What can I say, I'm a sucker for a gay period piece! The Price of Salt follows 19-year-old Therese as she falls into a deep obsession for Carol, a woman going through a cold divorce and custody battle for her child in the cruel 1950s. The Price of Salt really is impeccably written. Never saccharine, often sour, always engrossing. A road trip book that takes you on a heart-wrenching journey. I loved every drop to the bittersweet end. I gave this book five stars.

Thank you for this book! My review will be on my TikTok in my August Reading Wrap-Up video.

Thank you NetGalley and Publisher for allowing me to read and review this book.

I very much enjoyed this book. The writing was great and the characters were well developed. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

I got this as an arc on Netgalley because a new version has recently come out. This was already in my tbr in my closet and I was planning on getting an extra ebook (due to longcovid I can really only read ebooks atm but I'll be damned before I give my library dream up) so I jumped on the chance for the arc. This was completely different from what I expected but I loved it. The writing was just so dreamy and beautiful. I was in awe from start to finish.

I true classic. I really love this book and the impact it's had on lesbian literature. I think this is a really good story that everyone who is looking for lesbian love stories should read. I think the characters still stand the test of time and so does the quality of writing.

I had always meant to read this one but never had gotten around to it. I liked it but some parts were a bit slow and frustrating. I didn't really care for either of the main characters so wasn't really rooting for them and was hard to feel chemistry.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love that so many early queer novels are getting a revival of sorts. The Price of Salt, or Carol, has lived rent-free in my mind since I finished it.

Therese is one of my favourite protagonists and I was completely immersed in her world. I have read quite a few reviews where readers rate the book down because they find Therese and Carol unlikeable. They can be, but I absolutely love how flawed they are. The characters drive this novel - without them, it is quite slow paced and lulls in a few places. And while this book had my attention from start to finish, it didn't feel too special in its literary qualities (it was certainly a remarkable book for its historical merit and everyone should read it for that alone).

But then I got to the ending and everything came together in the most satisfying way. Highsmith was one of the writers who began to change the narrative in how homosexuality was portrayed in literature. So many tragic endings, so much heartbreak, last minute heterosexuality, etc. Highsmith and Renault bucking the trend, no longer just satisfied with the sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality, but daring enough to write a hopeful ending.

4.5 stars, very glad to see its getting a reprint with Dover (the kite scene is probably the one that stands out most vividly from reading this the first time). And thank you to NetGalley and Dover for the ARC!