The Price of Salt
by Patricia Highsmith
Published 1952 by Coward-McCann
Own–purchased at a local independent bookstore
Joint read with Amy for the GLBT(Q) Challenge
The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith is the first of the read-a-longs Amy and I plan to do for the GLBT(Q) challenge. I placed it on the list because from what I know of Highsmith, she seems like a very, uh, interesting person. In the first few chapters of The Talented Miss Highsmith, a biography published in 2010, I learned that she kept detailed records of her relationships and sexual activities, scoring each woman on a scale of 1-10 on various topics. (That list has survived until this day, and it’s awesome.) The Price of Salt is generally considered to be FAKE SPOILER the first lesbian book to have a happy ending, and since I find books with gay characters that have happy endings to be all too rare, I put it on the list.
Amy visited me in Boston this weekend, and instead of writing a real review, we made a vlog.
Grade: B
Cass and Amy give it an "OKAY"
Recommended: Despite some truly 50s style occurrences (like SPOILER ALERT a private detective with an impressive array of listening devices), The Price of Salt is surprisingly modern in its portrayal of Therese and Carol’s relationship and the presentation of sexual fluidity. Recommended if you like classics, this book is a good way to round out your knowledge of the history of LGBTQ fiction.
You can read Amy’s much more detailed review at her blog.
Hehehe so glad we got to do this! Also – love our rating picture
Our rating picture is teh bombbb. Can’t wait to break out all the other ones we took, lol. Maybe that one with you and the lemonade?? lol
Umm clearly. Best picture evah.
Pingback: Joint Review: The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith « Amy Reads
Ahahah, you two are silly. Looks like you had a lot of fun
We definitely did, Emily Jane! Although it took us about 12 tries to actually get the whole video because Amy kept giggling at the beginning and then telling me to start over because she was laughing. lol
As if two titles wasn’t enough, The Price of Salt was also originally published with author pseudonym of “Claire Morgan”. So Price of Salt by Claire Morgan is the same book as Carol by Patricia Highsmith. Confusing.
Also, apparently the title is supposed to be a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah?
Am I the only one that didn’t think it was a “happy ending”? I remember thinking that their relationship was messed up, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted them to be together at all.
Well I DO understand the pseudonym thing (it WAS the 50s, after all) a bit more than the title change, but I find it rather hilarious that Highsmith waited until the 1990s to admit she was actually Claire Morgan. Like it was some big shock by then that she was a big homo. Pssh.
I like the title more when it refers to actual Salt. Is the salt in reference to Lot’s wife or whatever? I’m not really up on my Bible knowledge.
I didn’t think it was really a happy ending because it’s so up in the air, and while I didn’t really like them together (or the characters themselves), I was happy that there was no angst or violence or death. I suppose it was a bit of a happy ending from that perspective. In terms of their relationship, do you mean the odd mother-complex Therese had? Because that was a bit creepy. And the class difference thing was odd…
What I want to know is who won the Scrabble game??
Sigh. She did, by about 50 points. Luck, pure luck. Although in our new Words With Friends game I am winning by about 100 points, so I suppose I shouldn’t complain too much.
You guys are too adorable in that video. I’m so jealous you get to spend time together!!!!
Pingback: Weekly Link Round Up « The Lesbrary
I’ve now read a number of reviews of the Price of salt, it seems to be a popular book on a lot of people’s LGBT reading lists. You guys by far had the most original review. Looks like you had a lot of fun!
Within the book, Therese refers to the price of salt only a few times. I took from it that she weighed her relationships with the metaphor of salt, as she had referred to her relationship with Richard as having little salt near the end of the book. Since salt was once a precious commodity, liking a relationship to having a lot of salt would imply that it had much value in Therese’s eyes.
It’s really just a metaphor.