The Price of Salt (1952) by Patricia Highsmith

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Price of Salt (1952)

by Patricia Highsmith

Manhattan, New York

Manhattan: 21/33

New York: 64/105

   I think I haven't read enough Patricia Highsmith. If I had to characterize my taste in authors I like writers who are sharp, cruel and unsentimental.  I've got a fondness for genre- detective/science fiction/fantasy and I'm more interested in unusual perspectives vs. conventional perspectives.  Patricia Highsmith ranks high on all these qualities.  She's a misanthrope, she's responsible for an iconic character in 20th century crime fiction and she was a pioneering LGBTQ voice.  

  I was genuinely enthusiastic when The Price of Salt appeared in my 1,001 Novels queue.  The endless procession of sad single moms and teenage girls stuck in their bedrooms has been educational but repetitive.  This was book was originally published under a pseudonym, and the publication history reminded me of what William Burroughs went through for Junkie- both are works of literary fiction published as pulp fiction because the subject matter was too outré for the literary fiction market.   It's crazy how forbidden this subject was back in 1952 since The Price of Salt is basically a lesbian love story with a happy ending.   

 It was, at any rate, an enjoyable read.  I feel like this description applies to maybe half of the books on the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America.