Book Review: Tipping the Velvet

2 / 50 (4.0%)

Title:Tipping the Velvet: A Novel
Author: Sarah Waters

Rating: 5 out of 5 This book is GREAT!

This review won't be as in depth probably as the last one as I really liked this book and I am scared of doing spoilers!

Summary: "Have you ever tasted a Whitstable oyster?" Really just that first chapter from the start is written so well that it really did transport me from Colorado to 19th Century England where Nancy Astley is an oyster girl.

This story is of love, coming of age, maybe a little gender-bending set in Victorian-era England. It is story of political, social and sexual states of that time. When young Nancy Astley, first sees the entertainer Kitty Butler dressed as a boy, Nancy's life is changed forever. And really I don't want to give any more of the story away - Nancy does go off with Kitty and then the story is taken to a new level of adventure, love, heart-break and with each turned page left me wanting more.

This book has been labeled as "lesbian erotica," but I found the story to be much than that although after seeing the commercials for it as a mini series on BBC I was drawn to it because I could tell it was going to be about to 2 women. Waters does a remarkable job of leaving her audience titillated by the erotica but she also is quite impressive on recreating London. I have never been there but it feel like I was immersed in the behavior, the speech, the sights and sounds of that historical period London.

Review: I saw the movie before reading the book. And I really enjoyed it so when I found out it was based on a book I put the book on my wish list right away. I got it quite a while ago but just never got around to reading it until recently and LOVED It!

I got done reading Danse Macabre (the last book I reviewed) and then picked up this one so I knew picking up any book would be better. But I think because Tipping the Velvet is written so well I just appreciated it more after reading such a horribly written book. I read the first chapter being 20 some pages instead of 2 to 3 and was completely engrossed in it. It was written so I felt I was there.

So highlights of this book:

• This book is erotic but not graphic.
• The characters, time period and situations are developed and believable (and even better then the movie did)
• The time period made it even more interesting to me because I really enjoy books set in that area but this book to me did a better job of describing the setting then others I have read in the past
• I liked that the movie followed the book fairly well.

The only thing that I wished...

• That I knew what happened with Nan's parents and family.