The Crimson Petal and the White

Just finished reading this monster of a read; I will say, I know that I could have burned through it a lot faster than the pace I was going at. At the same time, Crimson Petal and the White had so many unexpectancies that by the time I read the last sentence, I wanted more.

The Crimson Petal and the White focuses on a prostitute in 1870s London named Sugar. She is good at what she does, and it is not just the obvious thing; she has the intellect to keep up with men in conversation and the wit to keep them coming back, making her the greatest thing since sliced bread. One man in particular, a William Rackham, becomes so enthralled with her that he does all he can to keep her strictly to himself. Basically, it is about a prostitute who climbs the social ladder.

One thing that I wanted to keep in mind while reading is the continual comparison to how things are looked at culturally: treatment of men vs treatment of women, opinions of prostitution then vs how someone who behaves in that way is seen as now, mental health then vs mental health now, etc. Crimson Petal had this thing going for it that would lead you to think that this will wind up with a happy ending for all. Hell no. Spoiler, but man, everyone just gets screwed over in more ways than one. Honestly, when you are a young reader and you hear about all the love stories from the 1800s and all that romanticism… yeah, that is a sack full of heathen lies, ha-ha. I really doubt that any woman post 1960s would really want to go back and live in this time period; I can imagine the modern feminists response if they went back… I digress. Seriously, it really makes me thankful for being in the time I am now.

I hated William, I really did; from the moment I imagined his likeness, and when he meets Sugar, and their affair blowing up… I just sensed that his demeanor and this rich guy entitlement was only going to escalate to an all-around nasty piece of filth. I felt horrible for Agnes and the way he treated her; yes, it was common for married couples to behave like they did, but every time I would stop reading her sections where they interacted I would just get this bad taste in my mouth. Spoiler All in all, I am glad William got what he deserved. Comeuppance.

I guess then that that is how the author gets you, so I also guess this is where I am once again humbled by how good a book turns out overall. It irritated me from the get-go the lengths that Faber went to make sure the reader knew that you were reading in second-person. By the time you are done with the first third of Crimson Petal Faber stops the massive effort, but I did not let it go because for me it was not moving the story along. That first third was painful; on top of the efforts to make second-person view known, it seemed really bogged down with descriptions of things that, again, did not help push the story along. Side note, doing these reviews are really making me consider what kind of reader I am; clearly, I do not like to mess around with big introductions of characters and the setting; okay, tap back in.

I think all in all I would read this again, especially if I am looking for something to be angry about. Nobody is innocent in The Crimson Petal and the White, let me tell you, except maybe Mrs. Fox. She was a gem. I would recommend this for someone who is looking for a longer read and wants to practice looking at things objectively when it comes to human behavior and culture. It definitely has potential to bring discussion.

If you are interested in checking out The Crimson Petal and the White, you can find it here.

9/10