The Price of Salt Paperback – May 11, 2016

I had read two books by Ms. Highsmith and knew of her influence in The work of Alfred Hitchcock, so when her short stories were recently published, I purchased the book. After subsequently reading a review of the movie,"Carol", I could not resist buying this novel. Cate Blanchett who plays Carol in the movie, is an amazing actress and I can only imagine the genius she will bring to Carol. I do understand, however that the young woman who plays our protagonist, Therese, is dazzling!How could one not be blown away by this novel? The building of the characters and the relationship is slow and seems key to the era and the turbulent social upheaval the women are going to be thrown into even contemplating a lesbian relationship in the 1950's!Carol, I read in other reviews seems cold and distant to some. To me, Carol seems the leveling force, the rudder in the relationship, and her understanding of the perils they face is much more sophisticated than that of Therese who wishes only to possess Carol at that point. This makes Carol the wiser of the two of course. Not conniving, not sly, not laying traps for the "innocent". She suggests the trip, but seems to wait for Therese to know her better and waits for There's to feel comfortable enough to make the first move. I believe that Carol's love was deeper and more meaningful because she was older, knew the dangers inherent in the world they would enter after this trip, and she had experienced something like it before.The supporting characters were perfect I thought. Poor Richard seemed rather full of himself, and came to adore Therese too lat, then was abhorred by the idea, the mere thought of the two of them together. And Dannie, so attracted to the innocent Therese, was certain she would overcome this distraction, come to her senses and was willing to wait for that, perhaps a few months.Carol had Herge, the jilted husband to deal with, who took every advantage Carol's love for Therese afforded him. He carried out the plan to capture their child in their divorce in a despicable, degrading way. If anything could have torn a relationship asunder, his smarmy detective would certainly fit the bill. Carol demonstrates her care and concern for Therese by confronting their tormentor and, when that failed, leaves Therese out of harm's way in Nebraska when she recognized how deplorable events in New York were sure to be.Abby was a friend to Carol, but still very infatuated with her first and perhaps only love. Abby did her best to warn Therese away from Carol in the beginning and because Carol chose not to listen to Theres's complaints, she proved a loyalty we were not aware of in earlier passages. This bodes well for Therese in matters to come. It seemed that Abby was more experienced than Carol, and Carol perhaps was happy to assume that stronger role with her younger conquest.A master of suspense, Highsmith kept me guessing until the very end. I appreciated that. It was true to the novel, and true to the growth that our young protagonist had to undergo. She became so much stronger in those weeks of separation. She came into her own both emotionally and physically and there was nothing surprising in how it propelled her career. I believe that she demonstrated a great deal of security and self esteem in the final pages of the book.To have had the insight to write the expressive and stirring love scenes and the courage to explore the subject matter, Patricia Highsmith was a genius and far ahead of her time. With the recent Supreme Court ruling came a wonderful turn of events for members of our society who had been denied so much so long. I hope that people who may have never wanted to read of this type of relationship in the past might just be curious and even brave enough to consider it now. I think they would experience one of the most moving and penultimate love stories of our time.

Patricia Highsmith was a character more interesting than most she put in her fiction. I'd been drawn more into her biography than into her actual work, but here with a connection to the 1950's and a USA road trip, I was doubly tempted to read this book. A very favorable price for the Kindle edition made this an easy choice and enjoyable read. When I later saw the film, it properly gave more supporting visuals to the story. It is not really a detective story and certainly not in the "crime" genre, but it holds your interest. As a love or sexual story, it is pretty tame. Rather I would characterize it as a more truthful narrative of everyday women in a time of restrictive social conventions.

I picked up Patricia Highsmith's "The Price of Salt" on my Kindle because of all the praise the film "Carol", an adaptation of the novel, received at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival. Feeling a little impatient that I'd have to wait several months for the general release of the film, I figured in the meantime I could at least grab up the book that provided the source material. And, in the end, I'm glad I did, as it was a thoughtful and enjoyable reading experience. Here are a few quick observations:While the book ultimately is a lesbian love story, it takes its time with this aspect, with the first two-thirds of the book basically describing an intense friendship. Interestingly, this was probably due to the 1950's setting. I'm wondering if many lesbians during that period didn't even realize they were lesbians at first, because there wasn't yet an easily recognizable social structure in place that included gay and lesbian relationships as a perfectly respectable category to place oneself.I liked the fact that Highsmith, who was a very popular writer of hard-edged thrillers at the time ("Strangers on a Train", "The Talented Mr. Ripley") didn't work too hard to convince us to like the sophisticated, often aloof Carol character as much as young Therese does. It was enough for the author to credibly and believably show us that Therese did so.I also liked that the young Therese, even as she was experiencing a new sexual awakening as the story progressed, still maintained affection, and some attraction, for some of the young men in her sphere. In doing that, the book intelligently demonstrated that life can be messy and complex at times. Therese was discovering herself, yes, but it didn't mean all her past feelings were misguided or a lie.Though not intended as such when it was written, the book also functions as a fascinating little time capsule about life in the 1950's. It was fun to read about how people of various social standings lived, worked, and played in 1950's New York City and its environs. And during Carol and Therese's road trip, we get to see 1950's life in other parts of the country, as well. You'll probably smile at how involved it was to make or receive a long-distance phone call back then!Some parts of the book were a little poetic and abstract for my taste, though others might like them. For instance, Therese gains an intense insight about Carol when she views an old painting in a library, a stodgy posed portrait depicting someone who coincidentally looks very much like Carol. I'm still not sure what the insight was, or why an old painting would induce it, but it was a very big deal for Therese when it occurred. Perhaps someone can enlighten me in the comments section. Thankfully, for me at least, these abstract, vaguely-described moments don't overwhelm the book by any means.Several times during the book, I came up with my own motivations for the characters' actions, sometimes quite different from the ones Highsmith relates to us. This was probably due to the nicely complex characters and situations. For example, near the end, Therese feels estranged from Carol and goes to a cocktail party with her theatre colleagues. There she meets a famous stage actress and there's an obvious mutual attraction. Therese weighs things for a moment and then rejects the attraction to the actress, because, as related by Highsmith, Therese realized it would be no more than a superficial relationship if she pursued it, and realizes she'd rather salvage the deep and meaningful relationship she had with Carol. That was fine, but I also came up with this: Therese had put distance between herself and Carol because she was in part trying to distance herself from her inconvenient discoveries about her sexuality, but when that sexuality reared itself up again when she found herself attracted to the actress, she probably admitted to herself that her attraction to women would now always be an overt part of her, so she might as well go back to the one woman she really cared about and embrace the whole thing. Anyway, that was a take that occurred to me.I'll stop now, as there are plenty of other reviews here if more details and opinions about this interesting little book are desired. I'll just add that I'm very glad I read this off-the-beaten-track novel (an off-the-beaten track novel for me, anyway, if you check out my Amazon page for the types of books I usually read) and that I'm looking forward to the film even more now.

Boa leitura.

Was purchased for a friend. Gave the average rating.

A lire, à relire, et ensuite regarder de film.Lire en anglais un livre aussi beau, aussi fort était un plaisir. J'ai pu étoffer mon vocabulaire tout en voyageant dans le temps.Une histoire forte, dramatique, et qui nous rappelle que nos droits d'aujourd'hui sont dus à de braves personnes du passé.

Llegó en muy buen estado. Y es una historia maravillosa, uno de mis libros favoritos.

I loved this book. Didn't know it at first. Saw the movie and instantly drawn to read this book. And I'm satisfied. Happy ending in such stories are so rare . But this story has it. I love both individuals. Carol a bit more.