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A review by viiemzee
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
4.0
I fully read the book after watching the mini-series based on this book, which was very uncharacteristic of me. In my defence, I wasn’t aware of the book until I had already heard of the series and was way too impatient and really wanted to watch it first.
Somebody at university had told me that they thought the book was ‘too pornographic’. I’ll come back to that comment later, but I do remember thinking ‘Wow, what a prude’ at first, because I didn’t think it could be that bad.
I remember that one of my fist thoughts about the mini-series was that it was miles ahead of its time with its depiction of queer characters. I mean, there’s actual sex between two women happening, and considering that the series was out in 2002 that was a big deal.
But what is it about, you might be asking?
Well.
Tipping the Velvet is the story of Nancy, a young girl from Whitstable, a small fishing village in England. Her family owns an oyster house and she has spent her entire life so far working there. She knows more about oysters than she knows about anything else. But she also loves the theatre. Nancy’s sister is seeing a boy who works at the theatre and he often gets them free tickets to see shows. One particular show involves a cross-dressing woman named Kitty Butler, and Nancy falls in love. In a feverish move that only people falling in love for the first time would do, Nancy moves away with Kitty as her personal assistant, falling more and more in love with her, and eventually becoming a cross-dresser herself.
The story, while it can be seen as a story about first love and how it breaks your heart and how you come back from the pain of it, to me read more as a story of self-discovery. Nancy finds herself, finds out what she’s good at and learns how to make it work for herself. She falls in love, and in doing so starts to understand more about herself. She goes through the hardships of life and through the pain of leaving home and losing touch with your family and even through the confusion of leaving the quiet countryside for the city where everything feels so much larger and quicker.
Nancy’s story is so well told and well written. It’s a first-person story, and the way that Waters uses Nancy’s experiences to colour the way she sees things around her is so beautifully done. Nancy leaves no stone untouched, and she feels like a very reliable and safe narrator to listen to. Rarely do you feel, as you are reading, that Nancy is trying to trick you into believing a story that she is exaggerating or making up.
Which is what makes the sex scenes all the more jarring.
Before reading the book, as mentioned before, I did think that maybe whoever passed that comment was being rather prudish. After reading the book for myself, though, I can safely say that they were right.
While I don’t consider myself prudish, I do understand that sometimes ‘too much’ is a thing. And in this book’s case, it is ‘too much detail’. I really don’t need to know every single detail in Nancy’s sex life, but for some reason I can’t stop reading. But really, the whole thing reads as very well-written porn in some instances, which can make some readers uncomfortable (as it did for me).
All in all, I give this book a solider 4/5. The historical accuracy is all there, as is the clever innuendos and brilliant narration. Like I said, could have done without all the unnecessary sex scenes, but hey, to each their own. It’s a good book anyway.
Somebody at university had told me that they thought the book was ‘too pornographic’. I’ll come back to that comment later, but I do remember thinking ‘Wow, what a prude’ at first, because I didn’t think it could be that bad.
I remember that one of my fist thoughts about the mini-series was that it was miles ahead of its time with its depiction of queer characters. I mean, there’s actual sex between two women happening, and considering that the series was out in 2002 that was a big deal.
But what is it about, you might be asking?
Well.
Tipping the Velvet is the story of Nancy, a young girl from Whitstable, a small fishing village in England. Her family owns an oyster house and she has spent her entire life so far working there. She knows more about oysters than she knows about anything else. But she also loves the theatre. Nancy’s sister is seeing a boy who works at the theatre and he often gets them free tickets to see shows. One particular show involves a cross-dressing woman named Kitty Butler, and Nancy falls in love. In a feverish move that only people falling in love for the first time would do, Nancy moves away with Kitty as her personal assistant, falling more and more in love with her, and eventually becoming a cross-dresser herself.
The story, while it can be seen as a story about first love and how it breaks your heart and how you come back from the pain of it, to me read more as a story of self-discovery. Nancy finds herself, finds out what she’s good at and learns how to make it work for herself. She falls in love, and in doing so starts to understand more about herself. She goes through the hardships of life and through the pain of leaving home and losing touch with your family and even through the confusion of leaving the quiet countryside for the city where everything feels so much larger and quicker.
Nancy’s story is so well told and well written. It’s a first-person story, and the way that Waters uses Nancy’s experiences to colour the way she sees things around her is so beautifully done. Nancy leaves no stone untouched, and she feels like a very reliable and safe narrator to listen to. Rarely do you feel, as you are reading, that Nancy is trying to trick you into believing a story that she is exaggerating or making up.
Which is what makes the sex scenes all the more jarring.
Before reading the book, as mentioned before, I did think that maybe whoever passed that comment was being rather prudish. After reading the book for myself, though, I can safely say that they were right.
While I don’t consider myself prudish, I do understand that sometimes ‘too much’ is a thing. And in this book’s case, it is ‘too much detail’. I really don’t need to know every single detail in Nancy’s sex life, but for some reason I can’t stop reading. But really, the whole thing reads as very well-written porn in some instances, which can make some readers uncomfortable (as it did for me).
All in all, I give this book a solider 4/5. The historical accuracy is all there, as is the clever innuendos and brilliant narration. Like I said, could have done without all the unnecessary sex scenes, but hey, to each their own. It’s a good book anyway.