure which kept me hooked. The narrative voice is fragmented and sometimes disjointed but somehow it works, perhaps because it's so effective in communicating the disturbed state of mind experienced by Catherine. If you're willing to stick with it, this is a delightfully dark piece of historical fiction filled with complex characters and an unsettling, twisted plot which slowly reveals a number of dreadful secrets. Weird, but unexpectedly good. (less)

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Apr 14, 2012 Lou Robinson rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: work-book-club

Absolutely dreadful, I gave up after 50 pages. I did actually read the historical notes at the back, and strangely (or maybe not), they made for much better reading. Unfortunately, I think this is a case of an author with a background in historical research and factual writing, who is obviously passionate about Victoriana, turning her hand to novel writing, and overcooking it. Sorry Kate, didn't do it for me.

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Mar 26, 2013 Neeuqdrazil rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kobo, library, read-in-2013

I could not get into this. It was disjointed, skipping around between POVs (I think? No, I'm pretty sure. Unless those other POVs were dreams...)

So, yeah. Confusing. The villain(s) were telegraphed (badly) from the beginning, but some others (Mr. Janisser the younger) didn't act appropriately (ETA: by which I mean that his character wasn't consistent - his behaviour jumped around a lot), and there were no reasons given.

I don't know - I couldn't get into it - the main character (Catherine?) did...more

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Mar 20, 2013 Arlena rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, a-good-book, adult-read, ebooks, fiction, historical, my-reviews, murder, thriller, suspense

Author: Kate Williams
Published by: Penguin Books Ltd
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Rating: 4

Review:

"The Pleasures of Men" by Kate Williams was a novel of thriller, mystery, suspense, murder and even some 'Victorian' historical fiction all rolled up into one. To say that this novel was interesting...I would say, yes but a also strange and dark read. Why was this? We find that at this time in London a madman was murdering young women and stuffing their hair into t...more
Author: Kate Williams
Published by: Penguin Books Ltd
Age Recommended: Adult
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Book Blog For: GMTA
Rating: 4

Review:

"The Pleasures of Men" by Kate Williams was a novel of thriller, mystery, suspense, murder and even some 'Victorian' historical fiction all rolled up into one. To say that this novel was interesting...I would say, yes but a also strange and dark read. Why was this? We find that at this time in London a madman was murdering young women and stuffing their hair into their mouths...known as 'The man of Crows.' We find that Catherine Sorgeiul who was now nineteen, had been a orphan, has now been taken up by her uncle and she is becoming crazed about the 'Man of Crows' who was a serial killer who had been targeting young women. "London's East End is running scared and anyone could be the next victim. Women are told to stay off the streets and not to go anywhere at night, especially not alone" however, we see that Catherine does not abide by this advice. We find that she wonders the streets trying to find a clue to these identity of the murderer. Catherine felt that from her pass...a disturbed person that had lived as a orphaned and even spent time in an asylum thought she understood the "Man of Crows." Why was this and what does she feel she knows? This will be a captivating read in that you will find this story weaves in and out between Catherines' point of view and with other characters...presenting a tricky read in knowing just what is real and what is not. This presents the point to whether Catherine is sane, dangerous or even real. From Catherine's writings, odd things start to happen where she finds that trust doesn't come easy for her. Now, this is where I say to really get all the what, how, where and who of it all you must pick up "The Pleasures of Men" to find out what this author has instore for the reader as we actually find out what had happened to Catherine and her family plus so much more.

What did I think of this read..."The Pleasures of Men" a bit strange read but still enough to hold your interest and attention especially if you are in for a good suspenseful murder mystery... Would I recommend? YES.
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Dec 20, 2012 Laurie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Set in 1840’s London, ‘The Pleasures of Men’ tells the tale of orphaned nineteen year old Catherine Sorgeiul after she is taken in by her uncle. Uncle lives in genteel poverty amidst books and anthropological artifacts. Encouraged to not think about the tragedies of her past that led her to be institutionalized for a time, but given nothing to do that interests her, she becomes obsessed with the Man of Crows, a serial killer who is targeting young women. To try and get a handle on how he thinks,...more

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Aug 11, 2012 Beatnik Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/...

London 1840. A madman is murdering young women, cutting them open and stuffing hair into their mouths to resemble a beak, prompting him to be known as The Man of Crows. This is before the Ripper murders rocked Whitechapel. This is before Sir Robert Peel's police force (or "bobbies") have started patrolling the streets. London's East End is running scared and anyone could be the next victim. Women are told to stay off the streets and not to go anywhere at n...more http://www.cozylittlebookjournal.com/...

London 1840. A madman is murdering young women, cutting them open and stuffing hair into their mouths to resemble a beak, prompting him to be known as The Man of Crows. This is before the Ripper murders rocked Whitechapel. This is before Sir Robert Peel's police force (or "bobbies") have started patrolling the streets. London's East End is running scared and anyone could be the next victim. Women are told to stay off the streets and not to go anywhere at night, especially not alone.

But nineteen-year-old Catherine Sorgeiul cannot abide that advice. She wanders the streets surrounding her uncle's house in Spitalfields where she lives, hoping to find some clue as to the identity of the murderer. Orphaned and sent to live with various relatives, Catherine is a disturbed young woman who has spent time in an asylum and isn't sure she can trust her own thoughts. She IS sure, for reasons she cannot explain, that she understands the Man of Crows, that she will be able to channel him and discover why he has been killing so many women around her. But what is it that Catherine really knows?

Kate Williams' fictional tale of a serial killer in London at the start of Queen Victoria's reign is a captivating one. She has previously written historical non-fiction about the same time period, so I knew before I read this book that her research on the setting would be solid (even as she wove a story about an imaginary serial killer decades before Jack the Ripper). But unlike other historical crime stories set in Victorian England, the setting was important but not crucial. In some books with a similar theme--and there are a lot of them--the setting of 19th-century London is almost like another character in the novel, with the sights, sounds and culture of the day factoring so heavily into the plot that one could not imagine the story being told in any other context. Alex Grecian's The Yard, for example, is more about the time and place than it is about the actual crimes. It could not have taken place in any other setting.

The Pleasures of Men is not just about Victorian London. It's about the psychology of Catherine Sorgeiul, a young woman so convinced of her own wickedess that neither she nor the reader is ever sure if she is simply imagining things or if she is really sinister. The story weaves in and out between Catherine's point of view and that of other characters--mostly victims of the Man of Crows--and sometimes is written as Catherine's imagining of other characters' perspectives. It's a tricky read in places because it's hard to tell what's real and what's not, but that's sort of the point. Is Catherine sane? Is she dangerous? Is any of it real? Kate Williams' novel is really about that slipperiest of characters: the unreliable narrator.

I've learned not to read other reviews of a book until I've written my own, and definitely not before I've read the book. I'm glad I followed that rule in this case, although I did find myself glancing at some of the reviews on Goodreads as I was writing this. People have some vastly different opinions of this book. There were those, like me, who loved it and gave it 4 or 5 stars. Then there were those who absolutely hated it and gave it 1 star. I was so surprised! Among the reviewers who hated the book there seemed to be a lot who gave up after 50 or 100 pages and didn't finish the book. Again, I was surprised. I couldn't even think of not finishing this book! Not only was I dying to find out "who done it," I was dying to find out "what they done," since there were times I wasn't sure if Catherine was imagining the whole thing. For me, this was a "stay up late to read 50 more pages" book. Clearly this isn't universal opinion, but I'm glad I didn't read those negative reviews before I started the book or I may have been unfairly prejudiced against it.

If I had any criticism of the book it would be that the title is slightly confusing. I'm assuming that "The Pleasures of Men" is meant to reference the fact that the vision of Victorian London that Williams presents is so sex-segregated that it seems as though men and women live in separate worlds and that women are often the victims of men's rules and wonts. However, I'm not sure this title best describes the heart of the book (but what do I know?). I thought maybe "The Man of Crows" might have been more evocative (again, what do I know?). Also, I thought the book could have used a few more descriptions of the murders themselves, not to be gratuitously violent, but to remind readers of how the murderer got his nickname. I wasn't completely clear on how the "hair stuffed into the victim's mouth" was meant to resemble a beak or why that was what people thought of when they saw it.

Otherwise, though, it's one of the best books I've read all month (okay, that doesn't sound like the highest of praise, but I've read 30-40 books in the 30 days, and this was in the top five).

Disclaimer: I received a digital galley of this book free from the publisher from NetGalley.com. I was not obliged to write a favourable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.
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Aug 06, 2012 Kristin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams is, contrary to the title, a mystery set in 1840s England. Catherine Sorgeiul, an orphan, lives with her eccentric uncle on Princes Street, and is on the verge of being a spinster. Forced by her uncle to try to find a suitable match, yet limited to her dismal and eerie home in a lower-class part of London, she yearns to escape from the drudgery. When the Man of Crows begins to wage war on poor girls throughout the city, and leaves them dead in the position o...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Stephanie D. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When I first laid eyes on the UK cover of The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams (left), I just had to have it. The bloody knife against the velvet Victorian dress, pale skin, and red lips - all spoke of something creepily subversive and gothic. The synopsis, when I read it, supported my wild excitement. When I got my copy, which bore the US cover (below) - I was disappointed with its now mundane, boudoir look, but I was still beyond eager for the story.

I thought for sure I would like The Pleasur...more When I first laid eyes on the UK cover of The Pleasures of Men by Kate Williams (left), I just had to have it. The bloody knife against the velvet Victorian dress, pale skin, and red lips - all spoke of something creepily subversive and gothic. The synopsis, when I read it, supported my wild excitement. When I got my copy, which bore the US cover (below) - I was disappointed with its now mundane, boudoir look, but I was still beyond eager for the story.

I thought for sure I would like The Pleasures of Men. I wanted to love it. However, and it truly pains me to say this, more disappointment was to come.

The Pleasures of Men started out, like most love affairs, so promising and intoxicating. When I read the first chapter, plunging me into the seedy, smelly, and ultimately horror-stricken scene in Spitalfields Market stall in London, I was struck by how delightfully visceral the writing was. Yes, I get gleeful over maggots and blood and rotten meat (but only in fiction). It reminded me of another book I loved, Perfume by Patrick Suskind.

Written from Catherine's first person point of view, I was never quite sure if she was slowly going mad or was being oppressed by her uncle and society or both. I appreciated the social commentary on women of the time period and how it related to the Jack the Ripper-like murders of prostitutes. Again, very promising.

The unreliability of the narrator held my interest in taut suspense, at first. Williams skilfully tantalized questions throughout the story, such as what traumatic event induced Catherine's nervous breakdown and what was her uncle really doing when he was conducting business. Williams also successfully gave a sinister sheen to almost every character so that I became almost as nervous as Catherine herself, suspecting each one, even Catherine, of some guilty secret.

Williams's attention to historical detail is convincing and authentic - I have no doubt that her research into the time period was thorough and impeccable. I understand that she has written two nonfiction books, one on Emma Hamilton and the other about Queen Victoria and Princes Charlotte.

So although she is a talented writer and apparently quite a credible historian - where her creative writing and knowledge of history intersected in The Pleasures of Men is where it went wrong for me. As a very sheltered 19-year-old writing about the gruesome murders, Catherine's imagined murder scenarios, her very detailed narratives of the victims and of the serial killer were simply unbelievable. Not unbelievable because they were not authentic, unbelievable because how can a young woman who can barely go outside by herself , who's been locked up one way or another most of her life, whose reading materials are even censored possibly imagine in realistic detail how a prostitute lives? The living conditions of the poor? How a man can execute a murder so precisely?

Were Catherine's too-knowledgeable imaginings meant to create doubt in the reader's mind? Was I suppose to suspect her of being the murderer? Of somehow channeling the murderer's perspective by some supernatural means? For me, the leap was too great. I think The Pleasures of Men would have been better executed had these narratives been clearly split into Catherine's first person alternating with third person omniscient. The merging of the two to create suspense also created too much uncertainty and disbelief. Especially when I found out who the murderer actually was - and then my disappointment was bitter.

So, although The Pleasures of Men had so many elements that should have made it a pleasure to read, it unfortunately just fell short. It almost seems that Williams would have been better off just writing a straight nonfiction book about sexuality and crimes against women in Victorian London. I'm sure there's plenty of horror to mine there.

"Oh you dead girls. You think you can hide from me.

"Yellow-haired, red-haired, dark, brunette, you are all the same, caring only for who looks at you, not for what you see. You saunter through Oxford Street and St. James's, believing--oh how you believe--that you are kept safe from the evils of the city by the admiring gaze of men and the cushioning of wealth, windows shining like oiled skin, piled with goods from across our great Empire. Silks and fruits, minor swirls of sugar to be scattered over the sweet sponge, pink-iced cakes of your tiny, pitiful lives.

"You lie to yourselves. Such things are empty baubles, and those who believe in them live on false dreams. And you are not free or happy or bale to choose, for because you are here, you are already dead. You give nothing to the world, you simper and take a delight in flashing your skirts at men and provoking them to madness--and then , oh yes, then you cry innocence. I remark you as I walk over in the city, this city that is my possession and is to you a mirror for your vanities.

"I see you.

"I wait."

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Jul 23, 2012 Criminal Reads rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A book about a serial killer. It's my dream come true! Sadly this dream came to a halting end and turned into a nightmare. Not even a good nightmare. You know, the action packed ones where you try to outrun your own legs because panic and fear have taken residency in your heart? This was more of the "ugh I have to read another page" type of nightmares.

I have to admit I stopped reading this book half way through. The part that I did read was heavy, bogged down, excruciating. The main character is...more

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May 09, 2012 claudio pagani rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Il primo libro del bookclub della BBC mi e’ piaciuto e cosi’ ne ho preso un altro. Con la scelta di una giovane autrice decisamente gnocca che mi racconta dei “pleasures of men” mi sembrava di andare sul sicuro, e invece come al solito mi son fatto infinocchiare dalle apparenze.

La trama: Catherine, una giovane fanciulla dal tragico passato descrive le sue giornate nella Londra vittoriana dove un serial killer (“the man of crows”) uccide e sfigura giovani fanciulle. Il romanzo ha un problema: non...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Roger Kean rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The review blurb says Kate Williams is "hugely promotable,' and "has a fantastic media profile," all of which is undoubtedly true. BBC TV presenter, author, and reviewer, she's described as "a stunning new voice in historical fiction." The blurb also tells us that Williams took an MA in Creative Writing, and this shows its hand on almost every page of this novel; so over-written it's overwrought.

The Pleasures of Men follows the overheated imagination of a frustrated Victorian girl, damaged in so...more

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Feb 11, 2013 Deirdre rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fromlibrary, historical, murder, mystery

This should have been a winner with me, a pre-Peeler Victorian murder mystery with an undercurrent of mental illness, this one was largely a miss for me. There were moments that worked, but overall it just wasn't me.

Catherine Sorgeiul lives in Spitalfields with her Uncle. She is getting older and there is a possiblilty that she won't find a husband. Her uncle is eccentric and she herself is prone to what were referred to as fits of imagining. She has spent some time in institutions after her mot...more

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Jan 23, 2012 Jane rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Goodness!

This is wonderful, and not at all what I was expecting from a historian turned novelist.

This is deliciously dark Victoriana.

I was pulled straight away into 1840, into the dark, crowded, dirty streets of East London.

The Man of Crows, a serial killer who has done terrible, terrible things to earn that soubriquet walks the streets and the city lives in fear.

Catherine Sougeil lives with her uncle in Spitalfields and she is troubled. She remembers a happier time when she lived with her paren...more

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Aug 13, 2012 Charlotte Bird rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is actually a very well written book, and it gets the biggest points for surprising me with the outcome. It's a fair bit darker and full of the Victorian Madness than I anticipated, but I liked it and it was handled well. You can almost feel the walls closing in on Catherine, and the line between what's real and what she imagines is sufficiently blurred to ensure you are never quite sure about what's happening. Several 'obvious' finales seem to get set up, and then something else entirely h...more

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Sep 13, 2012 Laura rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: modern-british-fiction

This is Williams's first novel, so bear that in mind as you read the review. The novel centers around a serial killer - the Man of Crows - who is brutally killing and then defacing women in London during the early Victorian period ( 1840s). Williams tells the story primarily through the eyes of Catherine sorgeiul, a young woman with a dark past who is living with her uncle in the area where the murders are occurring. Catherine, herself, is a bit mad, having been recently released from a mental i...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Melisende d'Outremer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, england, historical-fiction, melisende-s-library

Set in the 1840s during the reign of Queen Victoria, a young girl with a troubled past comes to live with her uncle in London at a time when a "Ripper" style killer is striking fear in the hearts of men and women alike.

Catherine's life is certainly troubled and the author Kate Williams tempts us with glimpses into Catherine's past as she, Catherine, narrates the present. Interspersed are the stories of a number of other women whose lives have touched Catherine's own.

It is a rather curious read -...more

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Sep 10, 2012 Estrella rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pesantissimo!!! L'ho finito solo perchè considero un punto d'onore finire tutti i libri che incomincio, anche quelli prolissi e insensati come questo. L'ho scelto perchè dalla lettura della presentazione della trama nell'aletta, mi ero fatta un'idea completamente sbagliata della storia, pensavo fosse un libro più di azione, non così... descrittivo. Ho letto, nei cenni biografici, che l'autrice è uno dei massimi esperti dell'epoca vittoriana, quindi ne ho dedotto che il libro fosse piu che saltro...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Lorin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was difficult. The first 100 odd pages were dull - it was a chore to continue. However the book was littered with snippets of amazing events (view spoiler).

I certainly didn't like Catherine. I found her quite pathetic, and she didn't ask questions I wanted her to, or acted the way I found most logical. Every now and then in the story she would do something or say something and I just wanted to shake her!

I want...more

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May 30, 2012 Lauren rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: cray-cray, creepy-crawling, gothic, incest, what-murder, tea-party, arc

The Pleasures of Men read like a badly televised version of Henry James The Turn of the Screw with a dash of Sarah Waters and Michael Cox added in.
There isn't any new ground covered in this novel. I didn't learn anything about the human condition of why people are attracted to serial killers. Blaming yourself for a dead relative might make a good case for a ghost story but this girl was just a drama queen.
I wasn't satisfied by any of the relationships established here.

The story of a prickly girl...more The Pleasures of Men read like a badly televised version of Henry James The Turn of the Screw with a dash of Sarah Waters and Michael Cox added in.
There isn't any new ground covered in this novel. I didn't learn anything about the human condition of why people are attracted to serial killers. Blaming yourself for a dead relative might make a good case for a ghost story but this girl was just a drama queen.
I wasn't satisfied by any of the relationships established here.

The story of a prickly girl who becomes obsessed with a serial killer (view spoiler) isn't new. The Canadian film The Good Neighbor comes to my mind. Boy was Scott Speedman disgusting in that.
The book is all atmosphere but has no heart.
With the exception of A Little Stranger Waters books had heart. Affinity worked because Meg did desire love.
This book was too cold and judgmental for me to fall into it's spell.
The Edwarda part was brutal and interesting at least. That could have led to a different and better story. However, Michael Cox already did the servant revenge scheme.

The main problem I had with this novel was the characters kept switching pov but often they didn't feel like real characters but possibly her stories with no lead in and then back to Catherine. It was nauseating at times. This led to me distrusting Catherine as a narrator throughout the book since the writing of people in her stories were very teenage girlish. This might have worked in a different book. I suppose Williams wanted to separate the stories from the novel but there should have been a clearer cut way to do this.
She did change the voice. I'll give her that Catherine wrote like a girl with very limited world experience. I just didn't want to read that kind of book.

I usually skip the readers notes at the back of books but this one suggested Catherine was the killer. Williams is wearing her influences on her sleeve if that were the case. But when the narrator is the killer what would be the point of the novel then? I hate films or books where the main character is telling you the story but withholds that information. I'll be boring and stick with the established killer or my head will start to hurt.

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Apr 11, 2012 Gina rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: historical-fiction

It is 1840 and a serial-killer, christened The Man of Crows by the newspapers, is stalking the dark, grimy streets of London, ripping open the chests of young girls and stuffing their hair into their mouths to resemble a beak.

Catherine Sorgeiul, an orphan who lives with her rather quirky uncle in Spitalfields in London’s East End, is tormented by her past, part of which was spent in a lunatic asylum called Lavenderfields. Possessing a vivid imagination and having very little to occupy her time,...more It is 1840 and a serial-killer, christened The Man of Crows by the newspapers, is stalking the dark, grimy streets of London, ripping open the chests of young girls and stuffing their hair into their mouths to resemble a beak.

Catherine Sorgeiul, an orphan who lives with her rather quirky uncle in Spitalfields in London’s East End, is tormented by her past, part of which was spent in a lunatic asylum called Lavenderfields. Possessing a vivid imagination and having very little to occupy her time, she becomes fascinated by The Man of Crows. Convinced that she attracts evil, and that this gives her a special insight into the killer’s mind, she takes to walking the seedier streets of London at night, trying to track him down.

It's a tale full of low-class prostitutes, muck-filled streets, impoverished screaming babies, gin drinkers and bored, frustrated young women who amuse themselves by sexually tormenting their maids.

The publishers promised a thrilling plot; I reached the end of chapter six and was still waiting for some sign that one would unfold in the not too distant future. There was a lengthy description of a tea party and I was well acquainted with Catherine's uncle's furniture, but I definitely wasn't feeling thrilled yet. The book didn't pick up until about two thirds of the way through, but I did at that point become more interested in the story. I found myself wondering, however, why Catherine, a young Victorian woman who would have been wholly familiar with the age she lived in, would spend so much time explaining habits and practices of the time or describing events of the day, as though she were giving me a guided tour of Victorian London.

Despite the slow pace of the book, and the fact that Catherine's 'guide to Victorian London for 21st century readers' threw me a bit, I did enjoy parts of the book. The episode at the Egyptian theatre, though rather predictable, was entertaining. And I was curious to find out who The Man of Crows would turn out to be. But I felt utterly let down when the killer's identity was finally revealed. Aside from anything else, the reveal felt rushed, as though the writer had run out of steam and just slung it in there. The way everything fitted together just wasn't convincing, and the scene prior to the killer's identity being uncovered, when Catherine goes back to her childhood home in Richmond, seemed utterly ridiculous to me.(less)

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Feb 15, 2013 Caitlin rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime, spunky-victorians-in-trouble, historical, literary, unusual-women

This reviews, and others like it, can be read on my my blog

This could have been so good. This should have been so good. But I am all disappointment.

I started it with high hopes, and initially the book carried them – the language was exquisite, building claustrophobia with every sentence. Everything about it was all nightmarish dreamland emptiness. Glorious descriptions of a fog-ridden, soulless city and with Catherine’s almost erotic diary entrys about the Man of Crows it was tense and disturbin...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Sterlingcindysu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-first-wins-reviews

One thing I learned on Goodreads is to always question the narrator...and sure enough, here is the infamous "unreliable narrator." Once I realized that the story came more together for me. Yes, it is choppy as Williams tells the story in different voices and I bet most of us can tell "who dunit" halfway through. But the Man of Crows murder mystery isn't the whole story.

Great, great, great historical details and a good story with strong writing. One stumbling block I had was one lllloooonnnngggg...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Jo rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this book up in a local bookstore as I liked the premise of the story to be told. However, I really have not enjoyed reading this at all. I have found the book very difficult to read throughout as the author's use of creative writing techniques completely drowns the story of Catherine. I kept reading even though I found it hard to follow and found myself re-reading passages three or four times before being able to clarify in my head who's voice I was listening too at the time. I desper...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Éponine rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Catherine Surgeiul non è la tipica eroina vittoriana: impacciata e distratta, spesso si perde nei meandri della propria immaginazione. E' poco curata nell'aspetto e, in compagnia di altre persone, si sente costantemente a disagio.
Catherine ha un segreto che verrà svelato poco a poco: la ragione per cui ha visto la propria famiglia e la propria vita dissolversi per far posto ad un grandissimo ed opprimente senso di colpa. Per anni le è stato ripetuto che è stata lei la causa del male che ha dist...more Catherine Surgeiul non è la tipica eroina vittoriana: impacciata e distratta, spesso si perde nei meandri della propria immaginazione. E' poco curata nell'aspetto e, in compagnia di altre persone, si sente costantemente a disagio.
Catherine ha un segreto che verrà svelato poco a poco: la ragione per cui ha visto la propria famiglia e la propria vita dissolversi per far posto ad un grandissimo ed opprimente senso di colpa. Per anni le è stato ripetuto che è stata lei la causa del male che ha distrutto le vite delle persone che amava.

Siamo intorno al 1840 e Londra è colpita da una serie di omicidi. Catherine è pericolosamente affascinata dall'ignoto assassino che lascia le proprie vittime, delle giovani donne, brutalmente sfigurate. Ed è convinta che solo una persona corrotta dal male come lei potrà scoprire la sua identità.

'The pleasures of men'. No, non è il titolo di un porno. Questo romanzo non è certo l'ultimo capolavoro della letteratura: ci sono alcune cose che avrebbero potuto funzionare meglio. Ma devo dire che, nonostante tutto, non esiterei a consigliarlo...

L'autrice, Kate Williams, è una vera esperta di epoca vittoriana e riesce benissimo a ricostruire le strade in cui vaga la protagonista: i pericoli e gli strani personaggi che si trovano per le vie di Londra, l'atmosfera notturna nei quartieri più poveri, la sensazione che si prova nel ritornare a casa nel buio e sentire dei passi dietro di noi. Insomma, la ragazza sa di cosa sta parlando.

La Williams ci mostra il cosiddetto 'lato oscuro' della società vittoriana, cioè quello che si cela dietro la facciata di perbenismo che veniva ostentato. E' questa la vera forza della storia: non sarebbe stato lo stesso se Catherine fosse stata la fanciulla virtuosa che tanto veniva apprezzata all'epoca. No, Catherine è umana, e in quanto tale non riesce a smettere di pensare, di fare congetture e di fantasticare su cose a cui una dama non avrebbe mai dovuto rivolgere i pensieri.

Un altro punto di forza è il cambio di narratore, che ci permette di sbirciare nelle vite dei personaggi secondari e delle vittime del serial killer. E così, ancora una volta, possiamo vedere che nulla è come sembra.

'The two women in front of me were still praying, but even if I bowed my head, I would not be able to find God. If I were that virtuous girl, I would be certain that God was always watching over me, prompting me to guilt about little lies and offering me the promise of Heaven.
I could not even say now - such a wicked thing - that i was sure He exists. I knew the answer was that man creates evil, not God, but I could not think Him so helpless.'

(less)

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Jun 03, 2012 Ixachel rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: giveaway-wins, s-a, advance-reader-copy, first-reads, reviewed, read-in-2012

Kate Williams’ The Pleasures of Men is a strange little book telling the strange tale of a strange protagonist and her strange thoughts. Can you guess what I’d call this book in a word? Strange.

Catherine is a troubled young woman living with her uncle in London. She undergoes some trauma as a child, and is now largely isolated. Rarely leaving the house, her imagination is her main company. When a serial killer begins murdering young women, Catherine tries to get inside his mind. She believes she...more

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Sep 06, 2012 Tina Rath rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I wanted to like this book. I really did. And I thought I was going to ... but then, somehow we lost touch. I didn't understand why the heroine did anything that she did. I didn't know where her uncle was coming from, and certainly not where he and his creepy friend were going. I didn't understand the obsession with hair, hair cut off, hair dressed, hair plaited by a serial killer...I don't know what happened to the heroine's brother (why, for heaven's sake, did no one look for him? or was it al...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Maggie rated it 2 of 5 stars

The second star is only because Williams made me finish this so I could get some closure on the plot.

I am sure Williams is an able historian. Her notes regarding research and the rich descriptions of the setting and time speak to this. But, otherwise this book doesn't have much going for it. Williams breaks up the narrative by continually changing the narrative voice and perspective. However, the tension that this should bring becomes frustration as the reader struggles to recall who said what,...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Michelle added it · review of another edition

Kate Williams’ debut novel, The Pleasures of Men, is more than a murder mystery. While a serial killer preying on young girls in a downtrodden part of London is a key figure in the novel, it is as much about Catherine’s search for happiness, or at least a sense of acceptance, in a society that is ultimately distasteful and foreign to her. Catherine’s initial impressions are not always what they seem. As such, a reader is then left to ferret out the clues and answers among the myriad of misdirect...more Kate Williams’ debut novel, The Pleasures of Men, is more than a murder mystery. While a serial killer preying on young girls in a downtrodden part of London is a key figure in the novel, it is as much about Catherine’s search for happiness, or at least a sense of acceptance, in a society that is ultimately distasteful and foreign to her. Catherine’s initial impressions are not always what they seem. As such, a reader is then left to ferret out the clues and answers among the myriad of misdirection. It is a creative spin on a familiar story, and one that gives readers a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment for sticking it out until the end.

Catherine is quite the narrator. Her past is tumultuous, but a reader does not get a clear understanding of her history until well into the later stages of the novel. In the meantime, one is left wondering how reliable she really is. She freely admits that she is losing track of time and her belongings, and her writings about the Man of Crows become part of the story in their own right – further blurring the line between Catherine’s imaginings and the truth. Between her self-isolation, definite anti-social stance, and her mind’s wanderings, a reader must also determine if she is a sympathetic character. It is enough to leave a reader feeling decidedly off-kilter through much of the novel.

The Pleasures of Men is not designed for passive reading. In fact, everything about the story is designed to keep readers active, if not fully engaged. From the constant switch in narrators to Catherine’s madness, a reader is never 100 percent certain what is actually occurring, what is a figment of Catherine’s imagination, and what is seen from another character’s point of view. There are many questions, not enough answers, and what answers are given require a reader to weed through the extraneous details. A reader never gets a break from this constant uncertainty. It is a gamble on Ms. Williams’ part, and one that is only going to succeed with certain types of readers. However, for the right reader, it is a novel that will leave one stunned at its resolution and impressed at the dexterity with which Ms. Williams wove this very intricate story.

The Pleasures of Men is not the type of novel where one can sit down and escape to 1840 London for an afternoon. It requires a reader’s full attention from the very first page and makes a reader work for every secret revealed and every answer shared. Ms. Williams’ debut is also not the type of novel which readers can and will appreciate while in the throes of reading or even immediately upon finishing. It requires reflection and time to understand everything that she accomplished with her story, allowing even the most jaded of readers to grudgingly admit her adroitness and talent at storytelling. Given everything she accomplishes in The Pleasures of Men, Ms. Williams is definitely an author worth watching.(less)

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Aug 20, 2012 Flora21 rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The novel started out quite well, actually, because there was a sense of dread and tension hanging over the protagonist's head and you didn't have a clear idea what it was leading up to. I liked the uncertainty, the ambiguity, the almost unbearable atmosphere. The narration was not bad either and I quite enjoyed the addition of different perspectives from various characters.
Then, halfway through, it sort of lost me. Not only did the narrator's voice grow increasingly annoying and repetitive, bu...more

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