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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Iconic. I went in with few expectations and came away captivated by how complex and nebulous the characters and their relationships were at the same time. Obsession, infatuation, and age-gap power dynamics are portrayed really well. While I wished the narrator's growth had been explored more deeply toward the end, it felt raw and authentic, reflecting her youth and the tumult of self-discovery and the messiness of their relationship.
emotional
hopeful
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
didn’t quite live up to the hype for me but this part resonated a lot:
“Was life, were human relations like this always, Therese wondered. Never solid ground underfoot. Always like gravel, a little yielding, noisy so the whole world could hear, so one always listened, too, for the loud, harsh step of the intruder's foot.”
“Was life, were human relations like this always, Therese wondered. Never solid ground underfoot. Always like gravel, a little yielding, noisy so the whole world could hear, so one always listened, too, for the loud, harsh step of the intruder's foot.”
Boring AF. No chemistry between the main characters Carol is a bitch.
This book was an absolute rollercoaster. It was one of the first queer books I’d ever read in my life. At time it’d left me yearning for Carol and Thereses love. The moments where it’d seemed like the world had faded away and it was just the two of them. All of the outside factors that had been destined to destroy them didn’t matter in those moments. While other times I felt pity for them, their love had to be hidden, concealed through small glances and slight touches of the hand in public. Felt like they were denied the right to outwardly love each other, while it seemed like apprehension and inner repression prevented Carol.
This book ignited my love for Billie Holiday, and I highly recommend listening to Easy living during its mentioning in the story it makes it 10x better.
This book ignited my love for Billie Holiday, and I highly recommend listening to Easy living during its mentioning in the story it makes it 10x better.
3.5
A ver jajaj si considero la época en que se escribió este libro tiene hartos méritos. Hablar de una pareja de lesbianas, su historia y con el final que tuvo rompía muchas creencias, por así decirlo, que habían en esos años.
Pero a mí parecer no envejeció bien este libro, me pareció un romance muy superficial. Pasan tantas cosas, un viaje, problemas,etc que pudieron tener mayor realce mostrar mejor como era toda la situación, pero se quedó por encimita. Ni siquiera se pueden conocer bien a los personajes.
A Carol le pasó algo pero tampoco me lo deja claro.
En fin una no fue una mala lectura pero es olvidable, en mi opinión.
A ver jajaj si considero la época en que se escribió este libro tiene hartos méritos. Hablar de una pareja de lesbianas, su historia y con el final que tuvo rompía muchas creencias, por así decirlo, que habían en esos años.
Pero a mí parecer no envejeció bien este libro, me pareció un romance muy superficial. Pasan tantas cosas, un viaje, problemas,etc que pudieron tener mayor realce mostrar mejor como era toda la situación, pero se quedó por encimita. Ni siquiera se pueden conocer bien a los personajes.
Spoiler
Therese tuvo una evolución pero fue tan precipitada que ni tiempo tuve para asimilarla.A Carol le pasó algo pero tampoco me lo deja claro.
En fin una no fue una mala lectura pero es olvidable, en mi opinión.
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I don't think this is a story of "erotic obsession," as the summary claims. I think this is a gentle and interesting love story between two women, Therese and Carol. Therese is only 19 when their love affair begins, and the book is redolent with symbolic reminders of her youth: a hot mug of milk requested before bed, disappointment with the everyday banalities of life, naive about the consequences of her sexuality. Therese has a boyfriend, Richard, and Carol has a husband and a daughter, but Carol is in the midst of a divorce and Therese was always honest to Richard about how she held no love for him in her heart. They embark on a road trip together, supported from afar by Carol's best friend and former lover, Abby. Soon Abby informs them that Carol's husband - who knows about Carol and Abby's past - is having them traced by a detective - but they decide to keep driving together, keep sleeping together. Eventually their affair comes to light and Carol's husband utilizes her sexuality as leverage for full custody of their daughter. Carol and Therese choose each other, in the end.
There's a lot of mommy issues that crop up in this book. Carol is a great deal older than Therese, and Therese was rejected by her own mother at the age of 14. There's a bit about Therese being "born again" at the ending of the novel, a sort of coming into her sexuality and love for Carol, but it feels misplaced: more like a strange acknowledgement of Therese's immaturity than a transformation. Carol puts Therese to bed, provides money in the relationship, drives. Therese wears immature clothes, has a job that isn't a job, and fritters her time away with a boyfriend she doesn't love.
Yet the story feels real, raw, and revelatory. What is life, without salt? Without being able to look at the woman you want to look at?
There's a lot of mommy issues that crop up in this book. Carol is a great deal older than Therese, and Therese was rejected by her own mother at the age of 14. There's a bit about Therese being "born again" at the ending of the novel, a sort of coming into her sexuality and love for Carol, but it feels misplaced: more like a strange acknowledgement of Therese's immaturity than a transformation. Carol puts Therese to bed, provides money in the relationship, drives. Therese wears immature clothes, has a job that isn't a job, and fritters her time away with a boyfriend she doesn't love.
Yet the story feels real, raw, and revelatory. What is life, without salt? Without being able to look at the woman you want to look at?
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Stalking, Lesbophobia
Minor: Biphobia, Panic attacks/disorders, Outing
3.5 stars -- this was such a clearly articulated story of first love, obsessive infatuation, and yearning. And for all those reasons, it's also why it fell a tad short for me. Perhaps because I am now Carol's age and not Therese's (and the book really is more of a portrait study of Therese than Carol, actually), I found myself *understanding* Therese's motivations and feelings but being very frustrated by them as well. The intensity of her adoration feels like it's turned onto the reader, somewhat. I felt I understood Carol's frustrations and her annoyance because I was living it somehow as well.
As always, Highsmith's prose keeps you captivated to the very end. And there is a complexity to all of the characters here, even ones that in less deft hands would read very flat and one-dimensional. The road trip at first felt a little long but then I think I realized that maybe maddening back and forth across the country was part of the point! Highsmith is mostly known for her crime writing after all, she definitely knows how to dial up the tension.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally read it and that it *wasn't* my first Highsmith. I'm actually really looking forward to diving back into her crime fiction, which is something that I never would've guessed.
As always, Highsmith's prose keeps you captivated to the very end. And there is a complexity to all of the characters here, even ones that in less deft hands would read very flat and one-dimensional. The road trip at first felt a little long but then I think I realized that maybe maddening back and forth across the country was part of the point! Highsmith is mostly known for her crime writing after all, she definitely knows how to dial up the tension.
Anyway, I'm glad I finally read it and that it *wasn't* my first Highsmith. I'm actually really looking forward to diving back into her crime fiction, which is something that I never would've guessed.