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Chilling yet compelling
“Mr. Tom Ripley is at a stand-still in his life. Mooching off one friend after another for a place to stay, he has bounced around doing various dead-end jobs. He also has a tax scam going that is entertaining to him, but not lucrative. He seems to have many acquaintances, but very few close friends. Basically, he's stuck in a rut.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-10-14.
Then, he gets a proposal he just can't turn down. Herbert Greenleaf would like Tom to travel to Italy, all expenses paid. Greenleaf's son, Dickie, has been living in Italy for the past year or so, playing at being a painter. Greenleaf wants Dickie home, to work at the family's business and be near his Mother, who has cancer.
Once in Italy, Tom lives the good life. Not only does he have Mr. Greenleaf's money to blow, but Dickie to sponge off as well. The two end up living together in a small village, with Dickie's girlfriend as a neighbor. Tom begins to admire Dickie more and more, and wants to become just like him...to the point of doing something hideous. It's all a downhill spiral from there, as Tom digs himself a deeper hole.
I had to read this book for my book club, and initially didn't expect to really like it since it's not my normal type of read. I was surprised by how much I ended up loving it, and now plan on reading the other books in the series (apparently there are five more). Tom Ripley is such a fascinating character; he's repulsive yet you almost can't help rooting for him. The book is chilling, yet has a dark humor to it that lightens up the tone somewhat. It's an entertaining, thrilling book that is also very well written.” -
3 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Brilliantly blank ...
“Some writers lead you gently into their plot & setting. They let you amble a bit, getting familiar with where you are & who you're with before they get down to business. It's like being at a cocktail party with a socially skilled hostess who escorts you, introduces you, & provides some conversation starters before leaving to fend for yourself. Patricia Highsmith is not interested in being a good hostess. In this book you are plopped down into Tom Ripley's world & essentially told to sink or swim. You should swim. It's an interesting world.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-09-09.
I came to this book via the Anthony Minghella film. The film was wonderful in its own way - good acting, good writing, good setting, good music, great cinematography. I generally hate it when people turn books into movies because they often do it so poorly, but this is a good version of the book, although different in some aspects. The performance in the film that really sticks with me is that of Philip Seymour Hoffman as Freddie Miles - a minor character in the book who is more fleshed out in the movie to, I thought, good effect. Hoffman's entrance in the film is breathtaking - driving up in his fiat convertible, climbing out over the hood, all predatory sleaze & sexiness. Amazing.
The thing the film does poorly is Tom Ripley. In the film, Tom kills Dickie Greenleaf because he is a closeted homosexual who has fallen in love with Dickie & Dickie rejects him. The plot diverges further by giving Tom a different (& true) male lover who he ends up having to kill because of his game of pretending to be Dickie Greenleaf. This makes for a nice tidy Hollywood story, but the real one, the story in the book is so much chillier & more real. You see, Tom doesn't kill Dickie because he wants to be with Dickie. Tom kills Dickie because he wants to BE Dickie - & he does it admirably well.
Highsmith didn't believe in tidy moral endings & one is not provided in this novel (to its overall benefit, frankly). Rather, Highsmith builds a complex portrait of a very blank person. Tom Ripley isn't much of anything or anyone - there's no there there. He is a cipher, an actor on the stage of life performing for his supper & taking up roles as they suit his need. When given the chance to assume Dickie's good life - his wealth, his social ease, his Gucci luggage - Tom jumps at the chance. It's wonderful in its own twisted way & beautifully handled by this author.
The lack of a tidy moral ending may give some readers pause - after all, we're used to our fictional criminals being punished in various ways (cf., Hannibal Lecter). For me this is one of the major strengths of the book & in a way made it all more plausible. Think of how many crimes must be committed in any given place on any given day & how many of those crimes go undetected or unpunished. Being caught & being convicted, despite all of our wonderful science, frequently comes down to some combination of skill & luck & Tom has both in abundance. You find yourself cheering him on & that's maybe the most disturbing thing of all because Tom really isn't a very nice person. He's not much of a person at all.
Where Tom & his interior monologue is all blank & flat & gray, the world of objects (the Gucci bag, Dickie's blue-and-white striped shirt, the art books Tom is able to purchase with Dickie's money) is super real as is Italy & all the rest of Europe. Tom's awareness of his physical surroundings is deep & intense & the descriptions of Italy & of Paris are colorful & rich & warm in all the ways Tom is not.
This is a deceptively simple read that is hiding something complex & interesting. Highly recommended.” -
2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
Definitely A *Page-Turner* Even If You've Seen The Movie!
“I've just finished reading Patricia Highsmith's THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY and must say that I loved it!
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-08-11.
Even though I already saw the film The Talented Mr. Ripley, I couldn't put the book down. From the first page and introduction to the main character, Tom Ripley, Highsmith hooks the reader describing Ripley as he runs from someone following him. You wonder why is he running and what is he hiding? Why is he so paranoid? What has he done? And this is just the first page before anything criminal has happened.
If you haven't seen the film or know anything about the book, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is about a young man who ends up killing and assuming the identity of another young man, he was sent to bring home. That's in a nutshell. But the book and movie are so much more than just that. Is Tom Ripley a psychopath/sociopath? Is he a cold-blooded killer? Is he gay/bi and just hiding and therefore driven to kill? Or does he stop at nothing to get what he wants? Could it all be just the character being at the wrong place, at the wrong time?
All these questions are not easy to answer and that's the beauty that lies in the story and characterization of Tom Ripley. Patricia Highsmith created a multi-faceted character that's not only a killer and swindler, but also one that readers sympathize with and relate to. You almost feel sorry for Ripley and see why he is driven to commit these crimes. The tension is exquisite as he plays a cat-and-mouse game with police and you are constantly holding your breath wondering if he'll get away. The exotic locales like Rome and Paris are a nice get away for readers and even though the story takes place in the 50s, it doesn't feel dated at all.
Even if you've seen the various movies based on THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, I'd still recommend reading the book. It's a fun read that will keep you at the edge of your seat! ” -
1 of 1 members found this review helpful.
Strang case of Tom Ripley
“The story begins with Tom meeting Mr. Greenleaf, who is desperately trying to convince his son Richard to return to America. Mr. Greenleaf believes that Tom is a close friend of Richard and might have some influence on convincing him to return. At first, Tom is not interested, and politely states that he is not sure he is close enough to Richard to have any influence on him, but then Mr. Greenleaf suggests that Tom go to Italy to meet Richard. This sparks some interest in Tom's mind since he is bored of New York and has need of hiding out for a time, due to a tax letter scam he has been running and fears getting caught. He accepts and goes to Italy to meet Richard, having every intention on doing his best to get Richard to come home with him. However, this does not happen. Instead, Tom begins to like Richard's carefree lifestyle and pretty soon he likes Richard's clothes, his rings, and eventually he likes pretending he is Richard.
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-04-08.
Things start to spiral out of control as Richard's friend, Marje, starts to raise doubts about Tom's intentions, and when Richard starts to distance himself from Tom, Tom realizes that he does not only like Richard's lifestyle, he would like to be Richard. This leads to Tom killing Richard to literally take his place. Tom enjoys the next few months in Rome and traveling around Europe as Richard Greenleaf without remorse. However, this does not last very long. Soon, some of Richard's friends are on to Tom and suspect that something is not quite right about Richard, which leads to one of them, Frederick Miles, going up to Rome to visit Richard only to find Tom, who was supposed to have returned to America. Tom realizes he is in danger of getting caught and kills Frederick, then tries to make it seem like Frederick was robbed and murdered. Things get complicated and just when it looks like he is about to be discovered, Tom realizes people would not suspect him of killing Frederick Miles, but Richard Greenleaf. He then gives up Richard's identity and returns to being Tom, thus not only getting away with two murders and stealing money, but also coming out looking like a truly nice guy in the eyes of every other character in the story. Even readers cheer at the end as things go favorably for Tom and his future looks bright, and then it sinks in. As readers, we have been cheering a murderer on and are glad that at the end he gets away with all the harm he has done. What does that say about us?
I do not believe that Tom was a victim of his condition because that would absolve Tom of guilt and responsibility over his actions. Tom killed and hurt other people without care or remorse and we are supposed to feel sorry for him? I do not doubt that he was not well, but in many instances in the story, we are shown that Tom is aware of what he is doing, coldly calculating what his next steps will be, thinking only of his own well being. Tom was not forced to lie, steal, cheat and kill. He chose to. This is what makes him such a dangerous person.
At the very beginning of the story, Tom thinks he is being pursued by someone, whom he fears is the police. This paranoid delusion is a recurring feeling he gets throughout the story and is our fist sign that there is indeed something not quite "balanced" about Tom. We immediately see that he is inclined to criminal activity, which at first is limited to small "practical joke" type stuff like his tax letter scam, and that he knows how to lie and manipulate people through the use of mannerisms and carefully chosen words and expressions. We see this uncanny talent in use during Tom's meeting with Mr. and Mrs. Greenleaf and when he is being interviewed by the Italian police and the American detective. It is apparent that lying is as natural to Tom as breathing, and boy does he have charm! It is this awareness of his talents that shows that Tom is not the victim of his condition, but that maybe he knows how to use it to his advantage.
As the story progresses, we get some insight into the potential source of Tom's condition. He became an orphan very early on in his life and was verbally and mentally abused by his Aunt Dottie, who adopted him. We can also note that before Richard's death, Tom reveals some interesting things about how he views himself. He clearly does not like himself and sees himself as empty, lifeless and boring. Yet once he becomes Richard, these feelings go away almost as if Richard's personality was filling some empty gap in Tom's own self and was now complete. These are signs of deep rooted problems, but they do not excuse Tom of his deeds.
Frederick's murder was more from passion than anything else. Tom panicked. He was about to get caught and, in the heat of the moment, killed Frederick as his only course of action. This was most unwise of Tom and nearly leads to him getting caught. One can argue that he was not quite himself during this event and so may have been influenced by his fears and insecurities, but the choice to kill was his. For instance, something similar happens later in the story when Marje finds Richard's rings in Tom's possession. Tom again feels fear and begins to contemplate killing Marje, but just as his fears were to get the best of him, he stops and decides not to kill her. Reason takes over, he subdues his fear and realizes that another murder would make things worse, so he chooses not to kill her. He does not spare her out of compassion, but so that he can use her later on for his own ends, which he does. This shows that has control over himself. He does not act impulsively but seeks to improve his situation, albeit with little regard to whom he may hurt along the way.
Richard's murder also shows that Tom had a choice about killing Richard right up to the moment of the actual kill. It is true that his mental state was a bit unbalanced leading up to his decision to kill, but as he thinks about how much he hates Richard on the train ride, he clearheadedly plans killing Richard, not out of anger or revenge, but so Tom can assume Richard's identity. At this point, we are reminded about all the things that have led to this moment. Tom often remarked about how much he resembled Richard. They had similar features and Tom could easily wear Richard's clothes and stated that he could forge Richard's signature. He could copy his mannerisms, his voice (in two different languages) and could imitate his writing and painting styles. It was too convenient. Now, all he had to do was decide to kill him or not. Richard's murder was premeditated. Tom was in control of himself and knew what he was doing and not the victim of some uncontrollable desire to harm others. As a matter of fact, through the whole story Tom does not desire to harm others at all, they are just in his way.
I do not believe Tom was a victim of his condition and that his actions were perhaps not entirely his own. In my point of view, "doing something bad" is anything which aims to harm another thing or person for no justifiable reason. In nature, carnivores kill their prey in order to survive, definitely a good reason. Tom had no such reason to harm anyone. Blaming his condition would be an excuse to shift the blame off of Tom on to the circumstances of his childhood. We are responsible for our own actions and our choices determine if we are good or bad. He is most definitely dangerous and more bad than good due to his selfishness. Beware the wolf among us sheep.
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0 of 9 members found this review helpful.
Vastly Inferior to Book or Purple Noon
“I have read the book several times and also watched Purple Noon several times. I can say the film Talented Mr. Ripley was a huge disappointment for several reasons. One Damon does not represent the Ripley character very well. While Ripley is supposed to be cunning, charming and handsome as Alain Delon was, Damon seems like some corn-fed farm boy who is clueless in the beginning of the film. The scenes where he displays his 'talents' are unconvincing. Totally mis-cast. Another problem with the film is the ridiculous jazz element that was inserted. I have no idea why this made it into the final screenplay or what the reason was. Huge distraction. The blatent gay element in this film compared to the more subtle aspect in Purple Noon or the book was a nice touch, but simplifies things too much. Both the book and Purple Noon, Ripley is much more complex than a love-struck, jealous man who kills for this reason. I have to admit however, that I cannot stand Matt Damon, but he was pretty cute in this film. But compared to Alain Delon, there is no comparison. And what makes the book so great is Ripley gets away with everything, and goes on in several later novels to live the high life as a criminal instead of getting caught.”
An amazon user wrote this on 2009-04-01.
