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The Price of Salt, or Carol by [Patricia Highsmith]

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Patricia Highsmith

The Price of Salt, or Carol Reprint Edition, Kindle Edition

by Patricia Highsmith (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 1,408 ratings

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"A great American writer…Highsmith's writing is wicked…it puts a spell on you." —Entertainment Weekly

Patricia Highsmith's story of romantic obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely unrecognized, novels of the twentieth century. First published in 1952 and touted as "the novel of a love that society forbids," the book soon became a cult classic.

Based on a true story plucked from Highsmith's own life, The Price of Salt (or Carol) tells the riveting drama of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by a gorgeous epiphany—the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to gravitate toward the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job. They fall in love and set out across the United States, ensnared by society's confines and the imminent disapproval of others, yet propelled by their infatuation. The Price of Salt is a brilliantly written story that may surprise Highsmith fans and will delight those discovering her work.

ISBN-13

978-0393325997
Edition

Reprint
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publisher

W. W. Norton & Company
Publication date

March 17, 2004
Language

English
File size

812 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Patricia Highsmith (1921–1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Review

"A document of persecuted love―perfect."
― The Independent

"About the pursuit of love, and true happiness…It has characters who laugh, and who laugh without scorn or illusion…very recognizably Highsmith, full of tremor and of threat and of her peculiar genius for anxiety."
― The Sunday Times

"Viscerally romantic."
― Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0085ATB0M
Publisher ‏ : ‎ W. W. Norton & Company; Reprint edition (March 17, 2004)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 17, 2004
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 812 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 294 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #430,727 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,892 in Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Literary Fiction
- #2,276 in Lesbian Fiction
- #2,473 in Gay & Lesbian

Customer Reviews:
4.4 1,408 ratings

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Patricia Highsmith

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Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

1,408 global ratings

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Ironely Fulcar

I LOVE ME SOME PATRICIA HIGHSMITH

Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2023

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I have no idea how to describe this book, but it is perfection. It is well detailed, is not hard to read, you know what is going on easily because every situation is well described. Nonetheless, my only "complaint" is that Patricia took some time to cross Therese and Carol's paths. However, it was WORTH IT. Loved the book and I loved the movie. From my perspective, I think the book is way more happier than the movie, but both are enjoyable.

Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2010

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"I feel I stand in a desert with my hands outstretched, and you are raining down upon me." Many novelists have tried to capture the thrill of first love. It is, surely, the eternal subject, but also the one most likely to turn to cliché. Treat it too romantically, and you risk being sappy; too physically, and you risk losing the internal essence. So it is quite an achievement when Patricia Highsmith, writing in 1952, draws us into the heart of Therese Belivet, an aspiring stage designer in New York, in a dead-end relationship with a boyfriend, whose life is totally transformed when she meets somebody new. Highsmith beautifully captures her excitement at that first meeting, her disbelief that this could really be happening, her reluctance to put a name to her feelings, her outpouring of emotion in thoughts not spoken and letters not sent, the stabs of irrational jealousy -- all the way to eventual declaration, delirious acceptance, and the pain of the first real problems.

A common enough story. But what makes Highsmith's version special is that Therese's love is not for a man but a woman. The book was published under a pseudonym, Claire Morgan; the subject was too risqué for its time, and her regular publishers rejected it. They had had a great success with Highsmith's first novel, STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (which was later made into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock), and wanted to promote her as a suspense writer. But even Highsmith's suspense books are novels first and genre pieces second; her work has always been distinguished by its psychological penetration. So although this book apparently became a lesbian cult classic, its importance has less to do with the titillation of its subject (and certainly not with its physical side) than with Highsmith's ability to cast new light on the old subjects of love, loyalty, and self-discovery.

I have to say, though, that this leisurely book may disappoint readers looking for something more eventful. It is not, for instance, a suspense story, although there are hints that it might become one as Carol, Therese's new friend, takes her in a road trip across country, packing a revolver in her luggage, and trying to stay one step ahead of the private investigator hired by her estranged husband. The book jacket proclaims this as "the novel that inspired LOLITA ," quoting Terry Castle in THE NEW REPUBLIC saying that "Highsmith was the first writer to mix roadside Americana, transgressive sex, and the impinging threat of a morals charge." But Highsmith is a much soberer writer than Nabokov, and what might have been transgressive then seems almost normal now. It is true that, as in most of her novels, Highsmith brings her characters to the point of questioning or even discarding their moral assumptions, but that is a common characteristic of fine fiction. So far from treating abnormal behavior, she has found a way to portray ordinary life experiences as an achingly immediate part of our moral universe.

8 people found this helpful

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John

The Price of Salt....

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2016

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This book is getting a lot of attention since the movie came out and I decided to read it before seeing the film.

Patricia Highsmith is an amazing author, as some of her other books will attest to. Originally published in 1952 as The Price of Salt, its about two women who meet, fall in love, and while traveling cross country together realize what this might cost them, especially Carol. Carol is married and has a young daughter. In the midst of a divorce her husband has them followed while they travel, a detective gathering information that can be used against Carol in a custody battle. Carol, though in love with Terry, has everything to lose, he daughter being the most important.

Therese is a 19 year old woman working in a department store toy department at Christmas time when Carol comes in to buy a doll as a gift for her daughter. Therese is immediately enraptured by the older, wealthy woman and a friendship then love affair begin. Therese is dating Richard whom she knows she doesn't love and is in the process of breaking away from.

Because this is the 1950s same sex relationships weren't looked upon with the same openness they are now (or so I would have believed pre Kim Davis and the rest of the states passing anti LGBT legislation). In any case, Richard looks upon Therese with disgust after finding out about her and Carol, and Carol's husband is quick to use her relationship with Therese as a weapon.

Lesbianism, though important to the story isn't really the entire story. Its a love story, two people meet, fall in love and have to deal with the consequences of that relationship. Though in the end we're treated to the possibility of a happy ending we see there is a price to pay for that happiness. Whether same sex or opposite sex, a lot of relationships come with consequences, and Carol and Therese are no exceptions. what they show though is an amazing strength to come out at a time when it was frowned upon.

This book reminded of Payton Place. That book dealt with sex and such taboo topics as abortion and shocked America when it came out. I'm sure this book was also shocking in its own way.

3 people found this helpful

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Beatriz Lourenço

capa

Reviewed in Brazil on July 25, 2023

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a capa veio laranja florescente e não rosa

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Ainara

Me gusto leer la versión original de Carol !

Reviewed in Mexico on June 13, 2023

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Me gusto por que es más completa, que la película , con más detalles !
Y muy interesante la reseña que da la autora acerca de cómo fue surgiendo la idea de su novela .

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luisa

Dopo il film.......

Reviewed in Italy on February 16, 2016

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Visto il film mi è venuta voglia di leggere il romanzo originale e ho scoperto che molte cose si spiegano meglio leggendo il romanzo che guardando semplicemente il film.
E' un bel libro, scritto bene ma soprattutto audace per l'epoca in cui è stato scritto

4 people found this helpful

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