Read the INK Q&A with Michael Meyer and save 30% on The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed.
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Read the INK Q&A with Michael Meyer and save 30% on The Last Days of Old Beijing: Life in the Vanishing Backstreets of a City Transformed.
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Jamie has commented on (1) product.
Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters
Jamie, July 19, 2007
This book is so much more than what it is touted as, that is, lesbian erotica. Historical fiction at its best, Waters puts the reader right inside 19th century London and makes you feel real empathy for what it's like to live during this time period. She includes fascinating details about the music-hall lifestyle, the different tactics Nancy uses to survive, and the socialist reform of the time. In addition we get to watch Nancy as she evolves from an inexperienced girl who doesn't know what she wants into a woman who has fully realized her desires and accepted herself for who she is. I appreciated Waters' brilliant depiction of how London in the 1800's viewed lesbianism and what being one meant at the time, how it affected different people. I felt part of everything, and the sex scenes, while graphic, did not overwhelm Waters' writing or turn her literary work into smutty erotica. It was written, of course, to entertain, but also to inform and engross you in the story of a girl who has to figure out her life just as we all do.(8 of 16 readers found this comment helpful)