melanierose's Full Review: Patricia Highsmith - The Talented Mr. Ripley
I've never seen the film adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith. Based on the things that I've heard, I'm glad that I got the chance to read the book before actually watching the film. Therefore, there will be no references to the movie. I will only be talking about the book.
In University, I am currently taking a course called The Literature of Fear and Suspense. It's an excellent course if you enjoy reading classic tales of terror and the supernatural. During the first six weeks of the course, we vigorously studied classic horror writers such as Kipling and Poe. While I enjoyed these stories, I found it hard to relate to them, or to have much of an interest in any of them. I attribute this to the fact that most of these old horror stories are written in very formal, 'old' english. This makes them more difficult to grasp, and much more difficult to relate to at all. The beauty of this book is that it was written in the 1950's, and the language used is very informal. There were no words that I had to look up in the dictionary, and no points in the story during which I had no clue as to what was happening. The dialogue was extremely straight forward and easy to understand. For me, this makes it easier to relate to the book, because you're not getting caught up in the complex language, but in the story itself.
The plot goes like this: Tom Ripley is sent to Italy by Mr. Greenleaf to bring back Dickie Greenleaf, his son. Mr. Greenleaf pays all of Tom's expenses during this trip, and wants him to encourage Dickie to return to America to be with his family. Once Tom gets to Italy, he realizes that he wants to be Dickie. To him, Dickie has everything. Tom ends up killing Dickie, and taking on his identity. He is a wonderful actor and is extremely convincing to other people. Tom is forced to lie, commit murders, and constantly be on his toes in order to pull off this seemingly impossible task...
I won't say anything more about the story. You should just read it yourself.
When I first began reading this book, I did so right before I went to sleep. I only read about 20 pages or so of it, but that night I actually had a dream about going to Italy like Tom Ripley did. This has never happened to me before. I have never had dreams about books or stories that I have read. This really told me something about the story: it is extremely captivating and well-written. I was dreaming about the story even before any of the action really took place. It was so easy for me to relate to what was being told that I actually ended up dreaming about it. Wow. It was quite strange.
The descriptions used in this story aren't overly sensationalized. While Highsmith does show the story instead of telling it, she does leave much to the reader's imagination. This is somewhat of a light read, but it gives you a lot to think about once you're finished. I love books like these. If I'm thinking about a character or events in a book that I've read days after I finished reading it, I know that it was a really good story.
All of the characters are very real, and they are fantastically developed. Especially Tom Ripley's character. We are guided through his mind as he goes about doing the awful things that he does. We are exposed to the many changes that he goes through. Highsmith does a wonderful job here. Although Tom Ripley is a liar and a murderer, he is presented in an extremely innocent, sincere manner. The reader almost feels sorry for him, and he is very likable. I didn't want Tom to get caught. While I was reading the story, I was crossing my fingers that the police wouldn't catch up with him. Highsmith must be commended for that, since I really should have loathed the man.
In conclusion, I would recommend The Talented Mr. Ripley to anyone who likes to read a good story. It's good for people who like to read suspense novels too. It's not very graphic as far as the descriptions of the murders go... It's more like observations of the mind of a psychopath. Although I have stated that this is a relatively easy book, it is much too complex to be understood by young readers. I'm going to give this book 4 stars. It was excellently written and the story is extremely engaging. The book loses a star because it seems to drag on a bit near the middle of the book... and also because of how expensive it is: $20 (Canadian) for a paperback book is a bit steep for me.
Now I just have to see the movie so that I can complain about how terrible it is.... =)
Mystery & Detective - General Fiction - Ripley is back. This new publication of Patricia Highsmith's classic inaugurates the complete Ripley series at...More at Barnes and Noble
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