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Original Essays | October 14, 2009

Emily Pilloton: IMG Will Design for Change...



About six months ago, at a fundraising event for the nonprofit I founded, Project H, a six-year-old girl handed me a pickle jar full of pennies.... Continue »
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The Talented Mr. Ripley

by Patricia Highsmith

The Talented Mr. Ripley Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"Patricia Highsmith's novels are peerlessly disturbing...bad dreams that keep us thrashing for the rest of the night." The New Yorker

Review:

"The Talented Mr. Ripley not only demonstrates Highsmith's gift for using the genre conventions of the mystery novel to explore the existential ambiguities of identity, but it also attests to her keen gift for psychological insight. By chronicling the ordinary details of Ripley's life and the logical workings of his mind, she forces us to re-evaluate the lines between reason and madness, normal and abnormal, while goading us into sharing her treacherous hero's point of view." The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"For eliciting the menace that lurks in familiar surroundings, there's no one like Patricia Highsmith." Time Magazine

Review:

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

Review:

"One of our greatest modernist writers." Gore Vidal

About the Author

Patricia Highsmith (1921-1995) published five Ripley novels between 1955 and 1991. Her novels include Strangers on a Train and The Price of Salt. She was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, in 1921. Not until after her death in 1995 did she begin to win considerable literary recognition in her native country. The first publication of one of her short stories in The New Yorker occurred posthumously in 2002.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
elephantdandy, July 12, 2008 (view all comments by elephantdandy)
I have to give in to cliched lines like, 'enter the mind of Tom Ripley' to describe this book- it's not so much a thriller as a character study of a earnest, amoral and violently bloody young man. It's one harrowing ride that is, without doubt, pure undiluted fun.
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Burnside, May 11, 2006 (view all comments by Burnside)
Don't be fooled by the lame movie. This is the first of the Ripley novels. A deeply creepy read that will have you rooting for the psychopathic protagonist.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780679742296
Author:
Highsmith, Patricia
Publisher:
Random House
Location:
New York :
Subject:
General
Subject:
Fiction
Subject:
Italy
Subject:
Criminals
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - Series
Subject:
Detective and mystery stories
Subject:
Psychological
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Subject:
Psychological fiction
Subject:
Mystery
Subject:
Italy Fiction.
Subject:
Ripley, Tom
Copyright:
Edition Description:
1st Vintage crime/Black Lizard ed.
Series:
Vintage Crime/Black Lizard
Series Volume:
500
Publication Date:
September 1992
Binding:
Paperback
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
288
Dimensions:
8 x 6 in

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