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Review Date: 8/13/2007
Helpful Score: 3
I loved this book. Reading the description, you'd think it'd be horribly vulgar, a trashy romance. But it wasn't; it was a real-life, in-depth drama.
I was drawn to it because of the time period. I love the Victorian era and I thought, well, I could just try it, and if I didn't like it, I would put it down. I ended up reading it twice.
Michel Faber is one of my favourite authors because of how -real- his characters are. The main character, Sugar, goes through a great change, one she never saw coming, as she rises from the bottom of society to a dizzying height of happiness she never knew she could feel. William Rackham, the other main character, struggles with discerning the difference between love and lust. His wife, Agnes, is passionate, innocent, melodramatic, and devoutly religious; adorable and pitiful in her naivety, but beloved despite all.
Other characters enrich and complicate the story: Henry Rackham, an awkward man bound to a religious life; Mrs. Fox, a charitable widow; Clara, a weasel of a servant; Caroline, a poor prostitute; and Sophie, the nearly-forgotten daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rackham.
Altogether, this novel is an intense tapestry, a tale of the human condition, of weaknesses, trials, love, lust, and greed. It's a tale of healing and hope, of betrayal, and of despair. It's one of my favourite books.
So if you hate soppy romances and dry historical fiction, pick up this book and give it a read. Michel Faber will amaze you with his talent and his deft portrayal of humanity, beyond the romantic brightness of fiction.
I was drawn to it because of the time period. I love the Victorian era and I thought, well, I could just try it, and if I didn't like it, I would put it down. I ended up reading it twice.
Michel Faber is one of my favourite authors because of how -real- his characters are. The main character, Sugar, goes through a great change, one she never saw coming, as she rises from the bottom of society to a dizzying height of happiness she never knew she could feel. William Rackham, the other main character, struggles with discerning the difference between love and lust. His wife, Agnes, is passionate, innocent, melodramatic, and devoutly religious; adorable and pitiful in her naivety, but beloved despite all.
Other characters enrich and complicate the story: Henry Rackham, an awkward man bound to a religious life; Mrs. Fox, a charitable widow; Clara, a weasel of a servant; Caroline, a poor prostitute; and Sophie, the nearly-forgotten daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Rackham.
Altogether, this novel is an intense tapestry, a tale of the human condition, of weaknesses, trials, love, lust, and greed. It's a tale of healing and hope, of betrayal, and of despair. It's one of my favourite books.
So if you hate soppy romances and dry historical fiction, pick up this book and give it a read. Michel Faber will amaze you with his talent and his deft portrayal of humanity, beyond the romantic brightness of fiction.
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