The Talented Mr. Ripley [Paperback]

Patricia Highsmith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1992

In a chilling literary hall of mirrors, Patricia Highsmith introduces Tom Ripley.  Like a hero in a latter-day Henry James novel, is sent to Italy with a commission to coax a prodigal young American back to his wealthy father. But Ripley finds himself very fond of Dickie Greenleaf. He wants to be like him--exactly like him.  Suave, agreeable, and utterly amoral, Ripley stops at nothing--certainly not only one murder--to accomplish his goal.  Turning the mystery form inside out, Highsmith shows the terrifying abilities afforded to a man unhindered by the concept of evil.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the great crime novels of the 20th century, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley is a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov. Like the best modernist fiction, Ripley works on two levels. First, it is the story of a young man, Tom Ripley, whose nihilistic tendencies lead him on a deadly passage across Europe. On another level, the novel is a commentary on fictionmaking and techniques of narrative persuasion. Like Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley seduces readers into empathizing with him even as his actions defy all moral standards.

The novel begins with a play on James's The Ambassadors. Tom Ripley is chosen by the wealthy Herbert Greenleaf to retrieve Greenleaf's son, Dickie, from his overlong sojourn in Italy. Dickie, it seems, is held captive both by the Mediterranean climate and the attractions of his female companion, but Mr. Greenleaf needs him back in New York to help with the family business. With an allowance and a new purpose, Tom leaves behind his dismal city apartment to begin his career as a return escort. But Tom, too, is captivated by Italy. He is also taken with the life and looks of Dickie Greenleaf. He insinuates himself into Dickie's world and soon finds that his passion for a lifestyle of wealth and sophistication transcends moral compunction. Tom will become Dickie Greenleaf--at all costs.

Unlike many modernist experiments, The Talented Mr. Ripley is eminently readable and is driven by a gripping chase narrative that chronicles each of Tom's calculated maneuvers of self-preservation. Highsmith was in peak form with this novel, and her ability to enter the mind of a sociopath and view the world through his disturbingly amoral eyes is a model that has spawned such latter-day serial killers as Hannibal Lecter. --Patrick O'Kelley

Review

"[Highsmith] has created a world of her own--a world claustrophobic and irrational which we enter each time with a sense of personal danger." --Graham Greene

"Patricia Highsmith's novels are peerlessly disturing . . . bad dreams that keep us thrashing for the rest of the night, with the sense that an awful possibility has been articulated only to be left unresolved." --The New Yorker

"One of our greatest modernist writers." --Gore Vidal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (September 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679742298
• ISBN-13: 978-0679742296
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,816 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

78 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sinister Genius, January 4, 2000

By 

Patrick King (Exeter, NH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Talented Mr. Ripley (Paperback)

As good as the new movie is, Highsmith's novel offers details that let you know from the beginning that Tom Ripley is not your average 'good boy gone wrong.' His little game with the IRS in the first chapter displays a kind of cat-like cruelty abscent from Matt Damon's character. His ability at mathamatics, especially finance, was also replaced with music in the film, perhaps to move the story along, but abstract calculation is the key to Tom's 'success'. And Tom's final touch of forging Dickie's will is much more convincing than the 'gift' of part of the trust fund in the film. This is the first of Highsmith's five Ripley stories. The first three are stunning, frightening, and wonderful, as we watch Ripley evolve in power and confidence. The last two are interesting but as Tom grows mature and secure, he also grows complacent. While he is always cunning, in 'The Boy That Followed Ripley' and 'Ripley Under Water' he is very slow to anger and his 'crimes' are more like selfdefense. Another thing missing from the film that permeates the novels is Highsmith's drole humor. Tom Ripley's stories are quite funny if viewed with an eye toward reality. No one can possibly be so reprehensibly lucky. I've often tried to imagine what his astrological chart must look like.

44 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a masterpiece of suspense, December 21, 1999

By 

Michael Leonard - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Talented Mr. Ripley (Paperback)

I read this novel with a great deal of interest and anticipation and I was not disappointed. What can one say about the "talented" Patricia Highsmith that has not already been said. I loved this novel and I loved the way that Highsmith, so cleverly and astutely enters into the mind and tortured psyche of what could now be considered a modern day sociopath. Even though you know Tom Ripley is bad and what he does to Dickie is wrong, you really do wish he will get away with it. Tom Ripley is the ultimate anti-hero: calculatingly cruel yet strangely vulnerable. The author does a dashing job in conveying Tom's fears, longings, desires and upsets.

Onother highlight of the novel is its fabulous settings: Southern Italy has never looked so beautiful along with Venice, Cannes, and Paris. This novel makes for an extremely exotic, fascinating read and it also works as a wonderful portrait of a figure who has strangely removed himself from others and from society. Patricia Highsmith manages to embody the spirit of Italy while at the same time writing a terrific suspense thriller.

Michael Leonard

54 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sympathetic Psychopath, January 3, 2000

By 

C. Colt "It Just Doesn't Matter" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Talented Mr. Ripley (Paperback)

After I saw the film, "The Talented Mr. Ripley", I was anxious to read the book for two reason. First of all, I had been very impressed with the delicate manner in which Anthony Mangela reworked "The English Patient" into film, so I was curious to see if he had done so here as well. Secondly, I loved the idea of the story and was curious about the writer.

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" is a wonderful novel on several levels. It is different, it is highly suspenseful and in its own way it is believable. Did I come away from the book believing that anyone could get away with so bold and complex a crime? No. Did I find Tom Ripley to be a believable character? Absolutely.

Highsmith's gift in part is to make us empathize with Tom Ripley. In a subtle and understated way, we are drawn to Tom Ripley. While his motives and actions may be morally repellent, his feelings and judgment are oddly agreeable. His crummy friends in New York remind me of the crummy friends that I could not wait to abandon there. His sense of purpose and his deliberate role playing on the journey to Italy are probably common to every young man on his first major voyage. Ripley's attitude and experience have enough in common with us that we are drawn in. We are drawn in to the point that we eventually realize with a start that we are empathizing with a premeditated murderer.

Highsmith does not make a social commentary about the potential killer in all of us. Instead, she adds enough common touches to the killer to make us become his unwitting sympathizers.

The book also serves as a refreshing travelogue. Highsmith is clearly well traveled and she uses her experiences well. In the hands of a less adept writer, Ripley would have been annoying and the tone of the book too pretentious. As it were, Highsmith writes with great subtlety and skill.

Mangela's adaptation of the book departs significantly from the original. Never the less, it is as authentic and well made as his adaptation of "The English Patient".