Book Review: The Price of Salt

Last week in my American Literature class we read The Price of Salt written by Patricia Highsmith, though originally published under the pseudonym Claire Morgan, because guess what?! This book was published in 1952 and is very blatantly, shameless about two women in a romantic relationship! Wild, right?

Plot Summary

The book follows our main character Therese Belivet, an aspiring stage designer who begins the novel as a holiday worker in a New York City department store, whose life gets flipped upside down when beautiful, older Carol Aird comes to the store in search of a doll for her daughter’s Christmas.

Therese finds an excuse to reach out to Carol once again, Carol of course returns the favor with a gift, and before you know it, they are spending more and more time together. Therese becomes quite infatuated with Carol, and when Carol asks Therese to go on a cross-country road trip with her, Therese drops everything, namely her relationship with a man named Richard and the premier of her first stage designed play, to join the adventure.

One thing leads to another on this trip, and the two become romantically involved, but at the same time realize they are being followed by a private investigator hired by Carol's ex husband.

Therese and Carol

Maybe I am exposing myself here, but when I began reading, I didn’t know it was one of the most iconic queer novels, however when Therese first met Carol, I knew something was up.

I’ve read older novels that felt inherently queer before, where the characters are never starkly written to be in love with each other, even if to the reader there is glaringly obvious romantic tension. I assumed this book would be the same way. 

Oh, was I wrong.

Because not even two pages after meeting Carol, Therese buys a greeting card from the department store and has to stop herself from writing “I love you.” I love you?!? Therese, babe, we don’t even know her yet. She does, however, write an “excruciatingly dull” holiday greeting. 

Carol calls the store the next day, thanks Therese for the Christmas card, and asks to meet for coffee. When they meet, Therese doesn’t know what to do with herself! 

Carol tells Therese that she is pretty and Therese thinks to herself that she must have been talking about the doll. And then after looking at Carol’s face for so long she nearly forgot how to speak, Therese says, “I’m sure you thought it was the man who sent you the Christmas card, didn’t you?”

I had to close my book. Possibly the worst rizz in literary history. But somehow, it works. Carol likes how strange, awkward Therese is.

Richard…

At the same time, Therese is in a relationship with a man named Richard, who would really, really like to marry her. However, intimacy with Richard kinda freaks her out. Probably because she likes women— just a guess! 

After falling for Carol, Therese gets more and more annoyed with Richard, often telling him that she may never get to the point of loving him, and insisting that he doesn’t really love her. Richard seems to be immune to her rejection, because no didn’t really mean no in the 1950’s.

When he finally meets Carol, the dots seem to connect for Richard, and he straight up asks if Therese has a crush on her, and Therese straight up says: maybe, well yes, and? 

Richard seems surprisingly chill, considering it is the 1950s and all. And by chill, I mean he doesn’t treat her like a freak of nature, but he doesn’t really validate Therese’s feelings and still insists she will come to her senses and choose him. It isn’t until Therese leaves on the road trip with Carol that Richard knows it's a lost cause.

So, yeah, Richard and Therese are not relationship goals, but I can’t say Carol and Therese are either!

Is Carol toxic?

Carol is much older, more mature than Therese, which is something she seems to point out a lot in the beginning.

Richard and Abby, Carol’s best friend who she was also romantically involved in, both point out to Therese multiple times that her feelings towards Carol seem a little obsessive, and that Carol might be leading Therese on. And you know what? It's a little bit true.

Without spoiling too much, Therese does stand up for herself in the end, deciding to take charge of her relationship with Carol, rather than following her blindly like she had done for most of the book. They pair reunite, this time starting fresh, and supposedly on level footing.

The End

I'm not sure how I feel about Carol and Therese, but I thought the ending was satisfying in a narrative sense.

Although I do love some good pining, and this book had plenty of it, my favorite part of this read was watching Therese grow into a woman. She begins the book, freshly nineteen, relying on Richard and his connections for any hope of success, and holding absolutely no self-respect in her relationship with Carol. Her identity is inherently tied to her relationship with other people. By the end of the book, however, she has spent time alone in a new city, gotten a job all on her own, developed a friendship outside of Richard, and stood up to Carol.

Yes, this novel does a great job of tackling the intricacies of what it means to have same-sex attraction in the 1950s, but more than that, it’s a story about womanhood.

If you are going through a phase where you can only digest romance, but you crave something with more weight, this would be a great transition book.

A lit-question: Have you guys read TPOS before? If so, do you "ship" Therese and Carol?