If you meet Tom Ripley in the street, you will think he is a decent, shy, innocuous young guy. The first few pages make you feel that he is just another young guy who wants to play pranks by making people send cheques for fake income tax claims – cheques that are not even encashed. Those pages also tell you about the talent that Tom possesses, a talent for being neurotic, a talent for planning things in detail, talent for doing wrong just for the sake of doing wrong. The reader senses that something is wrong with Tom; you cannot put your finger precisely on what it is. Patricia Highsmith’s talent is such that you cannot precisely pinpoint what’s wrong with Tom even at the end of the book.
There are incidents from Tom’s childhood that could have made him what he is. His paranoia, his lack of confidence, his internal talk about his inadequacies, all of these unfold over pages, and you are hooked. You are reading about an anti-hero, but the narrative keeps you curious about his escapade.
Tom travels to Italy at the request of the shipping magnate Herbert Greenleaf. He thinks Tom is Dickie’s friend and has some influence on Dickie. Dickie, Herbert’s son, is away from home for a long time and does not come back to New York despite knowing about his mother’s ill health. The senior Greenleaf thinks Tom would be a more significant influence, being the same age as Dickie. He pays Tom to travel and stay in Italy. Tom is more than willing to get away from New York, where his life is full of drudgery and poverty.
Dickie and his friend Marge are stationed at the small village of Mongibello. Dickie enjoys his life there with good food, frequent visits to the beach, and plenty of time spent painting, his passion. Tom manages to get close to them and stays at Dickie’s place. It is difficult to talk about the further plot without spoilers, but several weird incidents land Tom in a tough place, and have him interact with the Police. It is interesting how Highsmith peels the layers of Tom’s character and maintains the suspense about Tom’s future. There are four or five Tom Ripley books, hence you know he will survive, but it isn’t easy to believe at times.
The book is written in a third-person pov, and Highsmith mostly sticks with Tom’s pov, but there are times when the pov seems to be of a different person, though it could just be the weirdness of Tom’s personality. The language used is sparse and minimalistic. Some reviewers have compared her writing with Hemingway, but I thought she is not as minimalistic as Hemingway. She spends many words describing things just for the sake of the situation, sometimes just for fun. She is not as discursive as Taart but is equally piercing when the narration analyzes the characters’ personalities.
The book belongs to Tom Ripley, and Highsmith focuses on him at the expense of the other characters. The other characters are sketched to the level the main plot requires, and Dickie is outlined in detail, but they do not reveal themselves to you. Highsmith’s work of art is Tom Ripley, and Highsmith excels at sketching all aspects of his personality, psychoanalyzing him through internal monologues, various dialogues, and behavioral descriptions. Tom comes alive in front of the reader, and while he is not likable, he is interesting and feels natural. He is scary at times and unpredictable. I am sure Highsmith spent much more time on him in this book since she was preparing the background for other readers. I expect the following books in the series to be more plot-focused.
I found the core mystery not that appealing. In fact, there is no mystery since most of the crimes happen right in front of you. What Tom is going to do is the central mystery, and how the police are going to figure out the crime is the secondary mystery. In both these cases, the buildup by Highsmith is good, but it sounds trivial at places, and I felt I found a major plot hole that reduced the impact for me. Overall, the sketch of Tom’s character is the highlight of the book, and the reason why one sticks to reading the book is due to the way Highsmith paints it.
Overall, this is a good read, and I would give four stars to the book(out of 5). Please read it for Highsmith’s ability to turn ordinary situations into thrilling ones, her sketching of the unscrupulous, sociopathic personality of Tom Ripley, and her minimalistic yet precise prose.
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