The Talented Mr. Ripley

Rating:
Summary: The Talented Patricia Highsmith
Review: Ever since seeing the movie version several years ago, I have always wanted to read the novel. I am someone who believes that the book is always better than the movie. And the same is true with "The Talented Mr. Ripley." I truly think that Anthony Mingella's film was well-made, but there are so many nuances to Tom Ripley's character that could never receive justice on film.

Highsmith tells the story of the utterly forgettable Thomas Ripley, a young man who yearns for wealth and prestige to the extent that he schemes his way through life. A golden opportunity comes along when he is tracked down by the father of Richard "Dickie" Greenleaf. Dickie's father pays Tom to travel to Italy to force his wayward son to come home. Tom sets out to fulfill this plan, but on meeting Dickie, he becomes too enthralled with his lifestyle, that he helps Dickie elude his father even more. Tom is happy in paradise, or so it would see. He loves Dickie's life so much (and perhaps Dickie himself) that he would do anything to have his lifestyle - including murder.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a detailed character study of an unlikeable character. Readers are meant to dislike Tom for all the reasons that other characters do, as does Tom himself. Yet at the same time, Tom grows on the reader because we want to know what happens to him. Even as he winds himself further and further into trouble, we want to know how he'll be able to get out of it. Tom himself finds his situation unbelievable; rarely admitting to himself that the bad deeds he has done are real. He keeps waiting for his luck to run out. So do we.

Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: What a great book! I've heard a lot about Patricia Highsmith before and I also saw the movie The Talented Mr.Ripley. I found it really strange, but I knew that this author wrote a lot of books with strange personalities in there. Now I've read a book from her and I only can say that I founded amazing. In the story you know from the beginning that this the two guys will kill somebody, but the interesting thing is not to know who killed, but why they kill and how the become killers. The whole tells about 300 pages why the become killers. I think Patricia Highsmith would say: "You and me can become killer, everyone has a part inside who can kill somebody." What a strange view of the human being. Read the book!

Rating:
Summary: Great Character
Review: Tom Ripley is one of those characters that leaves you wondering. Should I admire this guy? Is he a total schmuck? Should I pity him? How can he live in his own skin? These characteristics and contradictions within one character testify to the depth and talent of Highsmith's writing. The other characters are less well developed - a bit two dimensional. But Ripley's character is enough to keep the book interesting.

The plot line comes and goes. There were some points where I got bored and tired of the self-pitying characters. But this is who they were and this is how we should see them.

Another nice plus is that the book is not set in any particular time. It was first published in the mid 1950s, but it has a feel of the 1960s "beautiful people" or of the 1920s. This lends a feeling of mystery to the writing.

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Empathic Antihero!
Review: The character development of Tom Ripley is what makes The Talented Mr. Ripley one of the great crime novels of the 20th century. Ms. Highsmith is an acute observer and is able to translate her sensitivity into a multidimensional portrait of a successful criminal in a way that is virtually unmatched. One of the most astonishing qualities of this book is that you will find yourself pulling for Ripley, even though he is as amoral a character as you will read about.

We meet Tom Ripley almost as casually as new friends do. It's only by following him around, hearing his thoughts and observing what he does that we realize who he is. Ripley is an immensely capable man who floats like a newly cut wood chip on the surging tides of life, always buoyant regardless of the circumstances. He is extremely impulsive. If there's candy there, he cannot resist it. At the same time, he has so little invested in who he is that he can even be happier pretending to be someone else. He's a man without a core. He is also unattached to the world's judgments. He looks for neither approval nor acclaim. Solitude suits him well.

The story opens as the father of a casual acquaintance tracks Ripley down in a bar. The father wants to persuade his son to return from Italy to take up a career in the family business. Through this contact, Ripley finds himself sent off to Europe as a paid-for emissary with an expense account. Once there, Ripley makes no headway but does develop a friendship with his casual acquaintance before strains start to develop. What follows is one of the most interesting and intricate plot lines that it will ever be your pleasure to read.

The book's largest theme is about identity. Who are we really? Can we be someone different from whom we seem to be? How do we misjudge one another? I don't remember any other crime novel that explores such subtle questions so well.

I recently reread this novel for the third time. I found depths in the themes and story telling that I had missed before. Even if you have read it before, I suggest you do so again. If you haven't read any of the Ripley novels, you have a great treat ahead of you. The next book in the series is Ripley under Ground.

Enjoy a great read!


Rating:
Summary: The Talented Mr. Ripley
Review: I thought this book was really good. It was a pretty quick read and flowed very nicely. This book really kept my attention and I always wanted to know if Tom Ripley was ever going to get caught.

I'm looking foward to seeing the movie version.


Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: Ever since seeing the movie version several years ago, I have always wanted to read the novel. I am someone who believes that the book is always better than the movie. And the same is true with "The Talented Mr. Ripley." I truly think that Anthony Mingella's film was well-made, but there are so many nuances to Tom Ripley's character that could never receive justice on film.

Highsmith tells the story of the utterly forgettable Thomas Ripley, a young man who yearns for wealth and prestige to the extent that he schemes his way through life. A golden opportunity comes along when he is tracked down by the father of Richard "Dickie" Greenleaf. Dickie's father pays Tom to travel to Italy to force his wayward son to come home. Tom sets out to fulfill this plan, but on meeting Dickie, he becomes too enthralled with his lifestyle, that he helps Dickie elude his father even more. Tom is happy in paradise, or so it would see. He loves Dickie's life so much (and perhaps Dickie himself) that he would do anything to have his lifestyle - including murder.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a detailed character study of an unlikeable character. Readers are meant to dislike Tom for all the reasons that other characters do, as does Tom himself. Yet at the same time, Tom grows on the reader because we want to know what happens to him. Even as he winds himself further and further into trouble, we want to know how he'll be able to get out of it. Tom himself finds his situation unbelievable; rarely admitting to himself that the bad deeds he has done are real. He keeps waiting for his luck to run out. So do we.