“Tom Ripley is one of the most interesting characters in world literature.” —Anthony Minghella, director of the 1999 film The Talented Mr. RipleySince his debut in 1955, Tom Ripley has evolved into the ultimate bad boy sociopath. Here, in the first Ripley novel, we are introduced to suave Tom Ripley, a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan. A product of a broken home, … Manhattan. A product of a broken home, branded a “sissy” by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante. A dark reworking of Henry James’s The Ambassadors, The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for murder and self-invention is chronicled in four subsequent Ripley novels.
more
You might have seen the movie with Matt Damon, but you should give the book a read too! Great characters, pacing, and slow-burn suspense that makes you squirm because you know nothing good is coming for the protagonist! Highly recommended.
Striving to avoid his debts, Tom Ripley is given an opportunity when a businessman offers him a free trip to Europe to track down the man’s errant offspring. With money in his pocket and a talent for forgery, Ripley sets out to create a new life for himself – along with a new identity.
To say this book came out in 1955, it pulls no punches in …
For me, the film cried out for a reversal of roles and Jude Law would have captured the amoral essence of Tom Ripley, in a way that Matt Damon did not. Patricia Highsmith has the spooky ability to make us forgo our moral values and take the side of a serial killer. If you read the rest of the Ripley books you’ll understand what I mean. Tell …
In a single word, The Talented Mr. Ripley is atmospheric. Even now, months after finishing this book, I can remember what it was like to “be” in that first bar on the first page, what it felt like to “be” Tom Ripley, trembling. Patricia Highsmith is deft in her characterizations and her prose. The plot holds it own, too, rife with the best …
Great time to read this classic if you haven’t already. There is a new major TV series coming soon based on the Ripley novels. This is a psychological thriller that set the tone for the entire genre.
This is a brilliant book that doesn’t get enough credit. Patricia Highsmith wrote a great sociopath, a groundbreaking character at the time. A must-read for any fan of crime novels and particularly the serial killer genre.
It’s a book that I think was well ahead of its time, as was Ms. Highsmith.
Tom Ripley, seems an ordinary man, just getting by in life, though he does so by running petty scams. In the course of the story he progresses to greater crimes and reaps greater rewards. Why would we hope he succeeds? Maybe we wonder what it would be like to take whatever we want without being bothered by feelings of guilt. But, of course, we …
Patricia Highsmith is a must read. Her characters are usually flawed but nuanced and she has a thorough understanding of human behavior and psychology.
I love series books. Reading a masterful series, I get to follow characters as they grow, or at least learn more about them in each successive book.
Since time is short. I’m going to post reviews about great series’ rather than about single books.
So:
Meet Tom Ripley, from Patricia Highsmith’s ingenious, bewitching, and disturbing series.
The …
Exceptional
Pretty boring and slow.
Wonderful!