The Price of Salt, or Carol

This book is getting a lot of attention since the movie came out and I decided to read it before seeing the film.Patricia Highsmith is an amazing author, as some of her other books will attest to. Originally published in 1952 as The Price of Salt, its about two women who meet, fall in love, and while traveling cross country together realize what this might cost them, especially Carol. Carol is married and has a young daughter. In the midst of a divorce her husband has them followed while they travel, a detective gathering information that can be used against Carol in a custody battle. Carol, though in love with Terry, has everything to lose, he daughter being the most important.Therese is a 19 year old woman working in a department store toy department at Christmas time when Carol comes in to buy a doll as a gift for her daughter. Therese is immediately enraptured by the older, wealthy woman and a friendship then love affair begin. Therese is dating Richard whom she knows she doesn't love and is in the process of breaking away from.Because this is the 1950s same sex relationships weren't looked upon with the same openness they are now (or so I would have believed pre Kim Davis and the rest of the states passing anti LGBT legislation). In any case, Richard looks upon Therese with disgust after finding out about her and Carol, and Carol's husband is quick to use her relationship with Therese as a weapon.Lesbianism, though important to the story isn't really the entire story. Its a love story, two people meet, fall in love and have to deal with the consequences of that relationship. Though in the end we're treated to the possibility of a happy ending we see there is a price to pay for that happiness. Whether same sex or opposite sex, a lot of relationships come with consequences, and Carol and Therese are no exceptions. what they show though is an amazing strength to come out at a time when it was frowned upon.This book reminded of Payton Place. That book dealt with sex and such taboo topics as abortion and shocked America when it came out. I'm sure this book was also shocking in its own way.

This book had me captured from start to finish. It was an absolute melodramatic lesbian mess in all the best ways. This is a gritty noir romance of two women trapped in a patriarcical understanding of what love and friendship mean. Carol's aloof attitude is felt as strongly as if you were Therese. I was transported back to my angsty teenage lovey dovey ways in a way I never thought I could enjoy, yet I thoroughly enjoyed this book to the end.Also, the movie is fantastic!A warning, however, that there are a few minor grammatical and formatting errors in the Kindle edition.

I had just read a review in the NYTimes book review of a biography of Patricia Highsmith and the Price of Salt was mentioned as being somewhat of a story about herself. I purchased the book without any prior knowledge of the story or the author and was surprised, after reading the book, at the author's afterword. It really brought the story together and gave it meaning. It was story of a compulsiveness that was all consuming. I wish that the story did not end as there certainly was a lot more to say. It was written without any descriptive adjectives of the romantic encounters and left all details to the imagination. Well done ! It was a little slow developing, but the ending was superb. I particularly enjoyed the fashion in which the period was described, the subtleties of the characters involvement with each other, the boy friend who had difficulty coming to terms with Carol and Theresa's relationship, the kindly mother who tried to be a friend to Carol, and the husband of Carol who was out to be as cruel as possible to his wife. I enjoyed the book and am looking forward to reading more books by Patricia Highsmith. I am particularly interested in a biography, if one becames available.

An amazing depiction of the classic lesbian pulp novel. A ingenue. A villainous old woman leading her astray from her male love interest - with the promise of mother and nurturing. A male love interest offering the perfect life - his large, loving family, safety and home. Oh the rage I felt.Oh, Therese - how we can all see ourselves in you. The naïve young woman refusing to acknowledge your lack of experience. Your drive to become a successful set designer. Introvert yet drawn to strong personalities.Richard is every man a lesbian has dated - convinced he can be better than any woman, destructive and narcissist.Carol - offering care, understanding, stability and chaos.

Highsmith was certainly an accomplished writer, but this groundbreaking novel of lesbian love left much to be desired as to story content and character development. Her writing style was excellent; however, she never fully developed the protagonist Therese's character to a believable, realistic figure. Although she's to be described as an awkward individual, she never came to life to me.Additionally, how the immediate infatuation with Carol blossomed to true love is never explained. Perhaps the fact Highsmith had to skirt the intimate writing of their relationship was the missing link in fully exploring this odd fellow relationship.The ending is predictable, but no less puzzling in view of the story's shortcomings.

The Norton edition of this book carries a rather sinister description of it: a "story of sexual obsession".. of "stalking"... the inspiration for Nabokov's Lolita.Well. The Nabokov reference might do to catch an audience (it is what sparked my initial interest) but to sell this story as some quasi-erotic creepy tale of "sexual obsession" is wrong. There is a certain Highsmith-ian tenseness in the atmosphere but there's nothing else curious to such extremes (at least not on the part of the two women). No, The Price of Salt is a true romance. I'd even label it a bildungsroman before I would "crime" or "thriller"-- though it is thrilling.Really, this book requires no exaggerated marketing ploys or some vague tie ins to other novels. It has its own importance in literary history (what a courageous story to have told in the 50s! even still). While I disagree the ending is "happy" -- certainly more bittersweet, the tenderness and hopefulness is easily disarming and beautiful.Edit:I recommend the Norton edition for both digital and physical copies of the text. The Createspace and the Digital Pulps versions are horrific with awful formatting.

"I feel I stand in a desert with my hands outstretched, and you are raining down upon me." Many novelists have tried to capture the thrill of first love. It is, surely, the eternal subject, but also the one most likely to turn to cliché. Treat it too romantically, and you risk being sappy; too physically, and you risk losing the internal essence. So it is quite an achievement when Patricia Highsmith, writing in 1952, draws us into the heart of Therese Belivet, an aspiring stage designer in New York, in a dead-end relationship with a boyfriend, whose life is totally transformed when she meets somebody new. Highsmith beautifully captures her excitement at that first meeting, her disbelief that this could really be happening, her reluctance to put a name to her feelings, her outpouring of emotion in thoughts not spoken and letters not sent, the stabs of irrational jealousy -- all the way to eventual declaration, delirious acceptance, and the pain of the first real problems.A common enough story. But what makes Highsmith's version special is that Therese's love is not for a man but a woman. The book was published under a pseudonym, Claire Morgan; the subject was too risqué for its time, and her regular publishers rejected it. They had had a great success with Highsmith's first novel, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (which was later made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock), and wanted to promote her as a suspense writer. But even Highsmith's suspense books are novels first and genre pieces second; her work has always been distinguished by its psychological penetration. So although this book apparently became a lesbian cult classic, its importance has less to do with the titillation of its subject (and certainly not with its physical side) than with Highsmith's ability to cast new light on the old subjects of love, loyalty, and self-discovery.I have to say, though, that this leisurely book may disappoint readers looking for something more eventful. It is not, for instance, a suspense story, although there are hints that it might become one as Carol, Therese's new friend, takes her in a road trip across country, packing a revolver in her luggage, and trying to stay one step ahead of the private investigator hired by her estranged husband. The book jacket proclaims this as "the novel that inspired LOLITA," quoting Terry Castle in THE NEW REPUBLIC saying that "Highsmith was the first writer to mix roadside Americana, transgressive sex, and the impinging threat of a morals charge." But Highsmith is a much soberer writer than Nabokov, and what might have been transgressive then seems almost normal now. It is true that, as in most of her novels, Highsmith brings her characters to the point of questioning or even discarding their moral assumptions, but that is a common characteristic of fine fiction. So far from treating abnormal behavior, she has found a way to portray ordinary life experiences as an achingly immediate part of our moral universe.

I was always a little reluctant to read this novel because I've never been into romantic novels. However, I like Patricia Highsmith's books, so I decided to go for it after being in my bookcase for a year.What a fine novel! There's the apprehension typical in Highsmith's books. Therese is a character in crisis. I admit that she comes off as a bit naive and infantile now and again, but one of the points of this novel is to show Therese's coming of age without making it a cliche. In the book, she grows from an insecure and naive girl into a woman who knows what she wants and embraces who she is.I wish the ending of this novel weren't of common knowledge. I would've enjoyed it so much more if I'd not known how it ended, but that never stopped me from feeling intrigued and hooked up by the plot. I've just finished it and I still feel under the spell of this fine book.I do admit that Carol and Therese should've interacted more or have more meaningful dialogues. Sometimes, I felt as if they had a crush on each other, the way teenagers do, rather than actually being in love."The Price of Salt" is among my favorite books along with "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train".

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I really liked the writers attention to detail. Finished it in two days.

Fantastico

Boa oferta

Esta nueva edición es de colección por la referencia a su adaptación al cine, que se ubica como una de las mejores, magistralmente llevada por Todd Haynes. Fue un suceso exultante para mí que la novela Carol, que es mi favorita, haya sido adaptada al cine. Una historia de amor entre mujeres sutil, calmada pero intensa en muchos momentos. Es exquisita la narración de los momentos de muestras de amor y eróticos entre Carol y Therese. De temática lésbica, esta novela es la mejor (quizá las novelas de Sarah Waters estén a su nivel). Como narradora, Highsmith es aguda, inteligente, sobria. Los indicios de las emociones y características que ofrece de los personajes, los lleva a ser más verosímiles ante la mirada de quien lee y al mismo tiempo deja abierta a la interpretación, a la construcción propia del lector, el personaje completo, o bien los mantiene en esa línea del misterio y la insondabilidad. Carol es una mujer insondable. Leerla en español fue una experiencia profunda y placentera, en su idioma original aún más.