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118th out of 124 books
—
7 voters
This Sweet Sickness
In This Sweet Sickness, Patricia Highsmith, in her own inimitable fashion, has created a complex psychological tale as suspenseful as The Talented Mr. Ripley.
David Kelsey, a young scientist, has an unyielding conviction that life will turn out all right for him; he just has to fix the Situation: he is in love with a married woman. Obsessed with Annabelle and the life he ha...more
David Kelsey, a young scientist, has an unyielding conviction that life will turn out all right for him; he just has to fix the Situation: he is in love with a married woman. Obsessed with Annabelle and the life he ha...more
Paperback, 288 pages
Published
October 17th 2002
by W. W. Norton & Company
(first published 1960)
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I sort of identify with the main character. You have a crush on a girl. For fun you imagine your life with her. Maybe getting an apartment together. The thing is you don't know her at all - but still a daydream. Nothing wrong with that right?
And this is where Patricia Highsmith comes in and makes it really creepy and weird. She has a genius to get under one's psychie skin and make it sound really reasonable. A totally unique visionary writer who is very truthful regarding the moment when you ar...more
And this is where Patricia Highsmith comes in and makes it really creepy and weird. She has a genius to get under one's psychie skin and make it sound really reasonable. A totally unique visionary writer who is very truthful regarding the moment when you ar...more
I really liked this book and read it with the same horrified fascination I would have for a rattler headed right for my left leg. Super.
Dec 17, 2009
tENTATIVELY, cONVENIENCE
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
nobody
Shelves:
literature,
psychology
I haven't shelved this under "mystery" here b/c there was no mystery about it. The main character was doomed from the beginning & the painfulness of reading this was that it was so obvious. I knew that by reading it I'd just witness the increasing madness, the increasing sadness. DON'T READ THIS IF YOU'RE FEELING LONELY! Don't read this if you're feeling hopeless! It'll only make it worse (probably). I certainly feel worse from having read it. STILL, it was well-written. These days, I suppos...more
Slow to start but isn't that how madness ultimately begins. The vortex of suspense never ends as David acts out his obsession which is terribly disconnected from reality. This is definitely beyond Twilight Zone and I am almost done but I still don't know where the protagonist is taking me and I forgot to fasten my seat belt although the driver has four martinis under his belt...the author leaves you hanging to the very end...to the very beautiful end...no dangling at all in this piece. Four char...more
Reading This Sweet Sickness is like listening to Ravel's Bolero. The book starts slowly - David Kelsey, a seemingly descent guy, has a Situation. He is in love with a married woman who isn't in love with him. We notice David's social awkwardness, his mild obsession. But he is also a brilliant scientist, a respected lodger at his boarding house; he is kind to the old woman who is room-bound on the top floor of the boarding house. There are the weekends he spends in a nearby town living an obsesse...more
What's interesting about this book is the insight it offers into the mind of people who don't take no for answer when it comes to love. David Kelsey is determined to get Annabelle back because she belongs to him. The only why she's not with him now is because he needs to fix "the siatuation".
What I liked most about this book is that I wouldn't say he's a criminal. He has a goal and everything else he just can't see it. Whatever he does wrong is, somehow, by accident and that made me sympathyze f...more
What I liked most about this book is that I wouldn't say he's a criminal. He has a goal and everything else he just can't see it. Whatever he does wrong is, somehow, by accident and that made me sympathyze f...more
I actually enjoyed this book more than The Talented Mr. Ripley because my reading of it was not colored by having seen the movie first. Another highly psychological novel with a deeply disturbed protagonist, this book draws you into a dark, dark world of delusion and insanity inhabited by flawed individuals, but nevertheless keeps you turning the pages to find out what happens next. It's a good car book - one that you can read while waiting for your child to finish a music lesson, dance class, o...more
Similar to the first Ripley novel in that the main character "impersonates" another, though this time the "other" doesn't actually exist. Stretched the limits of "believability" to a great extent, but the ending took an interesting turn, one that reminded me in ways of Simenon's excellent The Engagement (filmed as "Monsieur Hire"). Overall, a worthwhile "literary thriller." I'm looking forward to reading more Highsmith; despite the manipulative nature of many of her novels, they are page-turners...more
Ich hab ja mittlerweile ein halbes Regalbrett voll mit Highsmith-Büchern. Angefangen hat es mit der Ripley-Reihe (ich fand den Film Klasse, da kann das Buch ja gar nicht schlecht sein), und dann hab ich auf Flohmärkten und in Wühlkisten, wo ihre Bücher ja mittlerweile reichlich vertreten sind, immer mehr von ihr gekauft.
Leider kam ich vor lauter Kaufen nie zum Lesen. Aber nun musste es endlich mal sein!! Fast 20 Bücher von ihr, und noch keines gelesen - das geht nun wirklich nicht.
In "Der süße...more
Leider kam ich vor lauter Kaufen nie zum Lesen. Aber nun musste es endlich mal sein!! Fast 20 Bücher von ihr, und noch keines gelesen - das geht nun wirklich nicht.
In "Der süße...more
Patricia Highsmith could write more astute profiles of the mentally disturbed than anyone else I've read. "This Sweet Sickness" also proves she was extremely capable in writing an unreliable narrator. What makes this book so unsettling is how easily the reader is taken in, first believing the narrator's behavior to be just embarrassingly delusional; the ill-advised moves of a spurned, obtuse lover. Only later - even down to the last sentence - does the reader comprehend the scope of Kelsey's men...more
Aug 07, 2011
Trixie Fontaine
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
i-want-more-like-these
When I'm in the mood for Highsmith, nothing else will do. I think there's a selfish, crazy-romantic hermit in all Highsmith lovers that relates intensely to her sick guys and wants the solitude and fine things they have and to tell people to "shut their stupid mouth"s.
This book would have been better if we'd never watched Jersey Shore, though, because whenever "The Situation" is referred to I think of . . . well . . . fucking Jersey Shore.
This book would have been better if we'd never watched Jersey Shore, though, because whenever "The Situation" is referred to I think of . . . well . . . fucking Jersey Shore.
Re-reading one of my favorite books by my favorite authors. This was my second time, and I didn't love it quite as much as I did a decade ago. My one complaint is that it's too long (typical of me). But altogether still brilliant. About unrequited love and fantasy, it is told from the perspective of the one in the throes of these plagues, skewing the reader's view and expectations as he is shown as more and more insane.
Dipping back into the Highsmith after reading the new biography. I had read this one before but forgot how good it was. I think this may now be in my Highsmith top five under Cry of the Owl and Edith's Diary.
Such a compelling and actually painful portrait from the inside of delusional thinking. Highsmith's magic is to get you to care about someone so wrong, who becomes wronger, almost sucking you down with them.
Such a compelling and actually painful portrait from the inside of delusional thinking. Highsmith's magic is to get you to care about someone so wrong, who becomes wronger, almost sucking you down with them.
i have read a few of highsmith's books and this one is typical in that it follows a normal well respected citizen who turns out to have a screw loose .he is a typical highsmith obsessive . i found it very slow and unbelievable and the time it took for his double identity to be uncovered unrealistic .
i gave up the ghost 2/3 of the way through .
i recommend "strangers on a train " as a better read
i gave up the ghost 2/3 of the way through .
i recommend "strangers on a train " as a better read
This is a sophisticated stalker tale, with great (insane) first-person narration and lots of unexpected plot developments. I love watching characters descend into madness and get caught in their webs of lies. Is that bad? It certainly makes Patricia Highsmith one of my top-ten all-time favorite authors.
well, compulsive reading is the key -- i read it all day and didn't stop until the end. her characters often have this fascinating control freakiness about them, and david kelsey is no different. he didn't seem as intelligent as tom ripley, though kelsey is a scientist, and that's usually equated in my mind with mental dexterity but i think that's because he's not as good as projecting what could happen and the steps that he needs to take to prevent it. but then again, ripley is a seasoned and f...more
I read this creepy obsessional story in about 2 hours on a plane. Somehow in my reading excursions, I had missed Highsmith, but now I am sure I want to read all of her books.
Patricia Highsmith impresses at every turn. This novel centers on obsession and delusion, but seemingly within the boundaries of the everyday. Deftly crafted.
Agree, somewhat slow to start, so relatable. And because we see things through the protagonist (not omniscient narrator) it makes you think . . .
Interesting and fun, but not really satisfying, this is an exploration of a man's descent into madness.
This novel depicts how the sweet sickness of the broken heart can run "slightly" out of hand. The protagonist is wonderfully snobbish and obnoxious. Towards the ending, I really got into him though. A sweet descent into his psyche. I think I never read a better ending to a book (ANY book) than this one. Even the stream of conciousness starts to lose its focus, the unreliable narrator is revealing itself in all its pathetic (and sad) glory. David Kelsey towering out above the city as a freak, att...more
Totally creepy story about a stalker who can't take no for an answer.
Another great creepy crazy created by the delightful Ms Highsmith.
disappointed with the "easy out" ending.
Brilliant, a classic!
Sep 07, 2012
Livinginthecastle
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
1960-s-fiction
This took me a long time to read, mainly because I have been busy, but also because the main character is so excruciating in his obstinate belief that his great love Annabelle will come back to him, that it makes for a very awkward read. So as a reader, I'm desperate for him to make different choices, but have to read on as he destroys his life with his delusional behaviour. Believably distressing.
Classic Patricia Highsmith. Great to sit down with the master of her art again.
One word: disappointment. This novel started out strong, but fizzled out into a predictable psychological cliche at the end. Eh.
Amazing portrayal of a mind, but a little slow moving.
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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
More about Patricia Highsmith...
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
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Nov 05, 2007 07:55am