Rating: 
Summary: A great read
Review: This book was long and a little difficult to follow, because the era written about and the slang used, but well worth it! I really enjoyed this book. Faber does such an excellent job of describing his characters, sites of the city, sounds and even smells. I could almost smell, the urine in the slums, and the lilac in the fields. What a beautifully haunting and rich story. Do not read if you are offended by lewd language and actions, this novel is very graphic. Only one problem, the ending! Anyone who has read it understands, but don't let this stop you from enjoying this masterpiece.
Rating: 
Summary: Unworthy
Review: I did not appreciate the device of being addressed by the storyteller. I kept wanting to shout back, "Stop talking to me and get on with the story!". While there were several chunks that were deliciously engrossing, the ending falls painfully flat, completely unworthy of the time invested in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful
Review: This was probably one of the best books I have ever read. You will not be able to put it down! I felt so sad when it was over - what a masterpiece!
Rating: 
Summary: Terribly Disapopinting
Review: "Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them." The opening lines warn the reader well. I certainly needed my wits and perseverence as well to get through the 898 pages of this book. I feel misled by the customer and book reviews for this novel as I found most of the characters unappealing and the plot aimless after the first half of the book. The time period and the raw, graphic description of the life and times in the sordid sections of Victorian London is compelling. However, except for Sugar, the Rackham characters (family, servents, etc.) are extremely weak and unappealing. If they are indeed representative of the norm for that time, it is a miracle England survived to the 21st century as a superpower. For a far shorter (and less painful) depiction of similar time and circumstances I would suggest the Dress Lodger.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a Male World View
Review: I love historical novels both those written in previous eras and those by contemporary authors. I eagerly started this book thinking it really might be another Middlemarch. Hah! This is so far from George Eliot, as to make it astounding such a comparison could have been made by anyone. George Eliot wrote about interesting and even inspiring women who may well have been mired in the traps of their social circumstances, but who nevertheless displayed courage, fortitude and faith. They aspired to transcend these difficulties. Her novels had three dimensional characters with both admirable and reprehensible characterisitics. This novel pretends to be Dickens or Zola-like in examining the plight of those of this era whether of high or low station-- especially the women prostitutes or upper class women. But this is a guy's view of the world. NONE of the characters are the least bit appealing and all of the licentiousness and semi-pornographic material about as one reviewer put it "bodily fluids" becomes precisely like parts of a blue movie-- boring and just a matter of body parts being inserted into various orifices. I started skipping these pointless scenes early on in search of a plot only to realize as another reviewer pointed out that there isn't one! There is no character development either. And the constant intrusion of the "authorial voice" admonishing the reader is extremely irritating. There are no profound insights into human nature or even the nature of victim, abuser, or rescuer. He has nothing to say except perhaps: life is sh-- and you just have to accept it and he will describe as many varieties as possible. Profoundly disappointing. Okay the guy can write good prose-- but to think that he spent years of his life engaged in wallowing in the mire of this world he has created! I strongly advise women readers to look elsewhere for both entertainment and insight.
Rating:
Summary: If you are looking to read about fascinating characters...
Review: If you are looking to read about fascinating characters, this may be the book for you. I could hardly put it down and read the entire 900 pages in record time. The fact that most of the characters are rather pitiful and even unlikable doesn't change the fact: I wanted to know more about them.Days after finishing the book, I woke up in the morning thinking about some of the symbolism I had originally read over and missed. (Probably because I was racing through!) I couldn't stop thinking about it and even had to go through with a pencil and high-light passages and take notes. It's seemingly simple plot and disgusting characters gave me a lot to think about.
Rating:
Summary: Not done with the book yet, but had to write a rewview
Review: I dont even care how the book ends, this has been a very enjoyable read so far. It is not only entertaining, but informative. You really feel like you are in the 19th c.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, but a tad on the long side
Review: I mean, I love long books; that's not an issue when every word counts. But this otherwise lush and engrossing book could have been trimmed by 200+ pages and actually been better. What is it with New York editors these days? Don't they 'edit' any more?
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the play?
Well, it's a terrific read, that's what it is. What we have here is a New Age Victorian novel that in those high-Victorian days might have qualified as soft porn. It's delightful, entrancing, and absolutely spellbinding. Sugar, the prostitute/protagonist, spares no details as we watch, like voyeurs, her inimitable story unfold. Nothing is spared.
All my friends have read this, passing the book on from person to person at the gym, the mom's groups, the doctor's office, and they all say the same thing, "You HAVE to read this."
It's true: you do.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book, i stayed up way too late reading it
Review: I loved this book. The opening pages are wonderful and very clever. The story shows the overlap in life of many many characters and how lust, greed, selfishness can change lives as well as the power that trust and love have in someone's life. I was disappointed in the ending, after 894 pages of exquisite, sometimes painful detail, the ending seemed more fitting to a short story then a full-length novel. I drifted off to sleep 'completing' the stories of the character in my mind. Perhaps he's setting the stage for a sequel, but I wanted to know more about what happened to the memorable characters.
Rating:
Summary: VERY disappointing
Review: This book has one of the best opening chapters of any book I've read lately. It also has one of the worst endings of any book I've ever read, period. Don't get me wrong: I love historic fiction, I enjoy so-called "slice of life" books. I even like books that leave a million questions unanswered. While Sugar is a great character, I grew very tired of and frustrated with everyone in the Rackham household, except Sophie. If you want to read great fiction set in this time period, try "Tipping the Velvet" or "Fingersmith" both by Sarah Waters.
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