I'm a sucker for books about prostitutes. Most of the ones I've read, I've enjoyed. The Crimson Petal and the White by Michael Faber is no exception. I hated the first 20 pages or so, where the reader is encouraged to "follow" the characters to introduce them. Once I got past the awkwardness of that section, it improved tremendously.
Sugar is a prostitute in a brothel in the 19th century. She hates men and spends her time when she's not "working" writing a horrendous novel about a prostitute who also hates men and kills them. She quickly meets her benefactor, a rich man who fancies himself more interesting than he really is, William Rackham. Rackham becomes obsessed with Sugar and her sexual abilities and swoops in to rescue her from her current life, mostly because he feels that his life is so unpleasant. He has a sick wife, a daughter who he wishes was a son, a troubled brother and horrid friends. He places Sugar in an apartment and keeps her there like his pet. Eventually, Sugar moves in with him and becomes a nanny to his daughter. Over the course of the novel, Sugar becomes increasingly needy and spends her days waiting for Rackham to knock on her door and pay attention to her for a moment. It is impossible to not pity her as she struggles to align herself in this new world, and watch her struggle to place her past behind her.
There isn't much plot in the book, it's definitely character driven. It's more like a look into the lives of many people's lives that are intertwined. None of the characters are cookie cutters, as each continues to surprise as the book progresses. I swung between extreme like and dislike for each of them. It's a long book, 800 and some odd pages, but I wanted it to go indefinitely. Faber is a skilled author, who can be incredibly graphic with some of his descriptions, especially the sex scenes, but he colorfully portrays life in the 19th century.
0 comments:
Post a Comment