Just finished reading “The Crimson Petal and the White” by Michael Faber. The novel is set in Victorian London in the second half of the 19th Century. It tells the story of a prostitute called Sugar and how she extricates herself from the hell-hole she was born into. Her very own mother is what we call in Singapore, the mama-san<\/i>, that is, the Madam who’s in charge of the girls. So poor Sugar was forced into prostitution by her biological mother.
\nFaber manages to paint a very vivid picture of the streets, fashion, attitudes and society in London. It’s obvious that a lot of research went into the writing of the book. The characters are fleshed out well, giving readers a keen insight into the psyche and mental tickings of the various characters.
\nIt’s interesting also that Faber writes as if he’s this omnipresence. It’s quite unlike the usual third-person narrative ‘cos this third-person narrator actually addresses the reader directly.
\nBefore reading this book, I had read many reviews which raved about it which was what made me make a grab for it when I saw it in the library. Personally, I didn’t find the book fantastic. Faber writes well and paints vivid descriptions as previously mentioned, but I guess the storyline just didn’t appeal too much to me. Some parts were rather wordy and a tad too descriptive. If not for the fact that the book had gotten such rave reviews, I would not have ploughed through 835 pages of such a big book. I wanted to know what the fuss was about.
\nNevertheless, it was not too bad a read. It gave me a vivid mental picture of life in Victorian London. That’s to me is the beauty of books. It lets you “travel” to all these places and times which you would never be able to do so otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Just finished reading “The Crimson Petal and the White” by Michael Faber. The novel is set in Victorian London in the second half of the 19th Century. It tells the story of a prostitute called Sugar and how she extricates … Continue reading