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The Price of Salt Carol

Highsmith, Patricia, 1921-1995. Book - 1990 Fiction / Highsmith, Patricia, Adult Book / Fiction / Classic / Highsmith, Patricia 2 On Shelf No requests on this item Community Rating: 3.7 out of 5

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Call Number: Fiction / Highsmith, Patricia, Adult Book / Fiction / Classic / Highsmith, Patricia
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

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Adult Book / Fiction / Classic / Highsmith, Patricia 4-week checkout Due 04-03-2024

"First published in the USA by The Naiad Press, Tallahassee, FL, in 1952 ... first published as a Norton paperback 2004"--T.p. verso.
"Published in Great Britain under the title Carol."--T.p. verso.
From the Publisher: "I have long had a theory that Nabokov knew The Price of Salt and modeled the climactic cross-country car chase in Lolita on Therese and Carol's frenzied bid for freedom," writes Terry Castle in The New Republic about this novel, arguably Patricia Highsmith's finest, first published in 1952 under the pseudonym Clare Morgan. Soon to be a new film, The Price of Salt tells the riveting story of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, whose salvation arrives one day in the form of Carol Aird, an alluring suburban housewife in the throes of a divorce. They fall in love and set out across the United States, pursued by a private investigator who eventually blackmails Carol into a choice between her daughter and her lover. With this reissue, The Price of Salt may finally be recognized as a major twentieth-century American novel.
Contents: Price of salt. -- Carol.

REVIEWS & SUMMARIES

Summary / Annotation
Author Notes

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

About Love submitted by Weweeweee on June 25, 2019, 9:27am This book is full of true love and delicate words. Love is intertwined with jealousy and frustration.

This is a lovely book submitted by Aimless on July 24, 2019, 2:32pm A story of realistic love

This is a lovely book submitted by Aimless on July 24, 2019, 2:32pm A story of realistic love

The Price of Salt Carol submitted by angie. on July 22, 2021, 10:52am A great book! 3.5/5

Interesting submitted by lucydelo on August 4, 2023, 5:29am Not the great love story everyone says it is but an interesting love story none the less

gutting yet uplifting submitted by mlitfin on August 10, 2023, 11:55pm The film doesn’t do the book justice. This is one of Highsmith’s best; the portrait of Therese is so carefully drawn and so nuanced. I was so surprised by this character who is so aware of and accepting of her queer desire. The book feels modern, like it had to have been written much later than 1952. The fact that no lesbians die is a wonderful bonus.

Important to queer literature, but I thought it was boring submitted by Susan4Pax -prev. sueij- on August 16, 2023, 10:48pm Written in 1952 under the title _The Price of Salt_, this has been lauded as a cutting-edge book for its time because it was a lesbian book with a happy ending. I read it because of its historical importance to the LGBTQ community. (And it *was* important, because at the time, all gay romances "had" to end with suicide, conversion, personal collapse into depression, etc. So this different ending MATTERED.)

But my experience in 2022? Meh. The first two-thirds of the book are about a 19 year old with an identity crisis, and two unappealing people who treat her like an object. I couldn’t stand any of them. Then there’s the most boring road trip in the world. About two-thirds of the way in, something eventful finally happens and the action at least got interesting, and the book was better from there.

I can see why this book was groundbreaking for its time and important in the evolution of both LGBTQ fiction and rights, but as a reader now, the actual characters, Therese’s thought process, and the storyline didn’t hold my attention very well.

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PUBLISHED
New York : W.W. Norton, 2004, c1990.
Year Published: 1990
Description: 292 p. ; 21 cm.
Language: English
Format: Book

ISBN/STANDARD NUMBER
0393325997
9780393325997
0393352684

ADDITIONAL CREDITS
Morgan, Claire, 1921-1995.

SUBJECTS
Lesbians -- Fiction.