The Talented Mr Ripley (Screen and Cinema) Review
One of the reasons I love reading old crime novels is because something like this could never happen in 2010. How beautiful is it to think that you could go from a hum-drum existence to a fantastic life with only good luck and a clever idea?
In this book Tom takes over the identiy of Dickie Greenleaf. We've all known a Dickie Greenleaf--someone who just takes everything he has for granted, never having to lift a finger. Most of us have also felt like Tom--someone who feels that they deserve better, tired of working hard and jealous of the Dickie Greenleafs of the world who live their life of leisure and beauty. The scenery of the grimy New York streets and the harsh realites of Tom's family of origin contrasts sharply with the politeness and ease of the Greenleafs and the beauty and freedom of Europe. And Dickie. That's why this novel works-- there are alot more Toms then Dickies.
Highsmith shows us through Tom's ancedotes and thoughts how pitful he is inside and how he hungers for love and acceptance. There is no question that Tom is a textbook sociopath, but because you UNDERSTAND why he does the things he does, you really want him to get away with it. We never really get inside Dickie's head. We just see him through the eyes of Tom so we don't care too much for him. We see him as Tom sees him--a means to an end. Every time Tom almost gets caught in his treachery Highsmith creates this terrible anxiety in the book and you can really feel the anxiety Tom feels and you don't want him to get caught. You want him to get away with the horrible things he's done. For some reason, Highsmith's character is able to manipulate us into believeing that what's he's done is okay. The ends jusify the means. You feel like Tom deserves and can appreciate what Dickie has in a way Dickie doesn't. It's a strange feeling to side with the bad guy but you do.
I have not seen the movie and I'm really glad I read this book first. Even though there are five books in the series, and you go into this book KNOWING he's going to get away with it she still has you holding your breath until the last few pages of the book. Read this book!
This book is good and I would recommened it to anyone. Easy and fast read because it's intresting.
The Talented Mr Ripley (Screen and Cinema) Overview
The first stage adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's famous crime novel
Tom Ripley is a criminal with an ambiguous past. He is sent to Italy by a wealthy financier to try and coax home the rich man's son. In the process Ripley becomes both attracted and seduced, finding the murder the only way to deal with the situation. From that point Ripley tries to cover up his crime. Patricia Highsmith's beguiling tale of morality and amorality is given a dramatic rendering by contemporary dramatist Phyllis Nagy, who knew Highsmith in her later years in Paris.
"Each play I see by Phyllis Nagy confirms me in the belief that she is the finest playwright to have emerged in the 1990s" (Financial Times)
The Talented Mr Ripley (Screen and Cinema) Specifications
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
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