Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - Tipping the Velvet

By and large I absolutely loved this book! Tipping the Velvet was advertised to me as a lesbian cult classic from 1998, and honestly, what more could you ask for? Between the evocative writing, the victorian setting, and the heavy focus on gender roles, betrayal, lust, and love I was hooked from beginning to end.

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bdingz's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This is my first book by Sarah Waters and I don’t think it will be the last. I sometimes struggle with historical fiction featuring queer characters because I always have this sense they must be doomed somehow, but this story depicts joy as much as ut does despair. Some parts dragged a little, in my opinion, but it was almost autobiographical in style so I understand why it was as long and detailed as it was.

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ranbara's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

oh.. this is the book of all time. to be a tom from whitstable in 1888..

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thelaurasaurus's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

A saucy lesbian romp around Victorian London, let down by a cast of characters who were either unlikeable or underwhelming. I’ve read and enjoyed three other Sarah Waters books, so I was surprised at how much of a slog this, her first novel, was. In some ways it felt like a series of set pieces rather than a fully formed story. In fact it was the final scene, spread across a day at a socialist rally, that saved it from a 2-star rating.

I read the 20th anniversary edition, published in 2018, and it was interesting to read the new afterword, where Waters raises all of my complaints and more. I hadn’t thought of a novel as a snapshot of a period of an authors life in the way she describes it, so that was an interesting new perspective.

If you’re looking to get into Sarah Waters, then The Night Watch, set in London during WWII, is my favourite.

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skywhales's review against another edition

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emotional funny reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

well, i think to myself as i spot this in the used books section of one of my favorite bookstores, everyone puts sarah waters at the top of their lists of great lesbian writers. may as well give her a shot sometime, right?

my only regret is i didn't do it sooner.

this might just be my new favorite historical fiction novel (though to be fair it's not a genre i read all that often, so the competition is slim). (also as i write this i realize i forgot about carter the great. sorry man you're still like hella up there.) admittedly it does start off slow, and i didn't find nancy very likable at first. her infatuation with kitty to the point of neglecting her family really rubbed me the wrong way. though as i kept reading i figured the Point of her is she's not all that likable. sarah waters even says so in her notes at the end. she's kinda cocky and annoying and sometimes lacking in common sense, but even as i hate her i still find her a deeply entertaining protagonist. and i still do Want her to find happiness!

once the plot gets going it really hooks you. you're on this wild ride through victorian london through all the gritty, weird, sometimes sexy places that nan visits on her travels. i don't know how much of this was historically accurate, but i do know that all of it was very very fun. i learned a lot more about oyster preparation than i ever thought i would. and loads about the victorian lesbian scene, which i maybe could have predicted myself taking an interest in at some point in my life.

idk what to say about this that hasn't already been said, to be honest. the romance aspects, which can so easily make or break even a lesbian book for me, felt so fully realized and beautiful (or ugly, at times). the sex was. well. i ain't complaining.

now to add every sarah waters book to my tbr

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juliastern__'s review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny lighthearted sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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clover_patch_story's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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