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Sep 25, 2011

Kelly rated it:

Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them. This city I am bringing you to is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. You may imagine, from other stories you've read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether..."

Thus does Faber begin his beguiling spell of a novel, the Crimson Petal and the White. He More...

15 comments like (29 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Teresa rated it:

I've been of the mind recently that there is something slightly worse than bad. And that is: almost. Bad, one can deal with. It's easily classifiable, and can be (to paraphrase Susan Orlean in The Orchid Thief) "whittled down to a more manageable size." Almost is harder. Almost teases you with what could have been, only to disappoint you with what is. Almost is wasted potential. Almost lingers inside you like a dust bunny under a bed in a clean room. The Crimson Petal and the White by More...

2 comments like (44 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Emily rated it:

If you don't like reading about sex, don't read this book. And when I say sex, I don't necessarily mean the pleasant kind of reading about sex, or the titillating kind of reading about sex. I mean, there are plenty of gory details in here about the everyday lives of Victorian women and prostitutes. And many of them aren't pretty.
The thing that fascinates and attracts me to this book is that it could only take place in Victorian London, and yet it could only have been written in the modern More...

4 comments like (34 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2011

Priya rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

3 comments like (10 people liked it)

Aug 27, 2011

Paul rated it:

You know in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind they've invented this brilliant device for erasing specific memories and the whole plot revolves around people who meet each other after they've had their memories of each other already erased, so they re-meet and re-love and it's all poignant and kind of whoah and oops I kind of gave the plot away - well, you should have seen it by now, come on, it's years old. Anyway, I'd love that particular invention to be true true true so that I could hustl More...

18 comments like (20 people liked it)

May 24, 2011

Suna rated it:

This book was read by me alongside the broadcast of the BBC2 adaptation, which turned out to be a fun and interesting exercise in itself.

It's extremely well written and extremely frustrating, so much so that it eventually took away a whole star from my initial rating.

Open endings are fine, usually, but this became so vague and make-of-it-what-ye-will that once I closed the book I mostly came away with the sense that it hadn't been worth the effort.

The Victorian unde More...

7 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 03, 2008

Martine rated it:

If I had to give a one-word response to the big, sprawling monster of a faux-Victorian novel that is The Crimson Petal and the White, it would be 'WOW'. (With capitals. Yes.) At 895 pages, it's a big book, and it's not without its flaws, but such is the quality of the writing, the characterisation and the staggering amount of research that went into it that I was enthralled from beginning to end and stayed up until 4am on a weekday night to be able to read the last four hundred pages. I don't re More...

24 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Siria rated it:

Enjoyable and rather compulsively readable, but not particularly impressive, The Crimson Petal and the White is essentially an 18 rated version of Dickens—a cautionary tale set in Victorian London, but with more mention of prostitutes, erections and human excretions than you could shake a reasonably sized stick at.

The prose is quite solid, though it feels a little padded in places, particularly in regards to the Henry Rackham/Emmeline Fox subplot; similarly, the narrative flows well, More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Sep 24, 2010

Laurie rated it:

Okay, I read this book. I read every page because, you know, Michel Faber, right? I mean, his prior work was not without merit.

What the hell was he thinking, though, when he wrote this book? Was he aiming for mediocre language and predictable plot with lots of crusty, nasty Victorian sex? Cause if so, bravo!

Still, I did read it all the way through. So what does that say about ME? I think what it says about me was that I hang in, even against my better judgment. I read al More...

1 comment like (7 people liked it)

Feb 23, 2009

Beth F. rated it:

Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them. This city I am bringing you to is vast and intricate, and you have not been here before. You may imagine, from other stories you've read, that you know it well, but those stories flattered you, welcoming you as a friend, treating you as if you belonged. The truth is that you are an alien from another time and place altogether...

What a beginning! I passed my copy on after I originally read this in 2005. I gave it to my m More...

3 comments like (11 people liked it)

Sep 25, 2007

Anna rated it:

Nineteen year-old Sugar is a whore in 1870s London. William Rackham is the proud, immature inheritor of the Rackham perfumery. William's wife, Agnes, is mentally off. William's brother, Henry, is confounded by his religion. William's young daughter, Sophie, is hidden away in the Rackham mansion and cared for by servants. Is it any wonder William seeks out a prostitute? Of course, we all know he's going to find Sugar. The only question is, what sort of tortured relationship between them can fill More...

3 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2010

Liz Vegas rated it:

In an interview, The Crimson Petal and White’s author, Michael Faber says: “I use the metaphor of a novel being like a prostitute, promising the reader a good time, promising intimacy and companionship”.

If this is the case, boy did I feel like I got a good “fuck” for my moneys worth. At 850+ pages, I thought this tome of a novel was magnificent.

Faber led me by the hand, and brought me to Victorian London, where I fell in and out of love with the characters. The robu More...

2 comments like (9 people liked it)

Jan 25, 2008

minnie rated it:

It’s not often a book comes along, that when you close the final pages you already miss the characters. Their ups and downs have become your life as you go into the early hours with them every night. Well, this is one of those books, a book with amazing characters that keep you guessing til the last page. There’s Sugar the well read prostitute, Agnes the beautiful Victorian wife teetering on the brink of madness, and Emmeline.Fox the campaigner whose modern views ostracize her from society.In t More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Aimee rated it:

So I thought this book had a lot of potential but it completely dissappointed me. I thought at the end it would bring all the 800ish pages but it DID NOT. It just ends and I was so shocked and angry with myself that I actually spent all that time reading this lame ending book.

I loved the way they narrator of the story took us with him/her through the story and I was really sad when that character just disappeared from the storyline. I enjoyed having at all-knowing eye lead me to More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

pinkgal rated it:

Prostitute? Check. Crazy wife? Check. Bumbling young rich man? Check. Detailed descriptions of human and physical plumbing and the state of the sewers? Um... check. =) That was one thing I absolutely adored about this book! It was the detailed look at the underbelly of their world in England; it wasn't pretty and the streets sure smelled with all the toilet water going here and there. Sugar wasn't the world's most likeable protagonist, but you couldn't help but just feel indignity for her, even More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jan 17, 2012

Cecily rated it:

"Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them." From that captivating opening (echoed several times later on), you are a voyeur, on an extraordinarily vivid journey. I was enthralled from the start, raced through the 800+ pages at every opportunity, and remain in awe of the way the story is told. Regularly addressing the reader in conspiratorial tones, lends an air of intimacy that suits the subject.

The central character is Sugar, a young prostitute who is More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 31, 2007

Mina rated it:

I got this book because I love Victorian lit. I should clarify that this isn't a Victorian novel per se; a more accurate description is that it is a contemporary take on the Victorian novel. The descriptions of 19th century London are vivid and detailed; Faber lovingly notes the filth on the streets (and the sheets) and the stench of unwashed bodies in the air. The sex scenes are adequately salacious (were Victorian men really into anal play?) but this is no "bodice-ripper," despite w More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2009

Sarah added it

As a former English Literature student, I have been around the literary block. I have delved into the Medieval ramblings of priests, danced with Milton's devil, analysed King Lear's madness, cried with Keats and romanced with Jane Austen.

Becoming somewhat snobby about literature, you do not expect to pick something from a promotion table in Boarders and be inspired. Yet the mindless spending of an ancient book voucher gave me a unfailing companion, and allowed me to dwell in a time alt More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 22, 2008

Kristen rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 26, 2008

Federica rated it:

If you love London and the Victorian Age let the narrator of "The Crimson Petal and the White" lead you in the dedalo of the streets of the most dreary slums crowded with whores and drunks in the company of the prostitute Sugar and her mother Mrs. Castaway to then follow Mr. and Mrs. Rackham in the most beautyful and elegant drawing rooms of the upper class.

The balance between the two side of the London of the Victorian Age is very well coordinated and you feel like you are More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 04, 2008

Darby rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 03, 2008

Alice rated it:

I agree with a lot that has already been said about this book. Faber has almost written a critique of life in the late Victorian period for people of different social classes, different beliefs, and of course he includes a lot of sex...This is all very interesting, especially if you like learning about the Victorians. Faber writes wonderful prose, which has stayed in my mind for some time after reading it and he has vivid characters, looking at the development of not only the main protagonists. More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 19, 2007

Grace rated it:

This is a book about sex, life and struggles in Victorian England. I found this book imaginative and detailed (perhaps more than necessary at times). The opening pages were some of the best that I have ever read - a really great introduction for someone who loves to read. I think the details of the story made reading enjoyable, but found the book was a bit long. I think the author could have trimmed 200 pages of fat from the story and things would have turned out the same.

This is More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 12, 2007

Sammy rated it:

This isn't a book for children, I can surely state that without opinion... that is unless you enjoy corrupting your children, because surely if you read this book to them they will know just as much as the Victorian whores do about the ins-and-outs of sex. The book is rich in detail and imagery with nearly every event, person, and location we incounter. Michael Faber clearly has a strong grasp on what he's writing about from everything to the fashions, sicknesses, technology, social patterns, an More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 20, 2007

Dave rated it:

I only made it through the first 150 pages. In short, this is my least favorite type of book; it's good enough to keep you reading, but not good enough to be ultimately rewarding. With a book that is 900 pages long, this is a fairly large issue. Seeing how it was going, I put the book down and moved to another.

On the upside, the writing is good and it paints a wonderful (though seedy) picture of England in the late 19th century. The text just flows; which leads to you wanting to read More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kayley rated it:

I give this book five stars for the following: A fabulous style of writing, daring, a fresh view of 19th century London, and the phenomenal first 3 quaters of the book.

What about the last quarter? Well, it seems to me as if after writing 700 pages or so, Faber was at a loss as to where to take the story for the final go-around, and had each of the characters acting out in ways that were UNcharacteristic, simply in desperation to bring about an ending. Very abrupt- and if there is som More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 14, 2011

Sps rated it:

Snob that I am, I don't enjoy a book when it's clear that I am smarter than the author. Let us be peers, at the very least, but I prefer my authors to be polymaths and superbrains.

Dickensian only in the sense of melodrama, but Dickens does it so well, so endearingly. Whereas here I felt sort of titillated-at, like the book flashed me its unwashed private parts and expected me to find it sexy. Kind of the same feeling as Telex from Cuba.

Antequam legeret:
Highly rec More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 17, 2008

Patty rated it:

I read this book several years ago and it captured me right away. I love the setting and the 18th century era. I loved the jarring twists and turns and the fact you couldn't have ever guessed the ending. Because it didn't end like the reader thought it should was proof to me of the individuality of the writer. Yes, it was long and yes, it took a lot of research to get it right, but get it right he did. I loved it. It's unique from anything else I've read. A book captures me when it makes you thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 14, 2009

Melissa rated it:

This book starts off with you as the reader floating in on one of the characters in the middle of searching for a hooker that is willing to do some unspeakable (or at least for the author) act. He is pointed in the direction of a hooker whom "never says no" and off you go floating around and watching over each characters shoulder. The book is very long, and after investing so much time into this story, at a pivotal point in the story you just float right out of the book never to know More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 26, 2007

Steve rated it:

I applaud Faber for holding my attention for 750 pages, but I'd like to slap him with a wet noodle for the crap that fills the final 150-200 pages, not to mention the "well, I don't know how to conclude my 896-page novel, so I won't" denouement.

Still, a good corker, for the most part. Got me through many a miserable commute. The sex bits are a little overcooked; they struck me as Faber trying too hard to be forthright and edgy. That said, he can stage a scene and describe a More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

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