Book Club #20 Recap: Carol

Thoughts, quotes and further inspo on Carol by Patricia Highsmith

Mar 25, 2026

February meant it was time for love songs, 1950s-inspired outfits, and cocktails, or in other words, our book club discussion of Patricia Highsmith’s Carol. Originally published under the title The Price of Salt, it tells the story of the young woman Therese, who becomes infatuated with Carol, an older woman she meets while working at a department store. From there, it explores the romance, or obsession, between these two women and the struggles they face in their society.

It’s a book that’s impossible to talk about without discussing the context in which it is set. A huge part of Carol and Therese’s relationship is the fact that it isn’t openly possible in the society they live in.

Most of our discussion, revolved around the book’s characters and relationships. While many of us didn’t actually like most of these characters, we rooted for Therese and enjoyed, for example, the relationship between Carol and her friend Abby. Despite Carol and Therese’s romance being full of ups and downs, marked by a lack of genuine conversation and complicated power dynamics, we still seemed to root for them in the end.

Genre-wise, rather than a romance, we think you could also call the book a coming-of-age story. Therese’s relationship with Carol is central, but mostly we follow Therese as she grows and changes throughout her encounters with Carol, and how her life changes alongside it. For some, the book also had an almost thriller-like quality, and they couldn’t put it down, while others struggled with the pacing.

Overall, our group gave Carol a rating of 3.71 ⭐. My personal 3.5 ⭐ rating is a result of quite contradictory feelings about the book. Sometimes I loved the writing, sometimes it dragged for me. I loved watching Therese build her life, her job, and figure out her feelings for Carol, but never really warmed up to Carol or their relationship.

A SLIGHTLY SPOILERY note at the end [skip to after the pictures if you don’t want to know anything!!!!!]:

Some already knew how the story ended. Carol has a reputation, after all, as one of the first stories where two queer people end up together with a somewhat happy ending. This was a huge part of what some of us appreciated about the story, and raised some of our ratings. Or as one person said about the rating:

The 3 stars are really only because two women ended up happily together.

Highlights from our discussion

These quotes highlight the complicated aspects of the relationship between Therese and Carol that were at the centre of our bookclub meeting.

It really lives from this mystery. That they kind of don’t know each other that well?
If Carol were a man, I wouldn’t even try to understand her.
[Questioning why Carol was originally called The Price of Salt]: As if Carol was the salt to the soup of her [Therese’s] life.

Favorite quotes from the book

If you’re unsure if Carol is for you, maybe these quotes can help:

⭐ It would be almost like love, what she felt for Carol, except that Carol was a woman. It was not quite insanity, but it was certainly blissful.

⭐ She had seen just now what she had only sensed before, that the whole world was ready to be their enemy, and suddenly what she and Carol had together seemed no longer love or anything happy but a monster between them, with each of them caught in a fist

⭐ Together they possessed a miracle

⭐ The music lived, but the world was dead. And the song would die one day, she thought, but how would the world come back to life? How would its salt come back?

⭐ I feel I stand in a desert with my hands outstretched, and you are raining down upon me.

Holistic Reading

For more context, romance recommendations, or media exploring similar themes to Carol, check out the music, movies, and books that came up in our discussion:

🎶 You can listen to this month’s book club playlist here.
🎬 Did you know there’s a movie adaptation of Carol? Many of our members who’ve watched it really enjoyed this adaptation.
📖 Patricia Highsmith is also a well-known thriller author, The Talented Mr. Ripley being one of her most popular books.
📚 Other books mentioned in the discussion included Giovanni’s Room, The Reader, and The Piano Teacher, which all include somewhat similar or related topics and tones to parts of Carol.
💬 Our discussion also briefly moved to Patricia Highsmith herself. Several articles highlight her as a highly problematic figure who is known to have been, for example, antisemitic and abusive. Read more about it here or here.
💕 For more romance recommendations, check out the romance bookclub shortlist.

Have you read Carol? Share your thoughts in the comments - we would love to hear them! And if you haven’t, there are still some copies left in the shop. We highly recommend you pick one up :)

Kanopi Literary Society

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