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The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley #1)

3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 · rating details · 15,167 ratings · 923 reviews

Ripley is back. This new publication of Patricia Highsmith's classic inaugurates the complete Ripley series at Norton.

Since his debut in 1955, Tom Ripley has evolved into the ultimate bad boy sociopath, influencing countless novelists and filmmakers. In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of M...more

Paperback, 249 pages

Published August 5th 1999 by Coward-McCann (first published 1955)

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Mar 01, 2013 Aubrey rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-06-12, first-in-a-series, 1000-guardian, rage-against-the-sexuality, reality-check, 4-star, reviewed

First off, Mr. Tom Ripley is no sociopath. While he is skilled at social manipulation, this is not out of the need to hide the fact that he has no capacity for emotion. Judging by his frequent mood swings, he most likely has some flavor of manic-depressive disorder. Now, with that out of the way, we can begin.

Identity is a tricky business. If it was anything but, I wouldn't have found this book nearly as fascinating as I did. Murder mysteries are not my cup of tea, and while the setting was deli...more First off, Mr. Tom Ripley is no sociopath. While he is skilled at social manipulation, this is not out of the need to hide the fact that he has no capacity for emotion. Judging by his frequent mood swings, he most likely has some flavor of manic-depressive disorder. Now, with that out of the way, we can begin.

Identity is a tricky business. If it was anything but, I wouldn't have found this book nearly as fascinating as I did. Murder mysteries are not my cup of tea, and while the setting was delightful in its foreignness and experiencing the story from the culpable person's viewpoint was interesting in itself, these aspects would not have balanced out my lack of interest in the details of the plot.

Lucky for the book, one particular aspect of the narrator made the story much more engaging than it would have been without, one that is encompassed here:

Being Tom Ripley had one compensation, at least: it relieved his mind of guilt for the stupid, unnecessary murder of (view spoiler)[Freddie Miles (hide spoiler)].

What a line! This narrator was guilty regardless of who he thinks he is, that much is sure. But somehow, the mental acrobatics that enabled him to line themselves up with a different identity, also absolved him in his mind of a murder! How was this accomplished? Did he actually believe that he was a different person at the time of the crime, and that both identity and its guilt are determined by a state of mind rather than physical form?

Sure. Why not? Don't we do that all the time? There are the extreme examples shown by criminals living out their sentence in jail, undergoing the equation of 'guilty man + x amount of years in jail = innocent man'. A change in a state of both being and mind that absolves one of guilt. Then there are the medium examples of getting married, having kids, modifying your identity through the addition of a new relationship that makes you someone's parent or spouse. Perhaps, in the case of marriage, absolving you of feeling guilt about having a child out of wedlock. And then you have the rather trivial examples of changing your appearance or acquiring a material object of some significance. How about a tattoo removal that also removes the feeling of guilt caused by a not so pristine past? Your identity shifts with all of these changes. It's not only a matter of who you are, but how long that who lasts.

Here's a personal example. A few months ago I was well on my way to getting a degree as a bioengineer. Nearly there, in fact. But things change, and today I am looking to forward to majoring in English. In essence, I killed Aubrey the bioengineer, appropriated their social status, mental capabilities, and physical form, and am now living out my life as Aubrey the English major, same in practically everything except for determined career path. Aubrey the bioengineer was feeling guilty about not having found a research lab position. Aubrey the English major has no use for such feelings. Not only had I done away with feelings of guilt, I had done it in such a way that I will never be convicted of a crime, because unlike Tom and his appropriated Dickey identity, all of this happened in my head. Strange way to think of it, isn't it.

Now, can you imagine Mr. Tom Ripley, master of social manipulation and integration into the selves of others, on the Internet? It'd take him a while to get used to the lack of body language and other visual cues, but he'd get the hang of it eventually. Would make for an interesting story, that.(less)

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Jun 03, 2012 William rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: us, fiction, 20-ce

I've been dabbling in some of the classic thriller writers. Simenon and Sciascia, too. It is summer (in the northern hemisphere) after all.

The Talented Mr. Ripley will have you squirming in your seat. Tom Ripley is a man with champagne tastes and a beer pocket book. He possesses very low self-esteem, very little money and he is undoubtedly a closeted queer. He likes queers, likes to be among them, but doesn't like admitting to himself that this is so. Mr. Ripley's talent is an extraordinary gift...more

16 likes · like · see review

Mar 08, 2008 Nora Dillonovich rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mysterioso, favorites

Oh Tom Ripley... what to say that hasn't been said dozens of times already? I clipped through the last pages at work tonite, hungry to know! desperate to hold hands with Tom Reeepley as he navigated his way through layer after layer of lie upon lie upon psychopathology! I found myself irked at customers who disturbed my reading, mid-paragraph (inconsiderate indecisive patronizing people! pick out your own damn flowers! take a chance for Christ's sake! No, I don't know what white roses "means"- p...more

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Jun 01, 2012 Jenny rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read2010, audiobook, read2012

If there is a character who has more self-loathing than Tom Ripley, I've yet to come across him or her. And what is it about the Mediterranean that inspires the most disturbing stories?

I knew this story from the movie, but I wanted to read it before I read any of the other Ripley volumes.

"They were not friends. They didn't know each other. It struck Tom as a horrible truth, true for all time, true for the people he had known in the past and for those he would know in the future: each had stood...more

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Oct 21, 2012 Roberta rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: america-settentrionale, gialli-thriller-e-noir

Oh, come on! How could people believe Tom Ripley's stories?
I love this novel, I love travelling all around Italy with this sociopath. And I like the way he got away with everything.
I can - sort of - relate to Marge, and I understand why she believes in Tom's lies. She wanted Dickie alive and every letter, every message, is a proof of his existence, even if she doesn't actually see him.
But Mr Greenleaf? In the end he seems too eager to me to get rid of his son. I can't believe he believed in the...more

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Aug 04, 2007 Matthew rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was a very well written book. I found myself in suspense from the first thought of murder until the last line. I also found that I was in fear of Tom Ripely being caught. I would at times remind myself of his villainy but I would inevitable find myself hoping he would escape and cursing the mistakes that he made.
This is the first in a series of books containing this character which are no doubt as thrilling. I despise him so much though that I don't think I can endure another. Definitely a...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Alicia Rasley rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is an old Highsmith, and was made into a film with Matt Damon and Jude Law, I think. I very much enjoyed the whole "Ambassadors" update, the rootless Americans taking root in The Old Country. This feature the usual Highsmith ironic and intense prose-- I don't know why no one reads her anymore. She's very, very good, and her melding of the crime genre with a more literary "existential" story makes this both deep and readable. I'm really impressed with how much she managed to get away with in...more

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Jun 16, 2013 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mysteries-thrillers, classics

This classic novel of suspense lives up to the hype. I was familiar with the story of Tom Ripley because I had seen the Matt Damon movie, and the book was just as good as other readers had promised. Ripley is skilled at manipulating people, lying, impersonations, con jobs and feigning interest in others. What terrifies him is 1) getting caught and 2) being himself. It's a classic case of someone who feels arrogant and snide toward others but who also hates himself and feels like he doesn't fit i...more

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Oct 11, 2012 Anastasia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: moderni, usa, 5-stars, pozzo-letterario

Si potrebbero fare discorsoni incredibili intorno alla validità oggettiva di questo bellissimo romanzo e naturalmente al perché con tutte le sfaccettature possibili del mio smodato entusiasmo. Ma questa volta, anche se volessi, non potrò di certo sedermi in poltrona per un qualsiasi discorso serioso e impegnato che sondi al minimo grado l'oggetto in questione. Non per una possibile lunghezza di questa recensione, non perché in realtà non c'ho voglia e mi sto parando il culo giustificando la mia...more Si potrebbero fare discorsoni incredibili intorno alla validità oggettiva di questo bellissimo romanzo e naturalmente al perché con tutte le sfaccettature possibili del mio smodato entusiasmo. Ma questa volta, anche se volessi, non potrò di certo sedermi in poltrona per un qualsiasi discorso serioso e impegnato che sondi al minimo grado l'oggetto in questione. Non per una possibile lunghezza di questa recensione, non perché in realtà non c'ho voglia e mi sto parando il culo giustificando la mia presunta (vera) pigrizia, ma perché c'è una storia che si fonda sulla suspence progressiva con tanto di strategia ad incastro, se proprio bisogna parlare senza premettere di voler rovinare volontariamente la festa a tutti gli ignari, allora meglio non entrare troppo nel dettaglio.
Sapete cos'è stato, in fondo? Terribilmente avvincente, ansiogeno e di sicuro coinvolgente, persino divertente in certi aspetti, perché è comunque un noir e se la vicenda non ti avvinghia a sé vuol dire che non è un buon noir, tanto in questo caso il senso morale potrete pure richiuderlo nel comodino ancora prima di aprire il libro vicino alla lampada. Inutile, ti prende e non ti frega assolutamente nulla che Tom Ripley sia incredibilmente "scorretto", quell'incredibile donna che dev'essere la Highsmith ti costringe a parteggiare per lui e addirittura ad identificarti progressivamente con lui. Tu vuoi veramente fregarli tutti, qualunque sia il mezzo, e non riesci a giudicare lucidamente Ripley, perché ci vogliono pochi capitoli per entrare di soppiatto nel suo personaggio e scoprirsi a dire "penso di voler bene a Tom Ripley e non credo che sia una cosa molto giusta, in effetti; dio mio, speriamo di cavarcela, amico mio; lo voglio disperatamente pure io!". Costruzione psicologica del protagonista magistrale (il mio nuovo Affezionatissimo, oddio, già ho nostalgia), ma soprattutto gestione superba della vicenda. Graham Greene in questo caso è molto più conciso e persuasivo di me:
"Patricia Highsmith è una scrittrice che ha creato un mondo tutto suo, un mondo claustrofobico e irrazionale in cui entriamo ogni volta con la sensazione che un pericolo ci sovrasti, con la testa mezza girata all'indietro, perfino con una certa riluttanza, poiché sono piaceri crudeli quelli che ci apprestiamo a provare, finché ad un certo punto, verso il terzo capitolo, la trappola è scattata, non possiamo più ritirarci, siamo condannati a vivere la storia sino al finale".
Mi sono fidata ancora prima di aprire il libro e alla fine dico pure che ha ragione in ogni singola parola, pure nelle virgole.
Libro decisamente "vissuto", infatti, mi sento addosso ancora la fatica del suo meccanismo geniale e nonostante tutto della sua realtà, perché nessun piano è infallibile e in fondo la fortuna regna sovrana e boh io speriamo che me la cavo. E ad ogni istante, credetemi, vi chiederete che ne sarà di voi, che diavolo dovrà succedere al prossimo capitolo e se la fine è vicina o in realtà sta andando tutto alla perfezione, e non vi sentirete mai assicurati fino in fondo, nonostante Ripley sia geniale nella sua strategia. Alla faccia di tutti i casi cervellotici con manie di grandezza, che però poi all'atto sono pura mente.
Madonna.
Woha, che avventura.
(la trappola la fa pure a me, 'sto bricconcello genialoide, a tirarmi in mezzo e a costringermi a dargli la mano dalla prima all'ultima pagina, ma Patricia, ti pare sia il caso di farmi sudare così, io che sono già inquieta di mio di questi tempi)

Questo è uno di quei casi in cui mi viene proprio l'impulso di stringere la mano all'autore: Tom Ripley è un personaggio notevole, Patricia,.. no, che dico, straordinario.
Peccato che ci sia stata una coincidenza molto lugubre per cui nasco io e muore l'autrice a cui stritolerei la mano in questione, stesso anno. Come sentirsi insensatamente colpevoli. (less)

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Feb 16, 2013 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

This is one of those situations when I thought, going in, that I would just love this novel; after all, I loved the movie based on the novel. Unfortunately I reluctantly declare that I think the movie is better. So many liberties were taken with the story that, essentially the book and the movie are two distinct entities. As I was reading the book and seeing how it differed from the movie (or vice versa) I was dismayed, because I don't like to see literary works tampered with. In this case I app...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1950s, evil-heroes, italy, venice, rome, naples, new-york-city, suspense, murder, angst, jealousy, psychological-suspense, new-york

WOW! What an absolutely wonderful book! Full disclosure: I adore books (movies, etc.) in which the protagonist is bad...someone you shouldn't be rooting for, but you somehow relate to and want to see succeed. I'm not sure what this says about me as a person, but there you go.

Patricia Highsmith's writing is so effortless and clean - I've read few books in which I've felt so deeply and easily immersed a setting. Her descriptions of 1950s New York and Italy (of course, written contemporaneously) a...more

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Feb 16, 2009 James rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: edminster-group, crime-fiction

This engaging novel, The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith, is a quirky crime thriller. Highsmith dismisses with many of the traditional aspects of the crime thriller and presents the amoral criminal, one Tom Ripley, from the inside out. From the very first page of the novel you are sharing the thoughts of Tom as he looks over his shoulder expecting the police to emerge from the shadows to take him away. As the novel ends, he is still looking over his shoulder, so to speak, as he imagine...more

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May 06, 2012 Ruth rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a book I'd have never picked up on my own, so thanks to Constant Reader for forcing my out of my beaten path. I enjoyed it. It was an easy read, altho occasionally I got lost in the twists and turns of plot. (One of the reasons I don't generally read mysteries. I find them mystifying.) Competently, if not gracefully, written. Highsmith's strength, as others have noted, was to make us root for a sleazeball.

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Jun 16, 2013 Cheryl rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: mystery

What must it be like to spend your thought life creating an alternate reality and manipulating others to accept it? The power you must have to create a world where others serve you, and when they don't, you exercise your options...

This is a psychological tale of descent into the darkest parts of human nature. It is tightly woven by an author at the top of her talents. Served up with ever increasing suspense to the horror of terrible injustice, the reader closes the book, ever more aware of the p...more

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Jan 30, 2009 aya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I don't think I've ever been so stressed out reading a book. I thought I was going to lose it about 15 times--I just couldn't see how he was going to get through the entire novel without ending up dead or in jail somewhere. Highsmith is absolutely impeccable at creating intelligent nuanced characters.

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Nov 14, 2010 Giangian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

E poi il fatti che tutto ciò gli era successo due volte prima di allora. E quelle due volte erano stati eventi reali, non frutto della sua immaginazione. Certo, poteva convincersi di non averli veramente voluti, però restava il fatto che li aveva compiuti. Non voleva essere un assassino
Mr. Ripley è forse la creatura più famosa di Patricia Highsmith, grazie anche al film con Matt Damon. Tom è un ragazzo medio americano, un po' anonimo, che vuole piacere a tutti costi, vuol fare il simpatico, vu...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Bob Wake rated it 5 of 5 stars

[Reviewed in 2000]

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) is receiving some well-deserved media attention these days thanks to Anthony Minghella’s opulent Hollywood version of The Talented Mr. Ripley. The film has much to recommend it, but it sorely lacks Highsmith’s pitch-black humor and blithe amorality. Less an adaptation than a wholesale reinterpretation, Minghella’s film asks us to pity a hapless murderer and to reflect on the tragic aspect of his yearnings and motivations. Highsmith, on the other h...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Will rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 27, 2013 Elena rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: crime-suspense, film-version-i-liked

I must say, I watched movie (Anthony Minghella's) first, and I liked it a lot. Then I came across Patricia Highsmith's Ripley series. Well, I still like the movie and can't help but compare both versions.

First impression of the book: writing style is dry and telegraphic. We don't get any emotions from any character, just their doings. It's sad, because it's not easy to understand Ripley's reasons and motives.

There is no characters in the book, whom I liked. I pitied Dickie in some way, but he di...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Inga rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic, thriller, sz-bibliothek

Jetzt ist mir klarer, warum Patricia Highsmith ein Mythos ist.
Krimikönigin. Sagt man.
Der Klappentext meiner Ausgabe von „Der talentierte Mr. Ripley“ sagt „eine der erfolgreichsten Kriminalbuchautorinnen Amerikas“.
Ich liebe Krimis, ich liebe die Krimiserien von Jacques Berndorf über Donna Leon bis Kathy Reichs.
Dieser Ripley war anders, mehr Roman als einfach gestrickter Krimi, andere Perspektive. Bis zum Schluss ist man unentschlossen, ob man diesen Ripley mögen soll oder nicht. Er kommt davon mi...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Naomi rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

My experience of reading 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' was a powerful one. Written in the third person but using Tom Ripley's internal narration, the novel affords the reader a voyeuristic insight into the mind of a repugnant man. I felt that tension developed because I was reading about an opportunistic hustler who is constantly evading capture.

Unlike Matt Damon's portrayal in the film adaptation, I did not find Ripley likeable or charming in the slightest. At the start of the novel, Tom confides h...more

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Nov 18, 2012 Rick Urban rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed this novel, I must say that it struck me as an odd combination of compelling and tedious. There is a repetitiveness to the plot that makes it slow-going in the second half, and while the ever-present tension of avoiding arrest hangs over Ripley, the action is static in the fact that he doesn't really do much other than cross his fingers and hope for the best. And contrary to the title, Ripley is NOT very talented...in fact, one of my main problems with the book is the lack of cre...more

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Nov 06, 2012 JottingJohn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great story but Highsmith's true brilliance shines in her creation of the most fearsome kind of monster in existence. The sociopath-turned-psycho is treacherous no doubt. Tom's ability to illicit empathy from his victims AND readers (me at least) is beyond appalling. Part of Highsmith's genius is her ability to somehow remain coolly detached from Tom. She never coddles his character and in fact throws enough his way to hinder his murderous progress. The story remains grounded in reality while th...more

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Aug 02, 2012 Garrie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I finally got round to reading this having previously read The Blunderer and Cry of the Owl which I thoroughly enjoyed. Highsmith is a master craftswoman with the prose flowing effortlessly pulling you into the world of 50s Italy and the pampered rich that use it as their playground. You may have seen the film staring Matt Damon and Jude Law, which is a rather good stab at it, but you can't beat the real thing. Being inside Ripley's head as he makes amoral decision after decision is fascinating...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Mats Rehnman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Im not a friend of crime-lit, which must be confessed before writing a review. Sometimes I give it a chance, but usually I get bored by the language or by all the cliches in the plot. I read this book because I was fascinated by the movie with Matt Damon. And I'm sorry to say that on the contrary of what we usually expect, the movie was much better than the book. Still I must give credit to the writer that she has managed to create a truly fascinating charachter. Fascinating because the reader c...more

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May 03, 2012 Judy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: suspense, mystery, american-novel, award-winner, italy

Even though it was published a year before I was born (and that was quite a while ago) this book still holds up. In fact, I found it quite refreshing to immerse myself in a novel about a time when people spoke on telephones that had wires and rotary dials, and instead of tweeting each other or sending text messages, Highsmith's characters would write each other letters and go to cocktail parties.

It is amazing that a book like this would be published in the 1950s. In film, television and books, i...more

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Apr 21, 2012 Book Concierge rated it 4 of 5 stars

Long before Dexter there was Tom Ripley.

Ripley is smart and talented, but he’s also bored and restless. He has a good head for figures and has worked at several jobs that make use of his bookkeeping/accounting skills. But he never stays anywhere for long. He’s just getting by and longs for wealth, travel, friends and excitement. Enter Mr. Greenleaf who is desperate to have his son, Dickie, return from an extended stay in Italy. Would Tom be willing to go there and convince Dickie to come home?...more

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Mar 18, 2012 meeners rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery

if reading the snail-watcher and other stories was like being trapped in a recurring dream i sometimes have, where i find myself driving a car not quite under my control, then reading the talented mr. ripley was like being trapped in ANOTHER recurring dream i sometimes have. in this dream, i am put in charge of caring for an animal, usually an exotic one for some reason - one time it was a dolphin, another time a python, another time a lion. i forget to feed the animal, and it dies. then the re...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What an interesting and strange book but thoroughly engaging. I confes I knew the ending from the film version but even knowing that, I was still captivated until the very end as I couldn't possibly foresee how Mr Thomas Ripley was going to actually get away with his slew of crimes! A very unusual protagonist, he's not all that likable, nor is he moral or endearing. However, as a reader you find yourself on his side, hoping in some strangely twisted way, that he will in fact escape capture. The...more

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Dec 18, 2011 Richard rated it 4 of 5 stars

Rating: 4.5* of five

This nail-biting page-turner is the first of Patricia Highsmith's novels featuring amoral, mass-murdering sociopath and all-around bon vivant Tom Ripley.

What can I add to the generations of praise heaped on Highsmith's male alter ego? What else need be said? What delicious evil, what glamourous grue, and told with such economy of language!

Well, for one thing, Tom's as bent as a bow, and because the book came out (!) in 1955 it wasn't possible to say frankly that he was *that...more Rating: 4.5* of five

This nail-biting page-turner is the first of Patricia Highsmith's novels featuring amoral, mass-murdering sociopath and all-around bon vivant Tom Ripley.

What can I add to the generations of praise heaped on Highsmith's male alter ego? What else need be said? What delicious evil, what glamourous grue, and told with such economy of language!

Well, for one thing, Tom's as bent as a bow, and because the book came out (!) in 1955 it wasn't possible to say frankly that he was *that way* and so was Dickie (!!) Greenleaf and Marge was a big ol' fag hag and Daddy Greenleaf was sending Tom to Italy in hopes that a cute boy would succeed where a revolted father failed to convince his queer son to return to a soul-killing life of pretending to be straight.

And now that I'v delivered the post-Stonewallization of the book, I return to the text as presented.

The characters are all deftly drawn to present us their essences in a short burst: Tom cruising bars and letting an older man (Pa Greenleaf) pick him up; Dickie resisting Tom's charm until Marge, acting as wing man, throws them together; Marge then doing the twist as she sees her efforts rewarded with too much success. It's all done in 30pp and it's set from there on, so suspense has to be created with audacity on the writer's part. We're drawn into Tom's troublingly untroubled world of crime, we're seduced into seeing the problems of Tom's murders from his point of view as puzzles to be solved in order to protect his now-customary lifestyle.

It's a very difficult feat to pull off. It's even more amazing when one considers the author, a big ol' dyke, was writing in one of Murrica's most homophobic AND law-and-order obsessed eras. Highsmith, from all reports an unpleasant person to know, does this difficult balancing act with an assured hand at the storytelling tiller and a character-compass that pointed true north at all times. This is high quality storytelling, done in simple, unadorned prose. It is very much recommended and it's worth your time. (less)

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About Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.

She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in...more Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist who is known mainly for her psychological crime thrillers which have led to more than two dozen film adaptations over the years.

She lived with her grandmother, mother and later step-father (her mother divorced her natural father six months before 'Patsy' was born and married Stanley Highsmith) in Fort Worth before moving with her parents to New York in 1927 but returned to live with her grandmother for a year in 1933. Returning to her parents in New York, she attended public schools in New York City and later graduated from Barnard College in 1942.

Shortly after graduation her short story 'The Heroine' was published in the Harper's Bazaar magazine and it was selected as one of the 22 best stories that appeared in American magazines in 1945 and it won the O Henry award for short stories in 1946. She continued to write short stories, many of them comic book stories, and regularly earned herself a weekly $55 pay-check. During this period of her life she lived variously in New York and Mexico.

Her first suspense novel 'Strangers on a Train' published in 1950 was an immediate success with public and critics alike. The novel has been adapted for the screen three times, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951.

In 1955 her anti-hero Tom Ripley appeared in the splendid 'The Talented Mr Ripley', a book that was awarded the Grand Prix de Litterature Policiere as the best foreign mystery novel translated into French in 1957. This book, too, has been the subject of a number of film versions. Ripley appeared again in 'Ripley Under Ground' in 1970, in 'Ripley's Game' in 1974, 'The boy who Followed Ripley' in 1980 and in 'Ripley Under Water' in 1991.

Along with her acclaimed series about Ripley, she wrote 22 novels and eight short story collections plus many other short stories, often macabre, satirical or tinged with black humour. She also wrote one novel, non-mystery, under the name Claire Morgan, plus a work of non-fiction 'Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction' and a co-written book of children's verse, 'Miranda the Panda Is on the Veranda'.

She latterly lived in England and France and was more popular in England than in her native United States. Her novel 'Deep Water', 1957, was called by the Sunday Times one of the "most brilliant analyses of psychosis in America" and Julian Symons once wrote of her "Miss Highsmith is the writer who fuses character and plot most successfully ... the most important crime novelist at present in practice." In addition, Michael Dirda observed "Europeans honoured her as a psychological novelist, part of an existentialist tradition represented by her own favorite writers, in particular Dostoevsky, Conrad, Kafka, Gide, and Camus."

She died of leukemia in Locarno, Switzerland on 4 February 1995 and her last novel, 'Small g: a Summer Idyll', was published posthumously a month later.

Gerry Wolstenholme
July 2010

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“Anticipation! It occurred to him that his anticipation was more pleasant to him than the experiencing.” — 11 people liked it

“He liked the fact that Venice had no cars. It made the city human. The streets were like veins, he thought, and the people were the blood, circulating everywhere.” — 6 people liked it

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The Talented Mr. Ripley (Ripley #1)

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