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The Pleasures of Men
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Review
A wonderfully ripe, imaginative and gripping piece of Victorian pastiche, with a spider's web of a plot and a spine-tingling atmosphere of menace and suspense (The Times )
Fans of Sarah Waters will love this (Good Housekeeping )
The Pleasures of Men shares with Wolf Hall an ambitious, challenging concern with form combined with a pitch-perfect historical ear . . . This intoxicating and disturbing novel is properly thrilling and extraordinarily well-written. Kate Williams is already an accomplished biographer; The Pleasures of Men shows a soaring talent let loose (Independent on Sunday )
A dark story of murder and obsession (Elle )
Catherine Sorgeuil's obsession with a series of murders of young girls in London's East End enmeshes her in deceit, betrayal and danger. A spine-tingling, seductive thriller (Woman and Home )
An intense, intelligent and hugely entertaining read (The Guardian )
Historian Kate Williams successfully makes the move from non-fiction, creating a society, and protagonist, on the brink of hysteria (Psychologies )
A sure-footed evocation of seamy Victorian London (Sunday Telegraph )
Part-bodice-ripper, part-slasher, the book's elaborate plot moves along at a brisk clip with a nod to the likes of Sarah Waters and Peter Ackroyd (Daily Mail )
As crowded with sensation as a Victorian parlour with furniture (The Scotsman )
Not since Sarah Waters have I seen so much lesbian sex in a historical novel (Mariella Frostrup Radio 4 Open Book )
Williams creates an extraordinary world with unforgettable characters and a dark heart - highly recommended (The Bookseller )
An eerie murder mystery set in the corrupt heart of Victorian London (Marie Claire Good Book Club pick )
This is a fast-paced thriller written by an expert on all things Victorian. Fans of Sarah Waters and Michel Faber will revel in this charged and colourful Victorian epic (The Bookseller )
Mesmerising, elegant and compelling (The Lady )
Fans of Sarah Waters will love this (Good Housekeeping )
The Pleasures of Men shares with Wolf Hall an ambitious, challenging concern with form combined with a pitch-perfect historical ear . . . This intoxicating and disturbing novel is properly thrilling and extraordinarily well-written. Kate Williams is already an accomplished biographer; The Pleasures of Men shows a soaring talent let loose (Independent on Sunday )
A dark story of murder and obsession (Elle )
Catherine Sorgeuil's obsession with a series of murders of young girls in London's East End enmeshes her in deceit, betrayal and danger. A spine-tingling, seductive thriller (Woman and Home )
An intense, intelligent and hugely entertaining read (The Guardian )
Historian Kate Williams successfully makes the move from non-fiction, creating a society, and protagonist, on the brink of hysteria (Psychologies )
A sure-footed evocation of seamy Victorian London (Sunday Telegraph )
Part-bodice-ripper, part-slasher, the book's elaborate plot moves along at a brisk clip with a nod to the likes of Sarah Waters and Peter Ackroyd (Daily Mail )
As crowded with sensation as a Victorian parlour with furniture (The Scotsman )
Not since Sarah Waters have I seen so much lesbian sex in a historical novel (Mariella Frostrup Radio 4 Open Book )
Williams creates an extraordinary world with unforgettable characters and a dark heart - highly recommended (The Bookseller )
An eerie murder mystery set in the corrupt heart of Victorian London (Marie Claire Good Book Club pick )
This is a fast-paced thriller written by an expert on all things Victorian. Fans of Sarah Waters and Michel Faber will revel in this charged and colourful Victorian epic (The Bookseller )
Mesmerising, elegant and compelling (The Lady )
Review
A wonderfully ripe, imaginative and gripping piece of Victorian pastiche, with a spider's web of a plot and a spine-tingling atmosphere of menace and suspense The Times Fans of Sarah Waters will love this Good Housekeeping The Pleasures of Men shares with Wolf Hall an ambitious, challenging concern with form combined with a pitch-perfect historical ear ... This intoxicating and disturbing novel is properly thrilling and extraordinarily well-written. Kate Williams is already an accomplished biographer; The Pleasures of Men shows a soaring talent let loose Independent on Sunday A dark story of murder and obsession Elle Catherine Sorgeuil's obsession with a series of murders of young girls in London's East End enmeshes her in deceit, betrayal and danger. A spine-tingling, seductive thriller Woman and Home An intense, intelligent and hugely entertaining read The Guardian Historian Kate Williams successfully makes the move from non-fiction, creating a society, and protagonist, on the brink of hysteria Psychologies A sure-footed evocation of seamy Victorian London Sunday Telegraph Part-bodice-ripper, part-slasher, the book's elaborate plot moves along at a brisk clip with a nod to the likes of Sarah Waters and Peter Ackroyd Daily Mail As crowded with sensation as a Victorian parlour with furniture The Scotsman Not since Sarah Waters have I seen so much lesbian sex in a historical novel -- Mariella Frostrup Radio 4 Open Book Williams creates an extraordinary world with unforgettable characters and a dark heart - highly recommended The Bookseller An eerie murder mystery set in the corrupt heart of Victorian London Marie Claire Good Book Club pick This is a fast-paced thriller written by an expert on all things Victorian. Fans of Sarah Waters and Michel Faber will revel in this charged and colourful Victorian epic The Bookseller Mesmerising, elegant and compelling The Lady
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
20 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
The Pleasures of Men tells the story of Catherine Sorgeiul, a deeply troubled young woman who, when we meet her, is living with her uncle in an undesirable part of east London. A serial killer is at large, preying on shopgirls and prostitutes, and Catherine becomes fascinated by his crimes and dreams up bizarre fantasies about the murderer and his victims.
Kate Williams is a historian who has written a number of historical biographies and I understand this is her first novel. It's quite an atmospheric and evocative read with quite a few of the standard period themes (women thrown into lunatic asylums, murdered prostitutes and experimental lesbianism to name a few). However, whilst I usually like my Victorian fiction dark and disturbing, at times I found The Pleasures of Men just too downright unpleasant, without any of the redeeming features that keep me turning the pages of a Sarah Waters of Michel Faber novel. Other reviewers have commented on the frequent switches of narrative and I agree this was confusing at times, but on the other hand I did enjoy the ethereal, dreamlike atmosphere of some of the more surreal sections of the book.
So overall not the best example of this genre, but nevertheless a promising fictional debut from a writer who certainly seems to have a passion for the darker side of Victorian London.
Kate Williams is a historian who has written a number of historical biographies and I understand this is her first novel. It's quite an atmospheric and evocative read with quite a few of the standard period themes (women thrown into lunatic asylums, murdered prostitutes and experimental lesbianism to name a few). However, whilst I usually like my Victorian fiction dark and disturbing, at times I found The Pleasures of Men just too downright unpleasant, without any of the redeeming features that keep me turning the pages of a Sarah Waters of Michel Faber novel. Other reviewers have commented on the frequent switches of narrative and I agree this was confusing at times, but on the other hand I did enjoy the ethereal, dreamlike atmosphere of some of the more surreal sections of the book.
So overall not the best example of this genre, but nevertheless a promising fictional debut from a writer who certainly seems to have a passion for the darker side of Victorian London.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
A reasonable read, a good start, the characters developed quite well, however it did become very confusing in parts, particularly early on.
Once the book develops it becomes an ok read with a decent plot developing. It did take me quite a while to read it though, which tells me I wont rush out to buy anything else by this author.
Once the book develops it becomes an ok read with a decent plot developing. It did take me quite a while to read it though, which tells me I wont rush out to buy anything else by this author.
14 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Goodness!
This is wonderful, and not at all what I was expecting from a historian turned novelist.
This is deliciously dark Victoriana.
I was pulled straight away into 1840, into the dark, crowded, dirty streets of East London.
The Man of Crows, a serial killer who has done terrible, terrible things to earn that soubriquet walks the streets and the city lives in fear.
Catherine Sougeil lives with her uncle in Spitalfields and she is troubled. She remembers a happier time when she lived with her parents in the country and she fears that she attracted the evil that brought that time to an end. She wonderful why Grace, her maid, has left her and why the Belle-Smiths were so willing to part with her. And she broods on The Man of Crows, sure that she understands what drives him to kill. Sure that she could, should do something ...
Catherine is such a complex, intriguing character.
The narrative twists together her present her past, and the world around her. A complex puzzle becomes not clear, but maybe a little less opaque.
This is not a straightforward narrative. It move through time. Perspectives shift. Threads appear and disappear. Reflecting maybe the confusion in Catherine's head.
The atmosphere is wonderful: unsettling, dreamlike, sinister ...
The prose is rich with period detail, with vivid descriptions.
I walked the streets of Victorian London. I looked into hearts and minds. I saw, I heard, I smelled, I touched, I tasted so many extraordinary things.Evocative is, I think, the word I'm looking for,
I turned pages backwards and forwards, reading and re-reading, trying take everything in, trying to solve the puzzle. There was always something to infuriate and something to intrigue.
Finally there was a resolution. Of sorts. There were things that I didn't understand. Questions left unanswered. Missing details. I had to let them go.
The Pleasures of Men is a strange novel, and it is flawed, but there is much to hold the interest and attention, much to delight the senses.
And it is an intriguing debut novel.
This is wonderful, and not at all what I was expecting from a historian turned novelist.
This is deliciously dark Victoriana.
I was pulled straight away into 1840, into the dark, crowded, dirty streets of East London.
The Man of Crows, a serial killer who has done terrible, terrible things to earn that soubriquet walks the streets and the city lives in fear.
Catherine Sougeil lives with her uncle in Spitalfields and she is troubled. She remembers a happier time when she lived with her parents in the country and she fears that she attracted the evil that brought that time to an end. She wonderful why Grace, her maid, has left her and why the Belle-Smiths were so willing to part with her. And she broods on The Man of Crows, sure that she understands what drives him to kill. Sure that she could, should do something ...
Catherine is such a complex, intriguing character.
The narrative twists together her present her past, and the world around her. A complex puzzle becomes not clear, but maybe a little less opaque.
This is not a straightforward narrative. It move through time. Perspectives shift. Threads appear and disappear. Reflecting maybe the confusion in Catherine's head.
The atmosphere is wonderful: unsettling, dreamlike, sinister ...
The prose is rich with period detail, with vivid descriptions.
I walked the streets of Victorian London. I looked into hearts and minds. I saw, I heard, I smelled, I touched, I tasted so many extraordinary things.Evocative is, I think, the word I'm looking for,
I turned pages backwards and forwards, reading and re-reading, trying take everything in, trying to solve the puzzle. There was always something to infuriate and something to intrigue.
Finally there was a resolution. Of sorts. There were things that I didn't understand. Questions left unanswered. Missing details. I had to let them go.
The Pleasures of Men is a strange novel, and it is flawed, but there is much to hold the interest and attention, much to delight the senses.
And it is an intriguing debut novel.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
It lost me.
I was really looking forward to reading this book after a radio 2 review,but I found it jumped around too much & it is easy to get lost,it is well written & the descriptions of the... Read more
Published 13 hours ago by C. M. Brown
Pleasures of Men
This book was completely disjointed it had no rythme to the story. Each chapter was a little mini story, and had no relationship to the flow of the book. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Avid Reader
Slow and ultimately disappointing
It is 1840 and a serial-killer, christened The Man of Crows by the newspapers, is stalking the dark, grimy streets of London, ripping open the chests of young girls and stuffing... Read more
Published 3 days ago by Gina Collia-suzuki
The Pleasures of Men
I bought this item on behalf of someone else as they did not have an account with amazon.Nothing more to say.
Published 4 days ago by vinni
Slow and not enough!!!!
The Pleasures of Men was a debut book , but if i'm honest it had a very slow start and could have been more decriptive,the write up that made me buy it was a bit miss leading!!!
Published 4 days ago by Manic Mum
Ghastly
This book was reviewed in the Times and on the basis of that I purchased it for my wife's birthday. We have now both read it and agree it is the worst thing we have read in quite... Read more
Published 12 days ago by Dean Eldrid
No pleasure for women
I really wanted to like this book. I have enjoyed Kate Williams' non fiction and have heard her speak. However,this novel was a disappointment. Read more
Published 1 month ago by KAW
Oh How I Was Let Down...
I have dragged my heels about sharing my thoughts about Katie Williams' debut novel `The Pleasures of Men' and have kept putting it off. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Simon Savidge Reads
like pulling teeth
This was only a 'page turner' in the way that I turned each page just hoping that the story might move on a little and that the authoress didn't just keep droning on about the same... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Mr. Stephen J. Bailey
Thought provoking
I found this book thoroughly enjoyable and I liked the fact that you were drawn into the mystery and not told everything right away. Read more
Published 2 months ago by CSM
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