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Amazon.co.uk Review
Tipping the Velvet, all 472 pages of it, is as saucy, as tantalising, and as touching as the narrator's first encounter with the seductive but shame-ridden Miss Kitty Butler. And at first even Nancy's family is thrilled with her gender-bending pal, all but her sister, best friend, and bedmate, Alice, "her eyes shining cold and dull, with starlight and suspicion". Not to worry. Soon Nancy and Kitty are off to London, their relationship close though (alas for our heroine) sisterly. We know that bliss will come, and it does, in an exceptionally charged moment. A lesser author would have been content to stop her story there, but Waters has much more in mind for her buttonholing heroine, and for us. In brief, her Everywoman with a sexual difference goes from success onstage to heartbreak to a stint as a male prostitute (necessity truly is the mother of invention) to keeping house for a brother and sister in the Labour movement. And did I mention her long stint as a plaything in the pleasure palace of a rich Sapphist extraordinaire? Diana Lethaby is as cruel as she is carnal, and even the well- concealed Cavendish Ladies' Club isn't outré enough for her. Kitting Nancy out in full, elegant drag, she dares the front desk to turn them away. "We are here," she mocks, "for the sake of the irregular."
Only after some seven years of hard twists and sensual turns does Nancy conclude that a life of sensation is not enough. Still, Tipping the Velvet is so entertaining that readers will wish her sentimental--and hedonistic--education had taken twice as long. --Kerry Fried, Amazon.com
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A captivating read & a bawdy lesbian picaresque,
By A Customer
This review is from: Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) (Paperback)
This book is truly a captivating read! From the moment you meet 18-year old Nan, dreaming of the vaudeville at an English seaside resort in the 1880s, to the close of the book in London five years later, you love the story and don't want to put it down. A guilt-free coming-out story of a nineteenth century "tom" it's a romp and a delight to read. Full of eroticism and true love, as well as adventures on the stage and in high society plus some social politics. I was attracted to the novel by a review in The Online Mirror, which stated: "Imagine Jeanette Winterson, on a good day,collaborating with Judith Butler to pen a sapphic Moll Flanders. Could this be a new genre? The bawdy picaresque novel? Whatever it is, take it with you. It's gorgeous ." I agree! Now I'm looking forward to Sarah Waters' next novel!
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Bold, Bawdy, Beautiful Novel Of Victorian London!,
By
This review is from: Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) (Paperback)
I was skeptical when I picked up "Tipping The Velvet" at a local bookstore. I do not like labels, and Sarah Waters's first novel had been touted by the press, and readers alike, as a "lesbian novel," whatever that means. However, the book's synopsis on the back cover, drew me in and I took a chance and bought it. I am so glad that I did. What a delight! This is a historical novel, set in a Victorian England that few have glimpsed. And "Tipping The Velvet" allows us to view it all, center stage. It is a story peopled with characters that are fleshed out so believably, it is almost like reading with 3-D glasses. The characters, especially Nancy Astley, come right off the page and have the capacity to touch your heart and make you care...deeply.Nancy is born and raised in an English seaside resort where her parents own an oyster restaurant, and Nancy can shuck with the best of them. She seems perfectly content with her lot in life, loves her family and imagines that someday she will marry one of the neighborhood boys and have a family of her own. During the summer months, when business is booming, Nancy frequents a nearby town's music hall for entertainment. Thus Passion enters her life with a capital "P." Nancy sees a male impersonator perform for the first time on an evening excursion to the hall. Not just any male impersonator...but the ever so seductive Miss Kitty Butler. Nance is entranced and obsessed with Kitty. She schemes to meet the object of her devotion and becomes first, Kitty's friend, then her employee/girl Friday. Her once normal life is turned topsy-turvy, filled with passionate fantasies. Her family is delighted with Kitty "the celebrity" friend, and accepts her completely. However, Alice, Nancy's sister, and until recently her best friend, is hostile and suspicious of the relationship between her sister and the performer. With the changing seasons, business falls off and Kitty is on the move. She takes Nancy with her to a newer and bigger gig in London, where our heroine loses her innocence, in more ways than one. Adventure, disillusionment and major heartbreak loom on the horizon for our Nancy - until she finds herself reaching rock bottom. If you don't know what "rock bottom," sometimes called "the pits," is in Victorian England, you may want to reread Dickens. It takes seven years for Nancy to climb out of the pit she fell into, (or was she pushed?), and fashion a life for herself. Her attempts to earn a living wage are outrageous, fascinating and ingenious. The folks she meets along the way are absolute originals. The take on London's local color, sexual and socialist politics, and social and sexual mores are delicious. Sarah Waters is an extraordinary writer and teller of tales. This is so much more than a book about a woman's sexuality...although sexuality is an important aspect of the novel. Ms. Waters writes about the fight for selfhood and independence in a world where these terms mean little, especially for a female. I just couldn't put this one down and look forward to reading more work by Ms. Waters. I give this my most highly recommended seal of approval!!!
33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
im not an avid reader.....but this i loved!!,
By lannsgirl@aol.com (liverpool) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Tipping the Velvet (Virago V) (Paperback)
To say that this book is a "page turner" is the understatement of the year. Never have i enjoyed a novel so much,or been interested in the trails and tribulations of a character as i was in following Nans journey through her self discovery.The sights and sounds of Victorian England literally jump off the page;the poverty and predudice,the awakening of sexuality so beautifully described and the heartbreak of loss and the aftermath so wonderfully handled. If you intend to buy one book this year,as I did,Sarah Waters' first novel must be the one!
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