I recently watched Carol and thought it was fantastic. It's based on the semi-autobiographical book The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith (which in some editions is now retroactively titled Carol after the film). I think this fits the topic because it's a bit of a change from many of our selections and also because the main characters go through some profound change. It was first published under a pseudonym to protect Highsmith's career. I also thought it could be interesting for our club because it is rumoured that a previous lit club selection, Lolita, included a certain plot element (I don't want to spoil it so I won't name it here) because Nabokov was inspired by The Price of Salt. Also, I must say, the film doesn't mention salt anywhere that I noticed, so I'm curious to find out why the origin of the title in the book.
It's 292 pages, from the U.S. and first published in 1952.
Quote:
Patricia Highsmith's story of romantic obsession may be one of the most important, but still largely unrecognized, novels of the twentieth century. First published in 1952 and touted as "the novel of a love that society forbids," the book soon became a cult classic.
Based on a true story plucked from Highsmith's own life, Carol tells the riveting drama of Therese Belivet, a stage designer trapped in a department-store day job, whose routine is forever shattered by a gorgeous epiphany—the appearance of Carol Aird, a customer who comes in to buy her daughter a Christmas toy. Therese begins to gravitate toward the alluring suburban housewife, who is trapped in a marriage as stultifying as Therese's job...
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