The Price of Salt, Or Carol

God, I see what you have done for others..

"The music lived, but the world was dead. And the song would die one day, she thought, but how would the world come back to life? How would its salt come back?"

you know that feeling when you ride a rollercoaster, it feels good, but then a loop comes in and it's endless so you feel scared, thrilled, happy, breathless, the adrenaline rushing inside you, and suddenly on the verge of throwing up? this is exactly what i felt reading this. the prose is beautiful i can die on this hill. a love between two women that will make your heart jump out of your chest, makes you feel alive.

Who am I to read this book???

** spoiler alert ** i didn’t expect therese going back to carol at the end, also when they met again in the bar i almost cried I love these two sm

Como describir este libro,,,leedlo es de lo mejor que he leído en mucho tiempo. Esta TAN bien escrito, todo explicado con tanta delicadeza y sensibilidad uf

im chet baker's top listener now

A classic.

“January. It was all things. And it was one thing, like a solid door. Its cold sealed the city in a gray capsule. January was moments, and January was a year.”

I have thoughts about this book and really it’s the tiny things that put me off and i wanted to LOVE this book so badly- just as much as i loved the film but nope. I don’t particularly like the comments from Carol and Richard alike, calling Therese a little girl. Just bleh, i appreciate the Abby content and the ending or the last couple of chapters were particularly good but really that’s all

3.5 stars, round down to 3 (liked it, but not sure if I'd read this again) This was a slow-burn kind of story, which I don't normally enjoy. But I set 1.25x speed for my (amazingly narrated) audiobook, and it did work magic because the story wasn't nearly as bad as I initially thought! (I mean, my friend strictly warned me about the *pacing*, so I kept that point in mind throughout). The problem, I found, was that I didn't think I like Therese and Carol very much. I mean, sure it was great that they were honest to themselves and worked for what they both wanted in their lives. Still, I found Therese very immature, a naive and idealistic one and that, with her head somewhere in the clouds at times. It got better around the end because by then I thought of myself at 21 and decided that yeah, well, we've all been through that cringy phase at some point in our lives. Also I really need to mention this because I can't-- I mean, she tenaciously obsessed over Carol so much she saw a painting moving in a library!?! Where was she at? Hogwarts? And Carol, the titular heroine Carol.....I don't know how to feel about her. She was a lot older than Therese, so perhaps that's why she imposed her authority over Therese a lot And...let's address an elephant in the room while we're at it: she chose her female lover over her child...? What possibly did Rindi do to deserve this? Anyone? (I know, I know , and I'm not saying that just because Carol's a woman - I would ask the same question for men who chose themselves over their kids as well. I mean, then what's the point of bringing children into the world just to abandon them the minute inconvenience arises? But it's the 1950s, so having kids is also a mixture of social expectation and peer pressure, I suppose) But I digress... All in all, I liked the ending more than I thought I would. It's a bit of a cliche now, but this must have been something big back in the days when LGBTQ+ characters in the media rarely have a happy ending of their own. Terrible for Rindi, sure, but cheers to Carol and Therese, I guess. 10/10 will rewatch the movie.

This was the first lesbian romance story I read. And where I prefer reading a story before watching its movie version, for this story, I like the movie version, Carol, better. The movie is more realistic, emotional and it sizzles. The book version was bland. I'm sure from a professional perspective the writing is great, but after reading it, I didn't come away with a "this ranks among the classics of the F/F romance genre" feel. For now, I'll keep reading other reviews in hopes I missed something and give this story another go.

Gorgeous, enchanting prose. I loved living inside Therese's headspace for a while. I feel very happy I've read this book, it was very well written. At times, some paragraphs which described the particular way Therese saw the world felt like they were reaching out to me and touched me – that longed-for sensation, I believe, every reader seeks out. I am also quite happy I've read this book at this time of the year, which largely coincides with the span of time the book covers. All in all, extremely enjoyable and quite beautiful.

Touching. Dreamlike. I loved a lot about this, especially the atmosphere and dialogue. She so beautifully evokes certain feelings of being in love. I assume, but wouldn't know, that her descriptions of the fear in closeted relationships are also accurate, given that she knew that fear so well. I actually saw the film before reading the book, and it didn't grab me. I feel like it makes a lot more sense after reading the book, as I understand Therese better and the cryptic facial expressions Mara used. This was great, and I'd recommend it and the film (though book first).

** read for my queer lit class some really beautiful lines and was pretty decent overall

While I feel like Carol’s character is a bit warmer in the film, I still enjoyed reading where the motivation originated from. Therese’s character isn’t incredibly strong IMO but her strong will to just figure things out however she wants makes up for it. The ending is a bit more open here but still warming. So glad to have finally read this one!

** spoiler alert ** I love all of the Highsmith I've read and this is no exception. This one is less of a straightforward mystery and instead is a slowly building story of a young woman falling in love with an older woman she meets. There is intrigue and obsession but it's a great character study of one young woman figuring out who she is. Also, a pretty happy ending for a 1950s lesbian love story? Love.

Honestly I was so touched by this work. I had wanted to read it for so long but was preparing myself to find it daunting and outdated but found the complete opposite. I was so touched and heart broken reading it. It’s beautiful. And raw. And a perfect ode to queer love and longing. So a beautiful read!

Actual rating: 4.5 I went into this with high expectations because the movie was out and was getting rave reviews and it did not disappoint!!! It took me about 50 pages to get into the read but once I did I did not want to put the book down. I thoroughly enjoyed the characters and it was an easy plot to breeze through and enjoy.

I am on a quest and that quest is: trying to read as many books that were turned into films as possible. Carol is one of them. If you are a film buff, a cinéphile, whatever you like to call yourself: if you are into films, you KNOW that Carol (2015) is a masterpiece. It is so brilliant. It’s A-class. I loved it and Cate Blanchett is the perfect (I mean it), the perfect Carol. It feels like the character was written for her. However, I have only recently discovered that the film is based on a book! And not just any book but the first book about a lesbian couple getting a happy ending! Can you imagine? To quote Highsmith: “Prior to this book, homosexuals male and female in American novels had had to pay for their deviation by cutting their wrists, drowning themselves in a swimming pool, or by switching to heterosexuality (so it was stated), or by collapsing—alone and miserable and shunned—into a depression equal to hell.” In a way, this book was – and still is – ground-breaking and is to this day a very important book in the LGBT+ literary canon. The story seems simple and yet impossibly far away from the lived reality of lesbians in the 1950s. Therese is a 19-year-old working in a convenience store during Christmas. It is there where she meets Carol who is married to a man and mother to a young girl. Therese instantly falls in love with her. She can do nothing but think about Carol, Carol, Carol. The two get to know each other, become friends, become something more and decide to leave New York behind them and go West on a road trip. But even though Carol and her husband are filing for divorce, she is still married, she still has a child and if there is one thing society hates more than a woman being in love with another woman, it’s a woman of high social status leaving her husband and child for another woman. In my updates, I had already stated just how tense the book’s mood is. It is like smog; it feels like wading through mud and murky waters. The story is told in the third-person narrative, but the narrator is not omnipotent. We see the world through Therese's eyes and notice just how much she changes upon meeting Carol. Therese’s world is turned upside down. She is helplessly in love with Carol and that helplessness and naivete with which she would follow Carol everywhere (and does), was completely astounding and bewildering to me (granted, I’m aromantic so naturally I wouldn’t be able to relate to Therese). Suddenly, she begins to plan her whole life around this woman she doesn’t know, and she does it gladly and willingly. But because of who the characters are and because of their circumstances, this is not a love story that I would describe as swoon-worthy or romantic. It is complicated. Both characters are incredibly selfish at times, they are obsessed with material things, they have long periods where they do not talk with each other. All these aspects create an atmosphere that is tension-laden (and I’m not talking about erotic tension), at times claustrophobic, and riddled with anxiety. Rather than calling it a love story, I would call Carol (or The Price of Salt as it was originally called) a character study. This study is not always pleasant and if you have never read a Highsmith before, you will need to get comfortable with her writing style but I do think it’s worth it if only to say: “I have read the book!” Last but not least, I added this book to my “the adaptation was better” shelf and I don’t regret it one bit.

i think it was one of my first queer books and let me tell yall i enjoyed it so much its crazy!!

Therese conoce a Carol cuando la atiende en el centro comercial que trabaja y a partir de allí se forjará una amistad que irá escalando hasta convertirse en algo más. La historia como un todo me gustó. El desarrollo de los personajes y el contexto en el que viven te sumerge de lleno. Me gusta todo lo que representó en su momento y el impacto que tuvo. Sin embargo lo sentí demasiado lento y descriptivo. Siento que ese estilo a la autora le re sirve para sus novelas policiales, pero acá francamente hubo partes en que me super enganchaba y luego pasaba a aburrirme completamente. Es una novela para leerla con mucha paciencia.

Kind of slow paced, but extremely advanced for its time. Amazing how it shows lesbian women as normal for the time it was published in. Like I said, sloooow but definitely worth a read.

Very interesting book Key words: historical fiction, romance, classics, lesbian Carol, or The price of Salt, is a classic in my opinion and I really enjoyed reading it. It is quite slow-paced as we see the love between Therese and Carol blossom, but sometimes it was too much and I skipped a few sentences. They, of course, encounter obstacles, but I didn’t feel like it made the book more intense or anything. I found it a bit difficult to picture the story in the fifities as I have never experienced it but it was really interesting. The characters are quite complex and I enjoy escaping with them. I loved the relationship they had. I recommend this book to people looking for a slow-paced classic and some romance. 3.5/5