EDITHS DIARY [Hardcover]

Patricia highsmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1977

In the neat little Pennsylvania house, with senile, dribbling Uncle George and her sly son Cliffie, Edith watches the stranglehold of everyday life tighten its grip. She retreats into her diary where she builds a perfect fantasy of a very different life.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'As original, as funny, as cleverly written and as moving as any novel I have read since I started reviewing' Auberon Waugh, Evening Standard 'With Edith's Diary, Patricia Highsmith has produced a masterpiece' Times Literary Supplement 'Highsmith probes to the very core of her heroine with a controlled ferocity and single-mindedness that illumines every page of her novel' The Times 'A work of extraordinary force and feeling ... her strongest, her most imaginative and by far her most substantial novel' New Yorker --This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

About the Author

Patricia Highsmith was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1921. Her first novel, Strangers On A Train, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. The Talented Mr Ripley, published in 1955, was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Scroll by the Mystery Writers of America and introduced the fascinating anti-hero Tom Ripley, who was to appear in many of her later crime novels. Patricia Highsmith died in Locarno, Switzerland, in February 1995. Her last novel, Small g: A Summer Idyll, was published posthumously just over a month later. --This text refers to the Perfect Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 348 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (June 15, 1977)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067122686X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671226862
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,779,612 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) was the author of more than twenty novels, including Strangers on a Train, The Price of Salt and The Talented Mr. Ripley, as well as numerous short stories.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-read Highsmith, June 12, 2001

By 

tenordan (rural, old fashioned, small town Maine) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edith's Diary (Highsmith, Patricia) (Paperback)

I hope the movie The Talented Mr Ripley has brought new readers to the works of Patricia Highsmith. I started reading her books after falling in love with Hitcock's movie Strangers on a Train and hunting for the book it was based on. I have since read every Highsmith I have come across.

Edith's Diary is the one that has stuck with me. It is not like her other books which are more traditional psychological thrillers with male protagonists. It is certainly not like the Ripley books. Edith has none of the glamor and allure of Tom Ripley. She is a normal, everyday housewife who is increasingly disappointed with her life. She starts to keep a diary which becomes more real for her than her disintegrating daily life. Highsmith makes Edith's descent into insanity understandable, believable, almost inevitable, and just as creepy as any of her other stories. A beautifully written book by a great writer.

If you like Highsmith read this one. Also do not miss A Dog's Ransom, The Cry of the Owl, Found in the Street, Strangers on a Train.... etc. I am still looking for a Highsmith book I don't like. She was a genius.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highsmith delivers: may not action-packed as Ripley series., March 31, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edith's Diary (Highsmith, Patricia) (Paperback)

Starts slow. Not much excitement till toward the last few chapters. But Highsmith delivers the intense and compelling conclusion to her novel. This novel was first published in Great Britan in 1977 when she was 56 because American publishers shied away... In a sense, Edith is more memorable than Tom Ripley.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Highsmith at her claustrophobic peak, July 4, 2000

By 

Adriana Villanueva (Caracas, Miranda Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edith's Diary (Highsmith, Patricia) (Paperback)

Edith's Diary is by no means an easy book. But like all of Patricia Highsmith's novels is a masterpiece of claustrophobic suspense. I read it almost 15 years ago when I was a college student in Caracas, and believe it or not this story of a woman trapped in her home with a son from hell was a cult following novel for my generation, as well as almost all of Highsmith work. Our teachers couldn't understand our love for the american writer who choosed to live in Switzerland, she was to weird, too disturbing. I found that it was easier to find her novels in Europe and South America than in U.S.A. Now in 2000, thanks to Ripley's game and thanks to movie director Anthony Minghella, a new generation will know one of America's best and most underated authors.