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The Crimson Petal and the White
by Michel Faber
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bookshelves:
18th19thcen-british-reading-project,
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favorites,
fiction
Read in July, 2008
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 sets th...more
Thus does Faber begin his beguiling spell of a novel, the Crimson Petal and the White. He sets th...more
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bookshelves:
british,
family-drama,
favourites,
historical-fiction,
modern-fiction,
pseudo-nineteenth-century,
psychological-drama
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
people who believe the journey is more important than the destination
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 d...more
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24 comments
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in February, 2006
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
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What a monumental waste of time. I probably shouldn't begin my review that way, but that was my first thought upon reading the last page just now. This is the story of a lout named William Rackham, his mad wife Agnes, and his troubled mistress Sugar. I especially enjoyed Agnes as the pitiably ignorant and tormented product of her high-society upbringing. I admit my disappointment with this book started when I realized it was about a man who falls in love with a prostitute, but I tried to ignore ...more
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Read in May, 2007
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 era....more
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 era....more
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Read in April, 2003
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
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Read in October, 2004
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
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Read in April, 2008
The author write in 2nd person, so it's you who begins the book wandering through a late 1800s, Dickens-esque England. You immediately find yourself keeping company with various "women of ill repute" who are immediately humanized as women that the industrial revolution is not looking kindly upon. In order to make ends meet, these women have chosen to work less than their factory laboring counterparts in return for higher pay and shorter lifespans. And among these women is a highly-soug...more
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Read in March, 2007
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
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Read in July, 2008
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A delightful romp through the ranks of society in 1870’s London. From the very first page the author invites you to participate as though you were a character within its pages. The story starts by introducing us the lowest strata of Victorian society in Church Lane St Giles where we are introduced to the first character Caroline, who in turn will lead us to be introduced to the main p...more
A delightful romp through the ranks of society in 1870’s London. From the very first page the author invites you to participate as though you were a character within its pages. The story starts by introducing us the lowest strata of Victorian society in Church Lane St Giles where we are introduced to the first character Caroline, who in turn will lead us to be introduced to the main p...more
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Read in January, 2003
recommends it for:
Victoriana afficianados, historical fiction readers, vintage eroticists?
This book accomplished the impossible...it truly transported me to a different time and place. Such a cliche, to be sure. But, occasionally a book can honestly bridge the gap and so vividly portray a scene, an era or a geographical setting that I am swallowed up into that world almost completely. The Crimson Petal and the White made this happen for me and, a few year later, I still remember that journey to Victorian London.
The central chraracter is a prostitute called "Sugar" wh...more
The central chraracter is a prostitute called "Sugar" wh...more
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Read in April, 2007
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
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
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bookshelves:
fiction,
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Read in December, 2007
Very rich, long book you can sink into for several days. I found myself sympathizing with each character, and then getting royally annoyed with them in turn. William Rackham is the privileged and spoiled Victorian Man with a classic madwoman-in-the-attic wife, and Sugar is the highly intelligent and alluring prostitute he becomes obsessed with. Eventually, she is installed in his household as governess, but there's no Jane Eyre ending here.
Agnes is the wife--who isn't really mad, but suff...more
Agnes is the wife--who isn't really mad, but suff...more
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bookshelves:
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Read in May, 2007
recommends it for:
people very interested in Victorian London
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
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Read in May, 2008
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Read in May, 2008
Ugh. This book, and the length had nothing to do with it, took me about three weeks to read. (If it was any good it would have taken about a week, even with its 700 pages).
This book was beyond bad. If I could give it zero stars I would. Not only was the writing atrocious, but the narration was awful--I hate it when the narrator is not only third person omniscient but also directly addresses the reader in a very obnoxious voice that basically drove me mad.
I have to say that the book w...more
This book was beyond bad. If I could give it zero stars I would. Not only was the writing atrocious, but the narration was awful--I hate it when the narrator is not only third person omniscient but also directly addresses the reader in a very obnoxious voice that basically drove me mad.
I have to say that the book w...more
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Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
Bored Housewives? I kid.
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
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