A review of “The Talented Mr Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith
Crime fiction is a massively popular genre, but I generally avoid it. I made an exception for this 1955 psychological thriller because it has become such a well-established classic: it won a number of awards, it resulted in four sequels, and it has been the subject of many radio, television and film adaptations. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It is an unusual crime novel in that the point of view is that of the criminal himself and, somewhat implausibly and certainly audaciously, he manages to deceive just about everybody.
Twenty-five year old American Thomas Ripley, a loner with seemingly no morals and dubious sexuality, is above all a fantasist and the chief object of his fantasies is a fellow American, now resident in Italy, one Dickie Greenleaf.
Ripley is prepared to take incredible risks to fulfil his infatuation: “It was as if he were really inviting trouble , and couldn’t control himself.” We learn that: “His stories were good because he imagined them intensely , so intensely that he came to believe them.”
Highsmith clearly chose the name of her protagonist quite deliberately. Ripley’s Believe It Ot Not! was a newspaper panel that highlighted strange and unusual events and this novel is imbued with strange and unusual occurrences, the credibility of which is mooted over by a range of supporting characters.
The author plays with the emotions of the reader: we admire Ripley’s ingenuity, we share his fear, but do we want him to be caught or not?