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Polka Dot Rock

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Posts posted by Polka Dot Rock

    Five facts...

    in General Chat

    Posted

    1. I'm an only child (and glad of it!)

     

    2. I'm actually blonde but have been dying my hair red for so long now (since I was 14), that I can't think of myself as any other colour!

     

    3. I consider myself a Feminist - it's one of the few beliefs I have :roll:

     

    4. I've never really 'fitted in' anywhere, yet I'm still very sociable and friendly B)

     

    5. I'm insanely geeky yet no-one can tell as I don't look it :) (even my glasses look preeeetty damn cool). I love clothes and funky make up :D

    Polka's Chunky Choices

    in Reading Challenges

    Posted

    The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

     

    Started 17/05/2007 - Finished __/__/2007

     

    Paperback: 894 pages

    Publisher: Canongate Books Ltd; New Ed edition (30 Sep 2003)

    Language English

    ISBN-10: 1841954314

    ISBN-13: 978-1841954318

     

    Although it's billed as "the first great 19th-century novel of the 21st century," The Crimson Petal and the White is anything but Victorian. It's the story of a well-read London prostitute named Sugar, who spends her free hours composing a violent, pornographic screed against men. Michel Faber's dazzling second novel dares to go where George Eliot's The Mill on the Floss and the works of Charles Dickens could not. We learn about the positions and orifices that Sugar and her clients favour, about her lingering skin condition, and about the suspect ingredients of her prophylactic douches. Still, Sugar believes she can make a better life for herself.

    When she is taken up by a wealthy man, the perfumer William Rackham, her wings are clipped and she must balance financial security against the obvious servitude of her position. The physical risks and hardships of Sugar's life (and the even harder "honest" life she would have led as a factory worker) contrast--yet not entirely--with the medical mistreatment of her benefactor's wife, Agnes, and beautifully underscore Faber's emphasis on class and sexual politics. In theme and treatment, this is a novel that Virginia Woolf might have written, had she been born 70 years later. The language, however, is Faber's own--brisk and elastic--and, after an awkward opening, the plethora of detail he offers (costume, food, manners, cheap stage performances, the London streets) slides effortlessly into his forward-moving sentences.

    Despite its 800-plus pages, The Crimson Petal and the White turns out to be a quick read, since it is truly impossible to put down.

     

    * * *

     

    Gripping from the first page, this immense novel is an intoxicating and deeply satisfying read. Faber's most ambitious fictional creation yet, it is sure to affirm his position as one of the most talented and brilliant writers working in the UK. Sugar, an alluring, nineteen-year-old 'lady of the night' in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs Castaway, yearns for a better life. Her ascent through the strata of 1870's London society offers us intimacy with a host of loveable, maddening and superbly realised characters. At the heart of this panoramic, multi-layered narrative is the compelling struggle of a young woman to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. The Crimson Petal and the White is a big, juicy, must-read of a novel that will delight, enthral, provoke and entertain young and old, male and female.

     

    Well I'm only 250 pages through but WOW. Seriously, WOW.

     

    Where to begin? For starters I can't remember reading an opening quite as striking as Crimson Petal's is, and this hugh performing beginning has, thus far, been maintained throughout.

     

    It's like all the Victorian-era literature we love but with all the manky/scandalous/sweary bits left in :roll: Plus all beautifully written!

     

    I'm really enjoying it so far - it's incredibly readable, beautifully written (the details are exquisite!) yet very, very funny and bawdy. Actually, it's incredibly graphic in parts (as part of it is set in a brothel) - my eyes nearly popped out a couple of times towards the end of the first part! (Like this: B), lol!) But it's all part of the narrative and the sense of the novel being what Victorian writers couldn't actually write, yet must have known went on, at the time. Faber takes on a bit of a Thackeray narrative persona too, which I just love.

     

    I can't wait to get back to reading it!

    Daphne du Maurier

    in The Classics

    Posted

    For any really big fans of Daphne Du Maurier our there, a book of essays has just been published called The Daphne Du Maurier Companion... I am mainly interested in this book because its editor - Helen Taylor - was my PhD supervisor. She was brilliant, so out of loyalty I am planning to get it and, because she has helped me so much, I thought it would be nice if I could give her a bit of a plug...! :lol:

     

    Hey Amy! (Hey, another Amy... is that allowed?! ;):)). I really fancy getting hold of the companion as I enjoy reading criticism on DdM - it really deepens her work.

     

    So Helen Taylor was your supervisor? That's amazing! (On a nosey tip: what was your PhD topic?)

    Polka Dot Rock's Books of 2007: Part 2

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I've reserved a copy of The Crimson Petal and the white from the library. Looking forward to reading it.
    A contender for a Chunky Challenge - that would make me read it. It sounds good - I'm off to add it to LibraryThing.

     

    Hey great stuff guys! :) I'm really enjoying it so far - it's incredibly readable, beautifully written (the details are exquisite!) yet very, very funny and bawdy. Actually, it's incredibly graphic in parts (as part of it is set in a brothel) - my eyes nearly popped out a couple of times towards the end of the first part! (Like this: ;), lol!) But it's all part of the narrative and the sense of the novel being what Victorian writers couldn't actually write, yet must have known went on, at the time.

    Polka Dot Rock's Books of 2007: Part 2

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    I'm really looking forward to reading this now. I've added it to my wish list. You sell books well!! You should go in to book marketing ;)

     

    Why thank you! :) I did do marketing for a bit but loathed it... However, I wouldn't mind marketing books - think of the freebies!!

     

    It is a very absorbing read :lol:

    Polka Dot Rock's Books of 2007: Part 2

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Judy - I read the first chapter last night and it is absolutely stunning. I can't remember reading an opening quite as striking as it is! Extremely promising: I can't wait to get back to reading it!

     

    It's like all the Victorian-era literature we love but with all the manky/scandalous/sweary bits left in ;) Plus all beautifully written!

     

    Faber takes on a bit of a Thackeray narrative persona too, which I just love.

    Linda321's reading list/blog

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    An autobiography in six acts - Jack Rosenthal

     

    Is this the man married to Maureen Lipman who wrote 'The Evacuees' among others? If so must also look for a copy. ;)

     

    It is, yes: I read it last year and absolutely loved it. I'm not a biography lover but Rosenthal was such a great writer that I really wanted to know more. Highly recommend it (tho' I cried buckets at the end!)

    Polka Dot Rock's Books of 2007: Part 2

    in Past Book Logs

    Posted

    Late last night, I finished My Cousin Rachel: the conclusion was brilliant - I think it's one of the best last lines I've ever read! I think it's one of those novels you really appreciate after you've read it. Thinking back to it, the atmosphere was really claustrophobic and, well, just plain weird (in a good way). Phillip was an excellent character, charming yet a pretty horrendous human being! He really had a fear of women, lol.

     

    I've now placed The Crimson Petal and The White by Michel Faber by my bed, ready to begin. I'm really looking forward to reading it - I've been intrigued by it for years so 'touch-wood' that it lives up to its promise!

    The Bronte sisters

    in The Classics

    Posted

    Jane Eyre is definitely one of my favourite books, as is Wuthering Heights. I have Villette on my TBR shelves - I've heard mixed opinion on it: it's meant to be very melancholic, bordering on depressing! But I still really want to read it :) ('Depressing' has never put me off a book, unless someone say's "this is so awful, it made me depressed knowing someone had bothered to write it" ;))

    Reading Mojo?

    in General Book Discussions

    Posted

    I've lost the reading bug at the moment, but I think that is probably due to most of my time being taken up by revision. Once I have spent most of the day revising, I usually don't feel like reading anything else.

     

    I'll probably get back to reading once the exams are over.

     

    Oh yes Liz, that's completely normal - I used to feel like my brain would explode if I tried to read anything on top of my revision!

     

    But it's amazing how you soon want to get back to reading - especially since it's of your own choice ;)

    Daphne du Maurier

    in The Classics

    Posted

    I am halfway through 'Rebecca', initially I thought I would not enjoy it but I am really getting into it now. Thanks for the recommendation Aimz.

    :):D

     

    Cheers Paula ;) Glad you're enjoying it. When they first start reading Rebecca, I think everybody (including me) thinks "Hmm... This isn't going anywhere". Then it does and is brilliant. Weird isn't it?

    Daphne du Maurier

    in The Classics

    Posted

    With watching the drama and currently reading My Cousin Rachel, I can see Amy Jenkins lifted whole junks from that novel and plonked them into her screenplay! ;) It actually makes reading it even more interesting, as the bits that correspond to her life are now obvious.

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