Tipping the Velvet: A Novel by Sarah Waters
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Book Reviews of Tipping the Velvet: A Novel
Book Review: New Favorite Author!
Summary: 5 Stars
Usually I pick up a book with about 500 or so pages, and six months later I trudge to the finish. This book, however, took only one short week of sheer addiction to complete! As previously stated in other reviews, Sarah Waters is like air to read and keeps the momentum streaming to a triumphant end. If you have forgotten how to love, how to make love, how to romance, how it was before we were so jaded by love, please, let Sarah remind you.
Nan King/Nancy Astley/Tom Kitty is a wonderful, unsung hero. As I flipped page after page, I could not help indentifying so much of myself with her. Starting with her pre-theater life, reminding us of those first budding crushes, so innocent and sweet. Moving into an intense and awkward relationship, leading to, well, the usual. And while I have never been a "renter", I understand how easily she got to that point. And I'm sure anyone who's felt even mildly repressed by their love, only to be betrayed will feel a twinge of WWE-like feeling. I myself let a few explicatives fly from my mouth while reading. My only disappointment, the book should end too quickly. And hey, where's my Diana!?!
Book Review: Absolutely Brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
The narrator, Nan, has spent all her life working for her family in a restaurant peeling and cooking oysters. When Kitty Butler begins putting on an act at a nearby music hall, Nan never misses a show. She is captivated by Kitty and unable to take her eyes away.
Kitty and Nan meet and become very close friends, almost like sisters. Deep inside Nan hold's a secret close to her heart that she wouldn't dare tell a soul -- she's in love with Kitty. Her family is thrilled with her new friend, all except for her sister Alice who is suspicious of the budding relationship. When Kitty makes the decision to move to London to perform, she asks Nan to go with her. Despite how much her family will miss her, Nan chooses to go.
The story continues to show the devloping romance between Kitty and Nan that grows into a deep love and sexual relationship -- all until someone gets hurt. The next seven years of Nan's life are her hardest ever. She must learn lessons and experience trials and tribulations that all must endure in order to understand and appreciate life.
This beautifully written treasure chest of entertainment was one I accidentally came across and never expected to actually read. I picked it up one day out of bordom and was finished reading it within 48 hours. The story is so intricate and captivating that you absolutely cannot put it down. It is a love story that anyone who has ever fallen passionately in love with someone can relate to. Nan and Kitty's story through adolescence, growth, heartbreak, pain, love, and new beginnings is one that you will always remember. A must read for the lover of any genre.
Book Review: Highly recommended!
Summary: 5 Stars
Oh, Sarah Waters, how I love thee! I've rarely read a book so fast. This one was 472 pages and I devoured in about five hours. I got it from the library, to be honest. I wish I'd bought it, so I could lend it, but who would I lend it to, considering what it's about? It's something of a historical novel, set in the late 1800's, about a girl born to a oystering family in Britain. Are you yawning? Don't. She becomes involved in the stage. Boring? Not just any stage... but masher shows. Masher means girls-dressed-as-gents, pretending gallantry, singing saucy numbers full of innuendo, swinging canes. Our heroine falls for one of these "masher" girls and in doing so slowly, and without any education or vocabulary, unearths her own lesbianism. The plot is just fantastically interesting, and erotic in places, and completely full of 1890's jargon, sights, and sounds. The sexual nature of the book's theme is both understated, almost accidental, and completely central. Women dressed as men, women passing as men... I've never seen a treatment so lavish and so practical. I'm already browsing Amazon looking for used copies of her other books. This one was the author's first novel and is highly acclaimed. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of her work. Sarah Waters! I've never heard of her before! I picked the book because of its interesting cover and the fact it was highly reviewed by The New York Times Book Review; I didn't even know what it was about. I love not knowing what a book is about, when I start to read it. I love trying to figure out where the author is going. I love not being able to guess or unpuzzle it too quickly. I avoid reading the inside covers, I don't read the summaries, or the back covers, sometimes I don't even read the content of the review - only check good/bad and the review's origin - I don't want to spoil it by knowing anything else. This book rewarded me. (P.S. I just found out that in Britain the book was so popular they made the whole thing into a BBC television mini-series! It's ordered on NetFlix already. I WANT IT. It's funny how something can exist for so long, and be so popular, and there's always the day you hear about it for the first time.)Book Review: Damn sexy
Summary: 5 Stars
Before I go into my thoughts on Tipping... I noticed a reviewer who suspects Sarah Waters of really being a man. In case anyone else is curious, I can confirm that she is female! I've twice worked at author events of hers, and she is most definately a woman (and a lesbian as if you needed telling!) Anyway. I really enjoyed this book. Apart from having a wonderfully readable prose style. Waters is a master of structure and plot - the story mixes erotica, sentimentality, darkness, humour and growth perfctly, and never repeats its own ideas.
The characters are like all Waters' characters in that they risk being dislikable, but always end up winning you over. Nan as the narrator is a wonderful character to take the reader through the sexual underworlds of Victorian London.
However, if you find you like this book don't expect Waters' other two to be similar! Affinity and Fingermith are involved, moody, dark and complicated, both employing elements of mystery (with big ol' twists). HAving said that - give Fingersmith a try: I loved it even more than Tipping.
Book Review: One of the best novels I have ever read
Summary: 5 Stars
I absolutely loved this book. It is a story of first love, of sexual awakening and exploration, and of true love. Extremely well written - a great plot and excellent prose. The author brings turn of the century England to vibrant life - as if you could taste, touch, and smell it. Both erotic and touching, I could not put this book down. Among the best novels I have ever read ... definitely my favorite.