I am totally and completely undone by The Price of Salt aka CAROL. I think it probably has to do with a combination of never ending gifs on tumblr and a mixture of reading it aloud with my beautiful girlfriend that changes my experience, but I really think it is the writing. It is the beautiful and intricate layering of metaphors, subtle flirtation, and undeniable obsession that springs from the pages and lips of the characters. Therese is completely and utterly in love with Carol, a mysterious woman who comes to her counter at a department store. From there the days pass with thoughts, small moments of fixation that leave them wanting and craving so much more, creating reasons to see one another and stealing glances. I find myself enforcing stop points so to not go through it too quickly and be pained by the end of this feeling.

There is something about reading a book, a love story, about two women that is not about their sexuality, but rather, the complex and intricate melding of two lives. It is simply the love story of two people, relatable to all, open to the masses. The fact that it was written and first released in 1952, a time in the United States where it was punishable by law to express your love for a person of the same sex, makes it even more enticing as a reader.

It is remarkable how much I would love to share this story with my friends, my mother, and my coworkers to help them understand the reality of our complexity. The way our love slowly develops as does theirs. The beauty with which it envelopes a person. There is something delicious that makes the reader transcend the physical boundaries of the characters and see directly to their hearts. Understanding that they, just like you, are mere humans, flung out of space toward one another like a shot in the darkness, hoping to make a connection.

❤