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Aug 15, 2010

Amanda rated it:

LESBIAN SEX SCENES!!!

I knew that's all you wanted to hear about. I'm going to go on with my review, but you're welcome to stop reading now that you know the juicy stuff. And no, I will not go on to describe, in dripping detail, any of the aforementioned LESBIAN SEX SCENES. For shame, I know.

So anyway, a while back, my friend Coventry had piles and piles of books she was giving away and this was one of them. Seeing that it was written by Sarah Waters, I nabbed More...

10 comments like (28 people liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Tatiana rated it:

Well, I definitely have never read anything like this before. I dare you to read this book's synopsis and not get curious at least a little bit. The moment I set my eyes on a short description of Tipping the Velvet on the 1001 Must Read Before You Die Books list, I knew I had to read it. Cross-dressing lesbians, kept women, music hall singers, renter "boys" - I mean, what's not to like?

First and foremost, this is a book about lesbians (my first!) and written by one at that, s More...

13 comments like (17 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2011

Bonnie rated it:

Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!

4.5 stars
Sarah Water’s debut novel set in 1890s London is a delightfully shocking tale of exploring the boundaries of gender roles in the Victorian era. It's about finding out who you really are and being comfortable in your own skin and about overcoming heartache and finding love again.

The Storyline
’And was there at her side a slender, white-faced, unremarkable-looking girl, with the sleeves of her dress rolled More...

8 comments like (8 people liked it)

Feb 18, 2011

La Petite Américaine rated it:

It's not often that I like a book, so listen up and listen well.

If someone had given me the bare bones outline of Tipping the Velvet and suggest I read it, I'd have kindly told them to piss off. I have a job, a kid to raise, and an already low tolerance for contemporary fiction. A book about cross-dressing lesbians in Victorian England wouldn't spark enough interest in me to get past the title page.

Silly me. Good thing I thought that "tipping the velvet" was a r More...

20 comments like (23 people liked it)

Apr 28, 2011

Emily rated it:

When I first picked up this novel, I was expecting an exciting romp through Victorian England, complete with lesbians, a little sex, and lots of adventure. I wasn't exactly looking for a piece of classic literature. On that account, this book succeeded marvelously.

Tipping the Velvet is the story of young Nancy Astley, who grew up cooking oysters at her parents shop and occasionally visiting the nearby theater/dance hall. There she meets Kitty Butler, a "masher," or male imp More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 16, 2010

Chandra rated it:

This was Sarah Waters's breakout debut novel and is a big favorite for a lot people. I did really enjoy this, but probably not quite as much as I was expecting. Probably a combination of factors at work here. First, my hopes were very high given how much I had enjoyed her other novels (Night Watch, Affinity and Fingersmith). Second, I've already seen the BBC tv movie version so I basically knew the story. (By the way the film is a pretty faithful adaptation and makes for really good televisi More...

7 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2008

Corbin rated it:

The Gothic Victorian Lesbian genre does exist! In fact, there could not be a more perfect description of Sarah Waters' novels. Part Dickinsonian, part erotica, part mystery, her characters in 'Tipping the Velvet' explore the sexually mischievious underworld of London in the late 1800's. That being said, I'm still quite critical of this book.

The novel was slow to pick-up until about 10 pages before book 2. Before that I was having to convince myself that hanging in there was going More...

3 comments like (7 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Daniel rated it:

I was first made aware of this book by the BBC miniseries, which played on BBC America last year. My wife and I liked it, and I got my wife the novel for her birthday, and ever since Sept. she has been bugging me to read the novel. With the DVD coming out, I decided to finally read it. Wow. Lemme say that again: Wow.

First of all, Sarah Waters is an amazing writer that from now on will forever remain on the Favorites list at my house. Tipping the Velvet is a great debut novel by a gre More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jun 08, 2007

Sarah rated it:

I was unimpressed with the book. Sarah Waters appears to be a one note writer. Sure, she changes the setting and the time period but her cardboard cutout characters are the same. There is always the naive young woman who falls for the more worldly but jaded woman and learns of the forbidden love only to scare her new soul mate straight! There you go, that's the twist to every one of Waters's books that I've read so you might as well save yourself the time and read something better.

Al More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

Sarah rated it:

My coworker dubbed this "Victorian Dildos for Dummies" and now it's all I can think of when I look at the cover.

Nice details and lovely descriptions provide a slightly hollow framework for the book's bland protagonist as she explores the various lesbian subcultures of Victorian London. Given the book's sensational characteristics - cross dressing stage performers! jaded lesbian orgies! socialists! male prostitutes! - it's surprisingly boring. I admired the research but cou More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 27, 2012

Mindy rated it:

I loved this book so much I wanna gay marry it!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 27, 2008

Kelly rated it:

It appears that currently the most common criticism of this book on goodreads is that it seems formulaic. Perhaps I am behind the times, but when did eloquent lesbian coming of age stories set in England 200 years ago become so commonplace as to even HAVE a formula?

Ultimately this is a love story embedded in a fluid tale of heart-pounding and heart-breaking moments over the course of Nan's life. Either the girl gets the girl/boy in the end, or the girl doesn't...predicting the ending More...

1 comment like (16 people liked it)

Mar 30, 2008

Cherie rated it:

From the publisher: This delicious, steamy debut novel chronicles the adventures of Nan King, who begins life as an oyster-girl in the provincial seaside town of Whitstable and whose fortunes are forever changed when she falls in love with a cross-dressing music-hall singer named Miss Kitty Butler. When Kitty is called up to London for an engagement on "Grease-Paint Avenue", Nan follows as her dresser and secret lover, and soon after, dons trousers and joins the act. In time, Kitty More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 13, 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)

Jun 06, 2007

graycastle rated it:

Like all of Sarah Waters' novels, this book is sensual to the point of being almost tactile: she takes such great delight in the detailed world that she creates. This is one of her rewriting-Victorians novels, and is probably my favourite. It's certainly the most racy: people who come to this book from Affinity, which is much more fade-to-black and dignified, will probably be a bit surprised by the erotica scenes. But, oh god, what great erotica scenes! This book, more than any of her others, More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 05, 2008

Kym rated it:

What a sumptuous era! Makes me want to be in music halls...

Lots of red velvet, grime, squalor and lust. Perfect. I love when Nancy's smoking on the little balcony off her room, just thinking, and looking over London. Profound. The characters are fabulous, and the Victorian backdrop is breathtaking, so even though it's about a love affair between to girls, I would recommend this to anyone who loves period stories and good writing!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 04, 2007

Nicole rated it:

So I tried to read this book, and I just couldn't bring myself to get past Chapter 5 before thoughts that I could find something more satisfying drowned out the voices telling me to push on. It's not that this book is bad exactly (or maybe it is and I'm not giving myself enough credit), but that I don't have patience with the main character. Maybe the whole book would have gotten better once Nan got over the first blushes of first love, but I personally am just not interested in watching her g More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 30, 2007

Paige rated it:

There's nothing better than just picking up a random book from a used book store. Not even paying attention, I pick up a lesbian romance novel. Let me tell you, it ended up being a page turner.

This Moll Flanders style novel takes readers to the life of a girl in late 19th century England, who goes to see a vaudeville performance and falls in love with a male impressionist actress. She ends up leaving her family to be with the actress and begins life on stage and a secret love affa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 09, 2011

Nicola rated it:

I sort of knew from the very beginning this this might not be my sort of book. The description on the back did absolutely nothing to pique my interest and I was bored with the first chapter about oysters. It got better but I never really managed to get into it, which was a shame.

I couldn't really connect to or believe in any of the characters and the story just felt a bit flat for me. I found it very hard to concentrate on what was going on as it didn't hold my attention well at all More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 03, 2009

Avory rated it:

Don't be put off because you don't like Victorian literature. If you're like me, and you enjoy lesbian fiction, and you enjoy blunt, realistic depictions of sex and relationships, you'll like this book. Waters has a fabulous narrative style and she plays with sex and gender in this book in a fabulous way. Unlike many lesbian novels, it has a satisfying ending, and though it's long, the length is necessary to negotiate the differing approaches she presents to lesbianism, sex, and relationships More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2010

Tory rated it:

Tipping the velvet = cunnilingus. I had no idea. Along with all the other late 1800’s English slang in this book.

I bought it at a car boot sale, because an old granny type recommended it to me and called it ’saucy’! I had to know what she thought saucy!

It wasn’t trashy… it had some bits of lesbian sex that might have made me blush, but it was never trashy.

It was like East of Eden meets Charles Dickens.

Very good book, I’d never read a story l More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Thilardiel added it

What this book was mainly about, for me, was the struggle to live life openly. The beginning romance between Kitty and Nancy is closeted, and suffers for it. The climax of the book is when Nancy "confesses," or tells her life story, of which she is ashamed or worried she will be judged. This telling is also tied to revealing her sexual orientation to another person (in the end, her final lover of the novel), or "coming out" again, which had been tied to shame and guilt when s More...

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Apr 20, 2010

Joyce rated it:

One of the more infuriating developments in the past few years is the insistence by those who claim to be feminists that if a politician is female, you must vote for her, even if you loathe her policies and feel that her only beliefs are whatever the latest polls say will give her victory. On the literary front, if an author is female, you must read her and like her; if the author is a lesbian, her books are gold. The fact of the matter is that most politicians, whether male or female, are une More...

0 comments like

Sep 26, 2011

Katie rated it:

A fantastic book on all accounts.

1) If you like a bildungsroman, a coming of age, this is a story of a girl finding out who she is. Nan's journey starts in a society which was not receptive to her sexuality, and so, understandably, she hasn't a clue about the first feelings she has about Kitty. In this stage of her journey, in her first lesbian relationship, everything is an act. She watches Kitty play a boy on stage, and adopt a feminine persona off-stage. It dawns on Nan, when Kitty More...

0 comments like

Mar 21, 2011

Buffy rated it:

This is Sarah Waters first book (it was also the first one I read) and is not a mystery like the other ones I've read of hers. It explores the lesbian subculture of industrial England and as such might not be for everyone. Most, but not all, of her other books have lesbian characters, but that is not what the book is about, rather they are mysteries or plots where the main characters just happen to be attracted to women rather than men. Having said that, this book was an amazing read. Englan More...

1 comment like

Mar 20, 2011

bell added it

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

0 comments like

Mar 08, 2011

Katie rated it:

I picked this up because it was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and because it is a genre I have never read: lesbian fiction.

The book is billed as a coming of age story, and is about a young woman from the seaside (read: poor country bumpkin) in Victorian England, who falls in love with a female vaudeville-esque stage performer and runs off to London (read: corrupted by the big city) with her.

Let me start off by saying that I like Waters's writing style q More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 02, 2011

Becky rated it:

I'm a little late in finishing this book club book, but I'm so glad I did. Sarah Waters' writing was utterly transportative -- I felt like I really went everywhere that Nancy went -- and the details of historic London were so vivid that I am still thinking about them, as if I took a trip to a real place.

I realize that Nancy was young when she fell in love with Kitty Butler, but I did find myself annoyed that through all the years of the story, she seemed to have so little willpower o More...

2 comments like

Jan 06, 2011

Bobby rated it:

I wanted to read this because so many people had recommended it, but I was concerned that it might lean a bit more toward literary fiction than I tend to read. I need not have worried; this book was captivating from start to finish. Although I haver very little in common with the main character; a nineteenth century oyster-seller, it was easy to connect with her immediately. Before Nancy knows it herself the reader can see that there is something dissatisfying about her life; more than the fact More...

0 comments like

Sep 14, 2010

Ksenia rated it:

I love discovering “new” authors, authors and books that I had never heard of. I came across this book at a church book sale in Park Slope earlier this year. I had no idea what to expect when I read this, but by the end of it, I was enthralled with the author and this book, just as Nan was enthralled with Kitty.

This is essentially a love story. It focuses on Nan and her love affairs with women in Victorian England, and how each of them effect her life. At first, Nan is just a simple gi More...

0 comments like