Patricia Highsmith The Price of Salt.

Remember the Ripley books that we all enjoyed or Hitchcock's adaptation of Strangers on a Train? Highsmith took a job as a salesgirl in Manhattan just like the main character Theresa. A blondish woman like Carol drifted into the store wearing an elegant mink coat. Like Theresa she was affected by the experience and then returned home to write out the plot for The Price of Salt. 
Harper & Bros. rejected it before it was published in 1952 under a pseudonym. The paperback edition sold nearly a million copies.
At nineteen, Theresa was a set designer who had to take on any menial jobs just to survive. Her insecurities and unhappy past surface from the beginning. Her rejection of her mother and the loss of her father have shaped her life and we see more of her pessimism than optimism. She has a boyfriend, Richard who dotes on her but she does not reciprocate the love and passion he desires and he gets very badly hurt.
Theresa's transformation and growth as a character comes with her inevitable and fatalistic meeting with the sophisticated and beautiful woman, Carol, still married with a young daughter.
The book maps out how their lives change and how they hurt their nearest and dearests! It's a compelling and memorable experience raising taboos of homosexuality that were frowned upon even in the States during the 50s.
You can imagine how the Africans and Arabs would have reacted-and I mean in 2011/2, absolute HORROR. The writer commented on the attitudes of the period:
Those were the days when gay bars were a dark door somewhere in Manhattan, where people wanting to go to a certain bar got off the subway a station before or after the convenient one, lest they be suspected of being homosexual.
The story emits sensitivity and compassion but simultaneously presenting Richard's horrified view of how heterosexuality has degenerated into homosexuality, obviously the view of society then.
After moving towards the realms of tragically, Highsmith allows Theresa the choice to go forwards or backwards. A difficult choice. you will have to read the book to discover what happens. Once again, enjoy. I did!
Copyright 2012. Permission to use this review must be obtained from the author.

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