Rating: 
Summary: so good!
Review: I loved this book! it was so good i just couldn't put it down. i suppose the ending could be disappointing, but it wasn't surprising. the book begins just picking up on the caracters in the middle of life, and just drops them off the same way. I would love to read a sequal though! good good book!
Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the ending?
Review: It seems like the author spent 800 pages talking endlessly about the same things and got so tired by the end that he decided to end the novel abruptly with no resolution at all. I don't mind novels without resolution, but this one really seems like some editor tore the last few chapters out of the book and left us with a publishing mistake. I hope that when they adapt this into a movie, supposedly with Kirsten Dunst in the lead, that they will give it some type of conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: Dickens Meets South Park
Review: Faber's complex novel about a young London prostitute (Sugar)and a married businessman (William)during the Victorian era shows us the social and gender issues of the times. It also shows us the complications of the relationship between Sugar and William, with its deceptions and changes in the balance of power between them. His ability to pull you into a new environment is compelling. However, Faber spends way too much time showing us the physical degredations of Victorian London. We quickly get the point that the poor suffer from a dirty and disease-ridden environment. But Faber gives us endless descriptions of human and animal body fluids, wastes, emissions, secretions and skin disruptions. He reminded me of my son and his friends during adolescence, when they found curse words and body fluid descriptions to be shocking, gross and cool. Coming from Faber, it's just gross.
Rating: 
Summary: this novels never lets go til the end
Review: Before the first page was read, the fascinating narrator plucked me right out of my world and back into the savage and dirty Victorian London. I disagree with the bad reviews given by other readers, some of whom compare this to a typical romance novel! Characters of such depth and complexity you will not find in the typical romance. Borrow or buy this book, and enjoy your trip as you travel hand in hand with the story. This book is no cheap trick; it is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: Not exactly what I was expecting.
Review: After much anticipation I was pretty disapointed by this book. The author does a great job of describing the main character's life, but the story itself left much to be desired. After over 800 pages I expected more from the author, the characters and the story. The book ended without much of an ending, and sadly the reader is left out in the dark. I would reccomend this book if you want to read 800 plus pages just to be thoroughly let down in the end.
Rating:
Summary: Time and time
Review: The past, even the near past, is there. Dirt, smells etc...knowable. Take the journey, spend the time and it all will come alive. See how far we have come. Or have we? The "Crimson Petal and the White" ( the color of the skin after ones fingers have pressed in on themselves ) is well worth the effort.
Rating:
Summary: Like Dickens With Sex
Review: I really enjoyed this book. Yes it's filled with graphic and sometimes foul discriptions of sex acts and bodliy functions, but the book's about a prostitute in the 19th century! People expecting to go through the nearly 850 page book and not be faced with the stark ugly realities of Sugar's world should probably break open their Harlequin romances.
I thought it a testament to the author that at it's length it continued to remain compelling throughout, with no real clues as to where the characters were headed. I also appreciated his tongue in cheek approach to the material that had me laughing out loud at the follies these characters underwent.
Is it pretty? Absolutely not. Is it well written and enjoyable? Quite.
Rating:
Summary: The Crimson Petal and the White
Review: I throughly enjoyed reading this book. The characters kept me wondering through it all. Even the elderly mean old gentleman. Even with the book being over 800 pages I was able to breeze through it. Keeping my interest through it all. Some parts a bit slow but then it became better and better as I kept reading. Well worth the time to read and enjoy. The reason for just 4 stars is that I did not like the ending. It left me feeling stranded even after reading it multiple times to see if I had missed something. For Faber being a relatively new author he has done a remarkable job on getting my attention for any of his up and coming stories.
Rating: 
Summary: There's a reason Dickens and Elliott didn't go there!
Review: Prostitute meets man with cash and crazy wife. He sets her up in posh digs. She gets bored, gets misdirected. Wife dies. Man dumps prostitute at first available opportunity. Strip away the body functions and ever-present grime, and you are left with a thin, rather mundane and unintersting story. ALL of the characters are repugnant on one level or another. We don't want any of them to succeed except Sugar, and even then only at times. The "victorian details" are rammed down our throats, often very condescendingly, or as a coy mis-fire (as with the mention of 'authors named Bell' - puhleeze! STOP WINKING AT ME!) Body functions just don't add up to a good story. I've read cheesy victorian bodice-rippers with more tension and dramatic interest than this! Who edited this guy? What made the authors of the period so fascinating is that they explored many of the same social tensions to far greater effect, without reliance on things that don't matter, such as where people poo or the consistency of male ejaculate(which as far as I can tell isn't gretly at issue in modern novels either!) Does this guy think he's revealing unexplored dimensions of the social problems of 19th century metroploitan London? Dickens' "Oliver" is far more galvanizing, with far less emphasis on body functions. By leaving out such details, Dickens was able to concentrate on character development and thematic structure - two noticeably anaemic aspects of this book. Why did this self-indulgent [book] get published? Ooooh, it took him 20 years to research! TWENTY YEARS? Are there no good public libraries in the UK? There are plenty of studies available on 19th century sexual habits and mores, not to mention studies of London's neighborhoods, the public health situation, medical mistreatment of women, etc. There is nothing added to the scholarship in that area by this book. Give it a miss. If you want silly Victorian porn, go get "The Pearl" - or for silly Victorian soft porn go to the Romance section of your local bookstore. I gave the author one star to acknowledge his ability to pound out 800 pages.
Rating:
Summary: A fast compelling read
Review: Though the book is 832 pages long, I breezed through it in one week. I was told to read it as research for an acting class on the period (Wilde, GB Shaw etc.) but found myself totally [drawn] into it. One of my favorite things about the novel is that I felt differently about each of the many characters at different times. Sometimes I hated William, the perfume magnate, and other times I was rooting for him -- in short -- his characters, even the minor ones, had dimension. His main character, Sugar, I found compelling and sympathetic throughout. I really cared about her and that ultimately is what kept me reading. I felt that his characters had a lot of integrity. They seemed to act from themselves instead of being manipulated by the author. And, unlike another reviewer, I liked the soft porn aspect of it. While I would have to admit -- it was more about the story and characters than it was about the language -- it kept my attention throughout. Faber is sensitive to his female characters and to the situation of women in the 1870s. Well worth the read.
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