I recommend that any lesbian and anyone who loves good fiction, add BOTH the book and the DVD of TIPPING THE VELVET to their bookshelves. They are all wonderfully talented - well, except for the singing and dancing, perhaps - and, moreover, their physical presences are so much what the mind's eye sees when reading the novel before seeing the film. One quick comment about the four actors who essay the primary roles. And I preferred way the novel let Nan 'come of age' than the way Davies chose. But I really think that author Waters' final nod to the rose symbol was much more interesting. A love story, a coming of age story, a gender-bending head-scratching tale of lust and loss, this novel takes the reader on a heady, haughty, naughty ride. As the screenplay was plotted by Davies, the denouement was inevitable and appropriate. I also would take issue with his use of the book's primary symbol, the rose. But Davies missed a half-dozen moments that are so excruciatingly, painfully tender which he could have incorporated if his sensibility were more feminine. I certainly enjoyed those, on film as in the book. Davies, as he admits in the commentary that accompanies the film on DVD, wanted particularly to emphasis the more scatological bits in the book. I realize that Davies is a very good adapter, but I wish the producers had chosen a woman to write the screenplay. But, still, it's often hard to read the original material after a film gives away the best parts. I've got Affinity loaded up on my Kindle and I look forward to heading back to Victorian England with Sarah. The Little Stranger pales in comparison to Tipping the Velvet. This book was spectacular, eye opening, and intelligent. I know that one must view a novel and a film as different media and judge them accordingly. I am sure that I'm doing Tipping the Velvet a disservice with this short post. I'm glad I read (twice) the book first which is usually the case for me. I think Andrew Davies did an admirable job of taking a magnificent book which emulated the pace and styling of a Victorian novel and turning it into a moving and entertaining film.

Tipping the velvet