The Talented Mr.Ripley: An Un-thrilling Thriller

The Talented Mr. Ripley 
Patricia Highsmith

Started: 16th January 2013

Finished: 19th January 2013

     At two hundred and ninety pages, this book had ample chance to wow me. And as an avid under-liner and highlighting fanatic, believe me - my little fingers were there, ready to play ball. But I didn't manage to attain anything particularly poignant from this non-event in my reading life. 

     I assume its intrigue lay in its interplay between the shocking and the banal  - but I think it is important to remember as a writer, conveying banality always runs the risk of the reader coming very close to 'getting' what you are trying to do, but being prevented from doing so because of being so bloody bored  themselves. 

     The story follows an interlude in the life of Tom Ripley, who seems to have very little referenced past or context. Probably the 'point' but still, dull for the reader. He is approached by a neurotic  father who wants his son, Dickie, to return to the US after having moving to a small town in Italy, making very little contact with his parents and generally 'not fulfilling his potential'. Tom, as a known (but vague) acquaintance of Dickie, is offered a free passage to Italy should he agree to go and find his friend and try and persuade him to come home. *MINOR SPOILER* (Although not if you know anything about the books rep): Tom accepts, arrives, acts with a vulnerable 'clingy-ness' towards Dickie and eventually clocks him over the head with an ore, beats him a little with it, killing him, hides the body and assumes Dickie's identity. All with an uncomfortable calmness and clinical commentary (unreliable narrative voice, yada yada). Deception and further mischief ensues - but mainly a lot of trivial descriptions about the logistics of travel, dull activities that they indulge in together and a lot of visits to cafes and hotels. 

My friend, who was also reading it, commented that the narrative tone plus crimes reminded her of Poe. I would agree to an extent, but Poe's stories often featured the additional pull of interesting killers with complex motives and an intriguing (and sometimes very witty) command of the English Language. I realise that there were probably a lot of words used in this novel - but I would be interested to see a pie chart demonstrating how many of those words were repeated. Of course, again, the lack of vocabulary could also have been a literary device, used to demonstrate the calm and hackneyed way his mind works and in turn symbolising the monotonous currents of the modern psyche and the horrific acts it can drive the average civilian to commit ... but unfortunately, this also makes this book not for me.   

The film, however, I hear features Jude Law.

Pass me the popcorn.