About this title: Starring Nancy, the daughter of a fishmonger, this novel is about her progress in the worlds of prostitution, lesbianism, and the first stirrings of feminism in 1890s England.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Riverhead Trade, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781573227889ISBN:1573227889
Description: Very Good. 1573227889 Previously read trade paperback book in very good condition, some very minor shelf wear, no rips or tears. 004442131 _ read more
Binding: PAPERBACK
Publisher: Virago Press Ltd
Date Published: 2002
ISBN-13:9781844080113ISBN:1844080110
Description: Fair. Paperback, a good reading copy. Cover image is a stock image and may vary. Your book will be securely packed and promptly dispatched from our UK warehouse. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Virago Press Ltd
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781860495243ISBN:1860495249
Description: Good. **SHIPPED FROM UK** We believe you will be completely satisfied with our quick and reliable service. All orders are dispatched as swiftly as possible! Buy with confidence! read more
Binding: BOOK
Publisher: Riverehead Books (Penguin Putnam Inc. )
ISBN-13:9780965573221ISBN:0965573222
Description: New. 0965573222 Cover has NO wear. NO spine seams. NO remainder mark. Pages are clean with NO markings and NO dog-ears. Trade Paperback. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Date Published: 2000-05-01
ISBN-13:9781573227889ISBN:1573227889
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9781573227889. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Riverhead Trade
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9781573227889ISBN:1573227889
Description: New. Brand New! Buy with confidence-your satisfaction is guaranteed at B-Logistics! Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. Please note that Expedited shipping is not available at this time. read more
Edition: NEW ED
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: LITTLE, BROWN BOOK GROUP Country = UNITED KINGDOM
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781860495243ISBN:1860495249
Description: BRAND NEW PAPERBACK. 472 pages. (472 pages) b format publication of this wonderfully lush, sensuous and bawdy novel set in the music halls of the late 19th century. edition new ed (Paperback) read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover; First Printing
ISBN-13:9781573221368ISBN:1573221368
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. Hardcover. Riverhead Hardcover, 1999. 1st Edition/1st Printing. Near Fine Book in Fine Dust Jacket. Price Intact. Light shelf wear to Book. Some wear to cover book spine, a page fold down. Overall, a clean and tight copy to add to a collection or read and enjoy. Dust Jacket protected with a new archival cover. Bubble wrapped and shipped promptly in a box. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Virago Press, London
Date Published: 1998
ISBN-13:9781860494482ISBN:186049448X
Description: Very Good/No Jacket. 186049448x Used Soft cover in a good condition with some light creases. Light yellowing to pages, otherwise text bright and tight throughout. read more
Edition: First Edition/First Printing
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781573221368ISBN:1573221368
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. May be unread. Nudged at spine ends, and a couple of minor bumps along top boards. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Riverhead Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781573221368ISBN:1573221368
Description: Near Fine in Near Fine jacket. First US Edition. Hardcover. NF/NF Author's acclaimed first novel. 472 pp.; one tiny nick on back edge. A beautiful copy. read more
Edition: First American Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Putnam Publishing Group, The, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1999
ISBN-13:9781573221368ISBN:1573221368
"Have you ever read a book that took you away from the world? One where, when you set it down, you had to remind yourself of your own reality? A book where you met a character and found yourself feeling as though you accompanied them through the book?
This was that book. I felt as though I were the proverbial 'fly on the wall' throughout the story of Nancy Astler, who was an 18-yr-old English girl at the start of the book. Set in the late 19th century, this work by Sarah Waters explores a side of Victorian life that one doesn't get from regular books. It is a story of struggle, of passions, of life. It is the story of one young woman who tries to find herself in a confusing world and an unforgiving society. At the heart of it is perhaps one of the best love stories I have read by a contemporary author.
I think readers of all orientations will enjoy Waters' book and learn from the trials and tribulations of young Nancy. Sure, there will be times when the reader wants to shake her, or turn away, but they are all necessary parts of sharing her story."
"I think I must have been about 12 or 13 when I saw the BBC miniseries adaptation of this novel, and I remembered it as being OMG SO SHOCKING (and also incidentally, for ingraining in my mind the stereotypical Kent accident, which I use to mock all my Kent based friend), so perhaps one of the biggest suprises of finally getting round to reading the book was how very conventional the story actually is.
In essence this is a bildungsroman/ romantic comedy-esque book: young innocent is led astray by wild (wo)man of the world, leaves home, is corrupted by big city, is broken hearted, but eventually finds love and courage to reject former lover when they finally realise the mistake they made in letting them go etc etc. It is, in fact, pretty standard melodrama.
Of course, what Waters does is to take the Victorian genre of melodrama and shake it up with an erotic/lesbian twist. And it is therefore her subject matter - rather than the story, per se - which made this book such a worthwhile read. Waters delves into the "underground" of Victorian society, delving beneath our (the readers') preconceived notions about Victorian sexuality and identity to present a world of fluid gender and sexual idenities. It was not a suprise to me to find out Waters has a PhD in English Literature, and I would bet good money that she's a Butlerian. Oh this book has it all: drag, parody, proto-dildos... (ok, that last one may or may not be in Gender Trouble, but you get my point).
This world of music halls, prostitution and "toms" forms an historical narrative that you won't find in many other books. As a counter-history it rises above the somewhat limited confines of the plot, and makes something that previously seemed staid, respectable and distant instantly alive, sexy and dangerous."
"I don't really know how to start reviewing this book! I definitely enjoyed it. It's a little dense, sometimes, but it's not really all that slow-moving -- I suppose some stories might get the first one hundred and fifty pages out in a chapter, but Tipping the Velvet isn't boring about it. I did get a little stuck reading it, at one point, but that was mostly because I guessed something bad was about to happen, and I didn't really want it to happen.
So, you might guess that I grew to care about the characters. I definitely did, although they're not the kind of characters that stick in your mind forever and ever -- I thought the same thing when I read Fingersmith, which is also by Sarah Waters. I think it was a bit better in Tipping the Velvet.
It's still hard to see it as purely historical fiction -- impossible, even, given the number of sex scenes that, if not exactly pornographic, aren't skimpy with details either. I can see why people think of Sarah Waters as a lesbian writer. I found it a little difficult to believe that there were so many lesbians in Victorian times. But then it was pointed out in a lecture when I studied Dracula that we tend to think of the Victorians as much more prim and proper than they actually were, so I don't know... I found some of it over the top, anyway -- not so much Florence and the other 'toms' nearer the end of the book, but definitely the Sapphist society that make such a pet out of Nancy.
Some of the descriptions are very good, particularly some of the early ones where Nancy is beginning to fall in love with Kitty. Most of the characters are reasonably realistic -- I find Kitty's intentions of hiding her relationship with Nancy very convincing, for example. Sometimes I wish someone would introduce her to subtlety -- some of the foreshadowing didn't so much hint as what was going to happen as take a big stick and hit one round the head with it.
Of the two books I've read by Sarah Waters, Tipping the Velvet is the more fun. It's a little over the top, maybe, but quite bright and colourful and vivid, even at Nancy's darker moments. The plot is less tightly wound -- in Fingersmith, everything has to happen just so, so that the scheme falls into place, while Tipping the Velvet is appropriately a little more rambling, more like real life."
"This didn't live up to my high hopes. The first third is fantastic, but then it becomes unbearably tawdry, in a way that feels almost like she's throwing in every dirty thing she can think of--and let me be clear, I'm difficult to offend. Then the last third winds up the plot in so perfect and pat a way, every loose string neatly tied up--in the same scene, even. Hard to buy.
Waters has written better books since then...Fingersmith is a must-read for everyone who loves Dickens and the Victorian gothic. It's a masterpiece. This was her first novel, so I can excuse a little. But my other complaint is that this doesn't just feel like a novel written by a lesbian...it feels like a lesbian agenda novel. I loved all the detail about the Victorian world of music halls and the seedy demimondes, but I had a hard time believing in her lesbian ladies' club and working-girl lesbian barroom. I doubt it's good history; more of a "we've always been here, we're queer, get used to it."
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