A Promising Beginning

I like this book a lot so far, specifically because I like the main character a lot. She’s very relatable and likeable which is somewhat different from the way I felt about the books we read previously. In Catcher in the Rye, I liked Holden, but at times he could be very frustrating in the ways that he sometimes contradicted himself and was so lost. In Inside Out, I’m not sure I ever got to like Bernstein although I definitely came to respect how hard he worked to preserve his livelihood. In The Price of Salt, however, Therese’s disenchantment with working in the department store, and her worries about school, money, and her future are so ordinary that it is a lot easier to relate to her. The scene near the beginning when she describes how she wants to give her poor customers the toys they ask for even though they can’t pay for it makes me like her a lot. Highsmith’s description of the first time Therese is introduced to Mrs. Robichek is also very realistic in the way that “suddenly the woman’s ugliness disappeared, because her reddish brown eyes behind the glasses were gentle, and interested in her” (7). For some reason however, it’s hard to imagine that Therese is only nineteen. She seems to be dealing with the issues of a much older person, or of someone who should have a much firmer footing in life (living by herself, etc). Alternatively, it’s also a little surprising that she already nineteen but hasn’t realized that her disinterest in the multiple relationships she has had could mean something more. That’s probably more a result of the times she is living in than a sign that she does not know or understand herself. Moreover, the scene where she first meets Carol, and Carol herself, is so rich with description that it reads like it must have felt to Therese, like a thunderbolt, an extraordinary moment and person so different from everything else around her.
I’m not sure what to say about Richard on the other hand. I suppose the reader is meant to feel bad for him, but his relationship with Therese is so tepid it’s hard to see that he has much invested in it at all.