In spite of one irritation, the massive The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber turned out to be a good book to take with me on my travels this week. The rich setting and even richer characterization of the novel were so captivating that I was able to drown out the noise of planes, the other...
I have read a lot of Dickens and some Trollop too and this is perhaps how Mr. Dickens would write about London today; a lot more vulgar. The first half of the book may be difficult for some readers as it is very pointed about prostitution. Not sex; but about prostitutes and prostitution. There is ...
This book has captured the hearts and minds of readers and it has been acclaimed as the novel Charles Dickens should have written. As valid a comparison as that may be, it also reminds me of novels written by the Toms-Hardy, Wolfe, and especially that old voyeur, Peeping. Okay Peeping Tom wasn't a w...
In terms of prose style this is one of the strongest books of the forty odd on a list of recommended historical fiction I've been reading through. The beginning directly addresses the reader as "you" and the narrator is an "I" who promises to be our guide into the heart of Victorian London. The pros...
A 2.5 star review.First a disclaimer: I use the Goodreads definition of the stars, where 2 stars means "It was ok". I.e. this is not a bad rating! It's an average rating.Because honestly, I thought it was an average book. It was pretty well written, but it was so LONG! And not good enough to justify...
In what one comes to recognize amidst the other perspectives treated within as the book's own voice, it addresses you, the reader, and invites you to come along on a journey through all levels of 1870s society. Take its hand and follow it where it goes, and you will be glad you did. I was amazed by ...
Ugh. I give up. The mention of Victorian perfumery sucked me in, but there's nothing of the art of perfume in this novel and not one likable character anywhere. While I don't object to sex scenes in my reading, I do object to an abundance of dreary, joyless, sometimes disgusting sex scenes and ov...
A grimy, lurid look beneath the sheets off victorian London. This book is extremely well executed and at close to a 1000 pages it, miraculously, doesn't drag! However there are 2 reasons why this book failed to reach 5 stars for me: 1st: The book is crude and while that's not a problem in itself (...
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