Christopher’s Reviews > Strangers on a Train > Status Update

C'mon, Guy. Snap out of this torpor!

After a dull few chapters in which both Guy and Bruno spend time with their mothers, Bruno finally sets out on his mission. The way Bruno thinks of Guy reminds me of the way Tom Ripley thinks of Dickie Greenleaf; there's that psychopathically obsessive quality. And the way he thinks of Miriam also reflects the way Ripley thinks of Marge: an almost misogynistic disgust with women. A Highsmith trope, perhaps?

I don't quite get what Guy Haines' deal is. Why does Miriam's potential presence in Palm Beach force him to decline the job? He complains that he "just couldn't bare it" if she were there, but is that any reason to throw away the biggest job opportunity of his life?