The Talented Mr Ripley

The Talented Mr Ripley is, like Get Shorty, one of those films I haven’t seen because I’ve been waiting until I’ve finished the book.  Also, I sort of thought that I’d already seen and hated it when I was much younger.  But it turns out that was Catch Me If You Can.  Added to that, it turns out that Patricia Highsmith also wrote Strangers on a Train, which is an awesome film.  Basically, this all meant I quickly overcame my initial trepidation about The Talented Mr Ripley.  And I’m very glad I did because this is a pretty decent read.  It’s not the most highbrow or heavy going thing out but it’s a good old yarn.

According to imdb, the book and film are actually slightly different.  So, a quick recap of the plot may be necessary.  Tom Ripley is paid by the wealthy Mr Greenleaf to travel to Europe and persuade his errant son Dickie to return to America.  This leads to an odd friendship between the two men, which is constantly under threat from Dickie’s sometime girlfriend and Tom’s money worries.  Knowing time is short Tom murders Dickie and assumes his identity.  Things go downhill from here.

The friendship between Tom and Dickie is completely ambiguous.  Tom is obsessed with Dickie, that much is clear but whether it’s because he’s in love with him or because he wants to be him is never clarified.  Once Tom takes over Dickie’s life, he certainly enjoys the riches but he is genuinely hurt by the breakdown of their friendship.  Dickie’s girlfriend Meredith is certain they’re having an affair, but Tom believes himself incapable of forming attachments to other people.  This is one of the more interesting elements of the novel.  Although he enjoys the money, Tom quickly comes to realise that he will always be alone for as long as he is Dickie Greenleaf.  He accepts this as a necessity of his life- even before the whole murder thing, he knows he will never fully connect to anyone.

It’s a terrific thriller in that a good half of the book is dedicated to the net slowly closing in on Ripley as the lies and bodies mount up.  It kind of reminds me of the books that inspired a lot of the noir films.  The protagonist is undoubtedly a crook motivated predominantly by money, but he’s immensely likeable.  The joy of the book is finding out how Tom’s going to get out of appears to be an impossible situation.  Knowing that there are sequels kind of ruined the tension in this case, but even so I still had a nagging feeling every now and then that Tom was in too deep.  

I read The Talented Mr Ripley in one go in the back of a car and it was exactly the right sort of book to read in those circumstances.  It’s not too deep, but it’s engaging.  This is the kind of book that’s rightly referred to as a real page turner.  It’s not even a case of sacrificing style for substance, because there’s bucketloads of both.  In short, it was just a really satisfying read.

I’m currently reading Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook.  I haven’t actually finished this one yet which is sort of a novelty at this point.