Rating: 
Summary: I'd give it 10 stars if I could
Review: I adored this huge Victorian epic of love, class, betrayal and devotion, what a read. I miss these characters (especially Sugar and Sophie), and even after close to 900 pages I was not ready to give this book up. My only hope is that perhaps a sequel is in the works. I love a book that I can get lost in, somthing that transports me to another time and place, this is one of those books at it's finest. Yes, it's a bit raunchy at times (but always appropriatly so), after all prostitution is central to the plot. If your'e prepared to give up all you free time for a bit (you will want to do nothing but read), then you've found your match.
Rating:
Summary: The First Great Novel of the Century
Review: I am not afraid to call Michel Faber's The Crimson Petal and the White the first great novel of this century. Like the very best of Dickens, this is a novel of exquisite richness plot-wize, character-wize and emotion-wize. Every word and every sentence resonates with fervent power and force in such a way that, by the end, you realize that the whole story has been embedded in your mind with a stunning power.When William Rackhman meets a young prostitute named Sugar, he never thought that she would forever change his life, for better and for worse. William is a lonely and desperate man. His wife is growing madder with each passing day, his father does not trust him enough to give him the reins of the family business, his brother is a priest with whom he has become estranged, and he barely knows his young daughter. So when Sugar enters his life, William embraces with wide-open arms. But is she really the angelic figure he thinks her to be, or is Sugar also plagued with mystery and terrible secrets? At first, he is so infatuated with her that he buys her a house to keep her safe from other men. But then, his infatuation grows into something deeper, to the point where he will enventually invite Sugar in his own home and keep her as his daughter's governess. Plague with a great deal of emotions, sadness and realism, The Crimson Petal and the White is a novel that is both realistic and partly fantastic. Do not let the novel's length fool you; there is never a dull moment in this story. And I like the fact that every single character is more human than fictional. I particularly liked Sugar, who is both the image of goodness and the tortured soul that craves recognition. Her influence on William will be both good and bad. With every new page, you can easily sense how sad and lonely Sugar is. She craves for the life her own mother, who turned her into a prostitute, could never offer her. A character like this one rarely appears in today's fiction. It would have been easy for Faber to turn her into this greater-than-life charcter drenched in pure goodness. Instead, he offers us a flawed character who's is more a dreamer than an achiever. Faber's voice is powerful and effective. With this book, he created a masterpiece that digs much deeper than the average work of fiction. The Crimson Petal and the White is the type of novel that will live for a long time, an instant classic that you won't soon forget.
Rating:
Summary: 5 Stars
Review: put your life on hold while you enter Sugar's world, you can't stop reading this!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely superb!
Review: This one of the most compeling books I have ever read. The descriptions of victorian London and the wonderful creation of the characters not only leads the reader to completely become one with the characters, but also makes you feel that for a short while you have transported back into the 1870's. I highly recommend this book, and while there are many sexually explicit scenes they contribute to the story rather then stand out as gratuitious scenes. This book does not glorify prostituiton nor condemn it, the final decision is yours to make. This is perhaps the best point of the book, it is up to you to point at who you think is the villian. Happy reading!
Rating:
Summary: Enthralling
Review: Excellent. I agree with all the rave reviews. As an avid reader, it was refreshing to finally find a book that I just couldn't put down. There was not one boring page and that's saying a lot for a book over 800 pages. It held my interest from beginning to end. Mr. Faber totally transformed me to 19th Century Victorian England - sights, sounds and even smells. I sincerely hope there will be a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent, Modern Literature at its Finest!
Review: This book is a masterpiece. The word may seem a cliche, it may seem overdramatic, but that is what Michel Faber has produced. The Crimson Petal and the White is a tour de force through Victorian England, touching on every concievable topic without losing focus. It includes a story and characters so involving that you feel in tune with the events in their lives. You just do not see this kind of writing anymore. The novel is enjoyable on so many levels. The first facet that grabs you is Faber's writing style. People have compared the luxurious and sweeping style of the novel to Charles Dickens, a lofty but in this case apt comparison. Everything down to the London street urchin is illuminated by Faber, with engaging results. Mixed in with the Dickens contribution is a modern cutting style, in which cynicism and satire are the name of the game. The plot is much more modern, with hilariously corrupt and deficient characters that intrigue the reader throughout the 800+ pages. Characters, what characters! This is a rare cast. They are funny, tragic, disturbed, brilliant, and deviant. At the top is Sugar, the intelligent young prostitute who climbs the ladder of the tight knit Victorian social system. She is clever and much older than her 19 years suggest. Her intelligence and willingness to do whatever a man desires takes her very far. Her aide is this social ascent is William Rackham. The heir to the Rackham perfume fortune, his character begins the story as a debutant fool. Once he meets Sugar, however, he becomes a true captain of industry. Obsessed with the beautiful young prostitute, he takes her into his household. What a household it is. His wife, Agnes, is sliding into insanity and, worse, converting to Catholicism. His brother, Henry, is a pious but sexually curious man who is torn between his strict religious views and his love for the Widow Fox. The rest of the cast is filled with colorful and interesting characters that bring this story to life. The best part of Fabers tale is the humor. His constant satire and jokes concerning the social situation of the day is an absolute delight to read. It gives the book a a fluid hilarity that takes you right through the 800 pages. The Crimson Petal and the White has sex, murder, assault, arson, religion, prostitutes, crazy people, humor, more sex, and characters that you will not forget. Read this book. Trust me, you will not forget the experience.
Rating:
Summary: The End
Review: Gotta love the girl: Sugar's as nice a prostitute as we can hope to know. She's cultured---in her way---and smart. Reared by a madam of a mother, Sugar can still play Mom to her "patron's" little daughter. Sugar's story is absorbing, truly a "can't put it down" read. But, I must say, The Crimson Petal and the White offers a very unsatisfying conclusion.
Readers who finish: What do YOU think happens?
Rating: 
Summary: A Long Journey to Nowhere
Review: The first thing one notices about this novel is its size. The Victorian epic is back! Apparently it was twenty years in the making, which is certainly believable in that it is extraordinarily detailed and at eight-hundred plus pages, massive in length. Unfortunately, length and superb research by themselves do not a great novel make. The book primarily has to do with the adventures of a nineteen-year old prostitute in 1875 London. She manages to captivate the son of a wealthy perfume magnate who slowly but surely pulls her out of the literal and metaphorical muck, first setting her up in her own pleasant digs in a more fashionable part of London, and finally moving her into his own household as the governess to his child. Along the way we get to meet the perfume magnate's wife, who is slowly going mad from an undiagnosed brain tumor; his brother, a would-be parson who is tormented by his fleshly desires; and the brother's female friend, another do-gooder, who sees her earthly mission as rescuing prostitutes from their fate. This is pretty much it. Despite this seeming lack of action the plot moves along pretty well, and although it is not exactly a barn-burner, there is nevertheless enough dramatic tension to hold one's interest. There is also, as mentioned earlier, a tremendous amount of detail. One really gets the full sensory load of London in this era: we hear it, smell it, see it, and feel it. The smells are of horses, horse dung, excrement, sizzling meat, flowers, perfume and factory smoke. The sounds are of hawkers, rattling cabs, and music both raucous and genteel. The sights are of sooty windows, smoggy skies, lively taverns, lavender fields, austere factories, ragged urchins, caped strawberry sellers, petty thieves, cripples, whores, ladies and gentleman. It is all done very well and I don't think I've ever come out of a novel with a better picture of Victorian London. But a great novel must be much more than sights and sounds and plot and this novel just doesn't get there. Although the characters are realistically drawn there is no extra spark; there is no extra sense of revelation that one wishes for. Nothing about these average people is special, and, more importantly, the author gives us nothing to make them special to us. There is nothing truly insightful about any of them. This lack kills whatever thematic element the author was trying for also. The crimson and white petals of the title represent not only the flowers used in making Mr. Rackham's perfume, they also represent the major female characters of the novel: the crimson being the lusty, earthy, sensual-centered Sugar, the prostitute; and the white being the virginal, spiritual, mentally-wracked Agnes, the wife. Their lives as presented to us are utterly different from one another--in an England divided resolutely by class--from beginning to end. But so what? One is a prostitute, one is a society lady. Wouldn't one expect their lives to be different? What are we supposed to glean from this? That men are brutes? That even prostitutes can be good people? That the wealthy are not perfect? That the class system in England was unfair? My goodness, there's got to be more than this after eight-hundred pages, doesn't there? And Rackham's brother. He shows up, he hangs around, he disappears. Like everything else, what was his purpose? Again, what is the purpose of any of this? Most irritating of all and frankly insulting is the cheapo way the author brings us to the abrupt and unsatisfactory ending. We as readers are literally treated as if we are some john, with the novel being our illicit and shameful adventure. Shame, however, is not the emotion one comes away with after reading this, although one could certainly be forgiven if, after expending the tremendous amount of time and commitment this book requires, one feels a little cheated.
Rating:
Summary: So the Author Doesn't Spoon Feed Answers.....
Review: Well, good for him! Although this is an easy read (it's a compelling story and I read it in one sitting - a long sitting, but still) the author does his audience the credit of believing them to have intellectual curiosity. So, no, he doesn't give you chapter and verse on the motivations of his characters, he leaves you clues and assumes that you can interpret them as you choose. Hey, you've been warned - the author opens this book saying, "Watch you step. Keep you wits about you; you will need them." I thought the characters were fascinating. Why does Sugar help Agnes? Perhaps because she sees their similarities and views Agnes as being just as trapped by her position in life as Sugar is. Hmmm... doesn't sound like a one dimensional character at all. 833 of the best pages I've read in years. Savor them!
Rating:
Summary: Thank You Michel Faber
Review: Agressive, bold, erudite, and pithy (yes, even at 800+ pages) Michel Faber's novel scrubs the rouge from The Victorian Age. The detail is mindblowing, not just because of it's depth, but because of the skillful way he crafts the story. This novel is perfect for fans of historical novels, but no one should be scared off by it's 19th Century setting or it's trend-bucking length.
|
