What readers think of The Crimson Petal and The White, plus links to write your own review.

Excellent first 200 or so pages features a narrator hold your hand as he introduces you to the group of characters. Lead by Sugar the Prostitute who is eager for an education and what better life that may mean. This is an excellent look at the environment, and history of the class system in London in 1875. I really enjoyed the book, mostly for the excellent writing and well defined characters. Lead me places I had not thought of going. I highly recommend it.

IT WAS WONDERFUL! I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN! THE ONLY REASON WHY I DID NOT SCORE IT A 5 WAS BECAUSE IT LEFT YOU ON EDGE! I'M HOPING SOON FOR A SEQUEL!

A very absorbing book. Faber's rendition of Victorian England rang true. He draws the reader in, by offering a picture of the bawdy world of prostitution, but is dealing with a far broader range of relationships. Is Agnes, the pure wife, not bought, just as surely as Sugar? But ultimately, doesn't this reduction of male/female relationships to a trade damage the men as well as the women? Who would want to be William Rackham at the end? But Emmeline and Henry are a counterpoint, even if their world is distorted by idealism. I found the repressed Henry's last vision of love intriguing.

I'm halfway through. Went online a bit and found a poem by Tennyson from which the title came. I'm very taken with the book, it is a very sensory experience.

good reading. the usual victorian stereotypes. quite long, but hard to put down. a page turner.

This book is fascinating at the beginning, even with all its debauchery it hooks you into a real slice of Victorian life more realistically than some may desire. Sugar's character requires suspension of belief in how she acquires such wisdom and wide literary/business knowledge at 19, considering she is a prostitute forced into the business at 13 years. Even so, one cant help but love and admire her, with her earnest drive to escape that life. My other quarrel with her, is how she left Christopher behind. William is a hateful man, utterly selfish and masterfully depicted as a representation of men in general who t use, abuse and discard women particularly those who stupidly fortify them with the means to do so. Men like him are the reason many women prefer to be lesbians.

I was hoping he would have been permanently maimed or catch syphilis, anything that would publicly humiliate him and bring him to his knees, though being outwitted by Sugar when she kidnaps Sophie is a small taste of what he deserved

Other than these two, most other characters are one sided and undeveloped in the book. The ending runs out of steam and leaves one with regret for bothering to care about the characters and for wasting time reading it. Perhaps the author was deliberate in slicing it abruptly short to make room for a sequel ( one which I would not care to read, because of this disappointing end).

Loved the book engrossing unputdownableand fascinating picture of the real Victorian era warts and all. but mr faber what an ending! i was so disappointed, I hate loose ends. I wanted to know what happened to Sophie let alone Sugar.

I agree with JC. I was enamored up until pg. 550 or so and then the story began to bog down for me. It was much too long, IMHO, by about 250 pages. I found myself skimming dialogue for the last 300 or so pages; hate to do that but there are all these other wonderful books calling my name....lol. Okay, it's fiction but this was an uneducated prostitute after all, improving her lover's business acumen...come on! And then he just gives her the old heave ho when he thinks she's pregnant. I enjoyed it for the most part.