The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber

Final Rating: 4.2/5

“Within minutes, all pretence of decency is gone.”

  Brash, graphic and utterly dripping with sordid charm, this is one book that is hard to forget (no matter how hard you try to banish certain visions from your head). I’ll be the first to admit when I innocently picked this book up years ago, I went through a gamut of negative emotions with the opening chapters but somehow was beguiled with this story and particularly the attention to historical detail and the absolute commanding way this novel was set up that included the reader; directly shoving us into the dirt and muck to experience the corrupt dark side of morals and polite society we always associate with Victorian London. This unfamiliar and bracing notion kept me turning the pages and as this story progressed it became clear that this book held its ground and wouldn’t shy from presenting and vividly flipping through lewd scenes but it also enfolded a collage of different topics and situations that forced characters to come alive for the reader with turns of complex personalities. Although not one of the characters I could honestly say was entirely “likable”, I believe that was the exact point with the sharp jagged facets of noticeable psychological differences that distinguished one character from another. There were also conflicting and battling themes that kept me reading and by the final page I felt like I just experienced and knew intimately the other side of a portion of history I can’t seem to escape from because of my fascination with the era but I also found the need to take a bath and find something a little more tame to cleanse my mind.

  Well its years later and I just finished revisiting The Crimson Petal and the White and I still find it strangely entertaining and hard to turn away from. Although this time I was prepared for the certain misadventures in the pages, I still think a couple sections slow or pointless (just there for the sake of shock), a few minor characters not that exciting to remember and the ending still makes me stop and stare at empty space with the multiple open-ended questions and possibilities that promptly shows and follows the reader out of this thick novel. All in all, I still have the same conflicting series of emotions that I had years ago when I naively purchased this seriously discounted book for my first e-reader. I love certain parts but still shake my head at others and almost stopped reading again but it has such a magnetic presence that is impossible to ignore and dare I say has become one of my favorite novels set during the 19th century. It's very hard not to recommend The Crimson Petal and the White, so if the potential reader is looking for something on the other side of the lane that can become hard to put down, you found the right book just remember: “Watch your step. Keep your wits about you; you will need them.”

-purchased and read on nook