No idea why my bookshelves keep presenting me with lesbian stories but I found [a:Patricia Highsmith|7622|Patricia Highsmith|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1418715271p2/7622.jpg]'s Carol entrancing. I was certainly not prepared for 200 pages of sexual tension. But after reading [b:Little Tales of Misogyny|16080338|Little Tales of Misogyny|Patricia Highsmith|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1349962505l/16080338._SY75_.jpg|56519] I was prepared for something special.

That a boring old hetro like me should find such a tale so gripping, says a lot about the power of the book and, of course, about the excellence of Patricia Highsmith's writing.

The flash of recognition, confirmed by my lesbian neighbours, is intriguing.

...and Therese saw the glance linger on her for an instant, while in Therese there took place a shock a little like that she had known when she had seen Carol for the first time, and there was the same flash of interest in the woman's blue eyes that had been in her own, she knew, when she first saw Carol.

( )

read to pg 122 ( )

Ho una teoria personale: ogni donna, indipendentemente dall’orientamento sessuale, dovrebbe leggere tonnellate di romanzi con protagoniste donne lesbiche perché poche altre storie vi daranno un quadro altrettanto chiaro dell'oppressione patriarcale senza il bisogno di fare troppi spiegoni. Ovviamente, se leggerete i classici, preparate i fazzoletti perché le storie lesbo hanno il brutto vizio di finire in tragedia.

Si sa, alle donne mal si perdona di essere trasgressive (o di non venerare l’insicuro maschio alfa di turno)...

Carol ha dalla sua il pregio di essere impenitente: racconta una storia dove si è consapevoli dell’infelicità che schiaccia chi si è arresa alle convenzioni e dove si va avanti a testa alta, senza dimenticare la compassione per chi non ha avuto – o potuto avere – la stessa forza.

Carol Aird – che, sebbene non abbia ancora visto il film, mi sono immaginata tutto il tempo come la divina Cate Blachett – è un personaggio femminile di grande potenza: riesce a tener testa alla crudeltà e alla grettezza del marito e a prendere una strada che nessuna brava donnina di casa avrebbe mai preso, insegnando anche a noi che quella strada esiste e che possiamo percorrerla senza spezzarci. Anzi.

Therese Belivet, invece, mi ha suscitato sentimenti ambigui: da una parte ne ho amato il percorso di crescita che la porta dall’essere una giovane donna incerta a una giovane donna che prende in mano il suo futuro; dall’altra per gran parte del romanzo mi è sembrata così irresoluta e apatica da darmi quasi ai nervi.

Però devo ringraziarla per aver rotto quella statua della Madonna: l’ho trovato un gesto così liberatorio che quella scena è entrata di diritto tra le mie preferite della letteratura. Farà bene anche a voi leggerla: fidatevi. ( )

This is the book that the movie Carol is based on. I haven't seen the movie, though, so I can't compare the two. The book alternated between scenes that were very beautifully written and long stretches that were very boring. However the 1950s setting and the age difference between the two characters made for some interesting commentary on the way that women are affected differently by the constraints society puts on them at different times in their lives. At the beginning the protagonist references The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, which is an apt comparison. This is the story of a romance measured out in coffee spoons. ( )

Oh, Patricia Highsmith. Thank you. I quite lost myself in “Carol” for a few days.

This book is unique and breathless, and it will not let go of you until the story is told. The writing is powerful.

“It reminded her of conversations at tables, on sofas, with people whose words seemed to hover over dead, unstirrable things, who never touched a string that played. And when one tried to touch a live string, looked at one with faces as masked as ever, making a remark so perfect in its banality that one could not even believe it might be subterfuge.”

“The half dangling, half cemented relationship” between Therese and Richard is so well painted, small details that slowly condense into ugliness. The chapter when they fly a kite is heartbreaking, and Richard does not understand.

The description of that first meeting between Therese and Carol is a bit like drowning. For me, Therese’s story is a story of an obsession that becomes… love? A kind of love? I am still not certain. And slowly, slowly, you realize that Therese is the villain here, a villain of selfishness and weakness – until Highsmith slaps you in the face with it.

In the afterword (a great one), the author calls her ending “happy”.
I’d call it an ambiguous, and not an unhappy ending.

And now, I’ll go and breathe. ( )