Tipping the Velvet: A Novel by Sarah Waters
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Book Reviews of Tipping the Velvet: A Novel
Book Review: SUBVERSIVE, SHOCKING AND SINFULLY GOOD
Summary: 4 Stars
This epic tale of one girl's pursuit of what she calls "desperate pleasures" in the arms of a series of archetypical women is deliciously subversive, sinfully entertaining and filled with explicit, shocking sex scenes -- but underneath it all, "Tipping the Velvet" is really a big, old-fashioned, kind-hearted and beautifully realized romance. Made up of equal parts picaresque, without the satire or irony, bildungsroman and historical fiction, the novel traces the travels and sentimental education of a late 19th-century English country girl who starts out shucking oysters and eventually makes it big in the city as part of a cross-dressing stage act before arriving at a moment of spiritual awakening and an epiphany of social awareness. Along the way, the narrative hits all of the romance genre's usual plot points -- early heartbreak, plenty of misunderstandings in the middle passage, a final reunion -- but in writer Sarah Waters's hands, "Tipping the Velvet" comes to life with vivid period details and achingly real emotions. You can almost taste those Whitstable oysters! And if you're not sure what sex act the title refers to, you'll find out soon enough!Book Review: An engrossing tale
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a lavishly beautiful story that draws the reader in and doesn't let go until the immensely satisfying end. Highly recommended for fans of lesbian erotica, and those who don't yet know that they are!Book Review: Charming and completely absorbing of a search for love through the sexual underbelly of London that meanders down many roads
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on the cover I had always assumed this book was about lesbian strippers in the late 1800's. Well, I was wrong. It' actually more about-how to say it?-the kind of sexual underground of London. What wasn't seen by polite society or talked about-lesbians, rent boys (male prostitutes) women being kept by other women, cross dressing and plane of gay men.
Nancy Astley is a young girl working in her family's oyster house in Whitstable when her life is changed by an act at a nearby theater. The act is a woman named Kitty Butler who is a masher (a girl dressed as a boy) and Kitty brings about feelings that Nancy's never before experienced. Soon the two become friend and when Kitty's act garners more attention and moves to London, Nancy goes along as a dresser, now knowing the true nature of her love for Kitty.
But London life is anything but simple. Though happily Nancy discovers that her feelings are reciprocated by Kitty the others woman's caution and paranoia of discovery are quite at odds with Nancy's desires to love in the open. Things are only complicated when Walter, Kitty's agent who is quite in love with her, determines that Nancy, in gentleman's dress, is just the thing the act needs for success.
But things eventually change. Nancy finds herself in drastically different circumstances doing what she can to survive and exploring London's sexual underbelly. Can this once simple girl from Kent ever find what will make her happy-love that doesn't have to hide in the shadows?
This is an extremely good book but it's far different from the first novel I read by this author, "Affinity." Both are first person but that's were the similarity ends. Where "Affinity" alluded to sexual orientation and history of certain characters, "Tipping the Velvet" is explicit in the extreme. If you're not comfortable with very descriptive sexual descriptions of pretty much ever kind (all consensual though) of sexual act then this isn't the book for you. Even the title refers to-well, that's explained eventually.
Nancy is a charming narrator and character-just a girl trying to find her place in a world that isn't ready to except her as she really is. Overall this is a charming novel about a search for love that in the end crosses lines of sexual orientation and should appeal to a wide audience. While I can't say it's the best book I ever read, it is absorbing enough to read in two sittings and it certainly is in the list of books I would re-read.
Four stars.
Book Review: Tipping the Velvet
Summary: 5 Stars
I loooooooove this book. Lush, daring, exquisite writing and gripping plot, honestly, this is one of the best stories you'll ever read and you don't have to be 'that way' inclined either. Loved the miniseries as well. Beautiful.Book Review: WHAT A BORE...
Summary: 1 Stars
Waters has been touted as some sort of literary genius, but after reading her debut novel Tipping the Velvet, I guarantee I won't be searching out any subsequent Waters work. Not only is the story boring, but also utterly predictable. The supposedly spicy sex scenes are absolutely devoid of sensuality and proved to be the most ho-hum facet of this literary waste of time. Additionally, nearly every character in this book is unlikeable - particularly the so-called heroine. Not even worth borrowing from the library.