Patricia Highsmith (who died in 1995) wrote many novels of psychological suspense and high literary quality, but she is only starting to achieve the acclaim she richly deserves. The 1999 movie version of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" helped restore her most famous novel to the spotlight, despite the uneven quality of the film itself. This 1955 book remains Highsmith's most stunning work, and it ranks high among classic noir literature and psychological studies.

Like some other noir classics (such as Jim Thompson's "The Killer inside Me" and Ira Levin's "A Kiss before Dying"), "The Talented Mr. Ripley" is written from the point-of-view of an amoral character who finds that murder is merely another tool to achieve his ends. Highsmith crafts one of the most convincing and sympathetic psychotics ever written in the character of young Tom Ripley. Ripley is a low-level con-man with anti-social tendencies and a lust for living the good life that he's been denied. When the rich father of Dickie Greenleaf, an old acquaintance of Tom's, asks Tom if he'll travel to Italy to convince his wayward son to come back to the U.S., he takes the job. In the sunny romance of Italy, Tom finds himself becoming friends with Dickie. But the friendship changes to envy -- Tom Ripley will do anything if he can just HAVE Dickie Greenleaf's lifetstyle...or even better, BECOME Dickie Greenleaf. Tom gets himself enmeshed in an increasing web of murder and fear, always trying to stay one step ahead of a scheme that seems to be constantly collapsing behind him.

What is so amazing about Highsmith's achievement in this novel is that she makes the reader root for Tom Ripley, despite his superficialty and complete lack of scruples. Tom's goals (but not methods) are ones most readers can understand: easy luxury, affluences, respect, nights in European clubs, days relaxing in cafés. And when his plans start to fall apart and threaten to consume him, the reader wants him to succeed because he has such ambitions, and the fear he feels of getting caught is heartbreakingly real. Watching Tom cleverly connive his way out of one difficultly after another keeps the reader turning the pages, and Highsmith's superb literary style paints a detailed portrait of Southern Europe more appealing than any travelogue.

If you've seen the film, understand that you're only getting the surface of Tom Ripley. The book has the luxury of diving right into his mind -- and it's an unsettling and fascinating place to be. You won't forget the time you'll spend with "The Talented Mr. Ripley."

This is a pretty enjoyable book.I decided to read after rewatching the 1999 movie recently when it was on HBO. I haven't read anything by Patricia Highsmith before, so I don't know if this is overall typical of her style but it is kind of an eccentric read - like reading a murder mystery totally from the POV of the criminal who is completely honest and unrepentant to the reader. It was a bit drier than the movie in tone and the other characters are much less fleshed out and only exist through Ripley's perspective on them. I don't want to give too many spoilers for those unfamiliar with the book and movie, but Tom Ripley is a very odd character and it is his POV throughout the story. At times sharply observant and other times careless, sometimes conscientious but other times coldly homicidal, Tom Ripley the con man both charms and creeps people out throughout the novel. The writing is deceptively simple and tells the story with a quickness in pace and clarity that is admirable. The novel moved quickly and kept me interested throughout, even though I knew a lot of what would happen based on the movie. I am not sure I would have liked it so much if I hadn't watched the movie first though, as part of the fun was comparing the differences between the two. I have a lot of thoughts on Tom's sexuality (or lack thereof?) and how it was portrayed in the book vs movie and how differently that might happen today if the book was written again, but that is too complicated and time-requiring for an amazon book review.

I doubt that I will ever like another antiheroe as much as Tom Ripley. Maybe Dorian Gray? Almost.

Tom Ripley is sent to Europe by Mr. Greenleaf to bring his son, "Dickie", back to the United States. Tom is a nobody who is bedazzled by Dickie's rich and bohemian lifestyle once he meets him in Southern Italy. Tom becomes Dickie's friend, and everything seems fine until Tom decides he wants to be more than his friend.

As in the "Picture of Dorian Gray", you will not learn life lessons or come out as a better person from reading "The Talented Mr. Ripley", and that is why I like him: he is a real character, like there are so many among us, who also deserves to be the star of books. Why is he one of my favorite characters in literature?

“I can’t make up my mind whether I like men or women,” he jokes, “so I’m thinking of giving them both up.”

“They were not friends. They didn't know each other. It struck Tom like a horrible truth, true for all time, true for the people he had known in the past and for those he would know in the future: each had stood and would stand before him, and he would know time and time again that he would never know them, and the worst was that there would always be the illusion, for a time, that he did know them, and that he and they were completely in harmony and alike. For an instant the wordless shock of his realization seemed more than he could bear.”

"He loved possessions, not masses of them, but a select few that he did not part with. They gave a man self-respect. Not ostentation but quality, and the love that cherished the quality. Possessions reminded him that he existed, and made him enjoy his existence. It was as simple as that. And wasn't that worth something? He existed. Not many people in the world knew how to, even if they had the money. It really didn't take money, masses of money, it took a certain security."

“He remembered that right after that, he had stolen a loaf of bread from a delicatessen counter and had taken it home and devoured it, feeling that the world owed a loaf of bread to him, and more.”

“If you wanted to be cheerful, or melancholic, or wistful , or thoughtful, or courteous, you simply had to act those things with every gesture.”

In addition to this wonderful character, Patricia Highsmith's skills as a writer are to be highlighted. Tom's joy about the anticipation of having his dreams come true and his apprehension about the possibility of such dreams being shattered are a delight to read. I could not help siding with him the entire time, despite the fact that he is anything but a role model.

I do have an issue with the credibility of the plot at times. Perhaps, the guilibility of the characters in this novel reflects that of people's at a certain place and time - rich Americans and the Italian police of 1955 Italy - but sometimes the plot surpasses the line of reality and reason. In addition, I wish that Dickie and Marge had been developed a bit more in depth, considering the important role they play in justifying some of Tom's actions, because Tom's attitude towards them can seem gratuitous.

Despite these minor flaws, this is one of my favorite novels by the talented Ms. Highsmith, who is also one of my favorite writers.

I have watched the movie adaption of this book (one of my favs), I was excited to read the book and compare the differences between them, myself.

I really love author Highsmith's writing, she writes in a way that flows well with no confusion to what is happening in the story. Her writing gives just enough detail for me as the reader to know what is going on but does not spoil the surprise as to what direction this mystery/suspense is going.

This book has characters that are wonderfully different which I really enjoyed. Tom Ripley is a nut! I mean his character is very sinister, calculated, split personality almost. I found him the most intriguing of everyone. He has conversations with himself quite frequently, talks in other peoples voices, is a good impersonator. I also found it interesting he makes ups stories and talks them out with each one of the people out loud. Total psycho!!!! However, there is a quality about him that makes you feel almost sorry for him. Like you want him to succeed even though he is bad.

I didn't like Marg as a character. I felt her lost as to everything. Almost dumb to the world around her and jealous of Ripley? Come on really? She was insecure and pathetic to me. I much rather prefer the movie character when it came to Marge.

Dickie is an idiot in this book and frankly I would be bored of him and not Tom. Dickie reminds me of a typical rich kid that thinks he is everything.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable read. However, I don't know if it is the fact that I saw the movie first or just the book itself. Nothing left me in aww. Nothing left me wanting to move forward with reading more about Tom Ripley. The book was written nicely, flowed well, and at times I didn't want to put it down. I needed more, more suspense, more edge, more drama of something. There are considerable differences between the movie and the book. I am glad I read it because the back story of how Tom came to be with Dickie was explained. The relationship between Marg and Dickie was completely different, as well as, a lot of other things. If you liked the movie or haven't seen the movie yet I do recommend this read. I eased through it quickly!

Brought this novel for my class that I’m taking this semester. I was told by my professor that it’s worth the read.

In March 2014, a great group discussed "The Talented Mr. Ripley" by Patricia Highsmith at The LGBT Center in NYC. (Highsmith, a lesbian, also wrote "Strangers on a Train," which Alfred Hitchcock turned into a masterful movie that kept the gay subtext. There are interesting parallels between "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train.")

Everyone liked this book a lot and some loved it, but most had a few quibbling reservations. Mostly, we were surprised at the empathy Highsmith could get us to feel toward a murderer. We all want to cheer for the underdog, but this seemed like an extreme accomplishment for the author.

Someone raised the question (especially after reading "The Charioteer" by Mary Renault a few months ago), why is it that women in the '50's could write about gay men so openly and so well? Is there any parallel to gay or straight men at any time writing so clearly about lesbians?

"The Talented Mr. Ripley" must be a period piece: Modern police practice (think of "CSI" or any "Law and Order" franchise or even "Columbo") would never allow Tom Ripley to get away with his paper-thin deceptions. So the fascination with the story comes from several other points.

Tom is clearly queer and Highsmith has interesting ways to signal his queerness and his life on the "down low" in 1955. Again, Highsmith writes openly and yet subtly about Tom's queerness, but those of use who have learned to read between the lines clearly recognize Tom as gay gay gay. We raised the question but never fully decided whether or not his first victim, Dickie (Dickie?!?) Greenleaf, was queer or Tom was jealous of Dickie, or he was a love-interest that needed to be moved out of the way for Tom to assume his rightful role.

The most interesting aspect of the novel is the adopting of a new identity. The psychology of Tom Ripley is fascinating. He's a narcissist but the reasons for it (such as being raised by a dragon-lady aunt) as well as his early con games and acting lessons that lead to his full-fledged sociopathology is something to follow carefully. Slowly he tests becoming another person before he quickly fills the role and then jumps back out of it, as required. There's also something very 1950's (and unhealthily) queer about Tom's attitudes toward women. Without the nearly perfect psychologizing, the book could merely be viewed as a tract on how sometimes evil does triumph over good.

There were a few reservations: At times the book can seem a bit plodding with unnecessary characters and red herring occurrences. Whether this is because authors of the period felt the need to give a full-length book, or the convention of psychological and suspenseful mysteries require them seemed unclear.

Ultimately, the book is about identity: how we form it in ourselves, and how a duplicitous character can bend it to become someone else. And, like all thrillers, how can luck play a major part in covering and uncovering a murderer.

One of the reasons I love reading old crime novels is because something like this could never happen in 2010. How beautiful is it to think that you could go from a hum-drum existence to a fantastic life with only good luck and a clever idea?

In this book Tom takes over the identiy of Dickie Greenleaf. We've all known a Dickie Greenleaf--someone who just takes everything he has for granted, never having to lift a finger. Most of us have also felt like Tom--someone who feels that they deserve better, tired of working hard and jealous of the Dickie Greenleafs of the world who live their life of leisure and beauty. The scenery of the grimy New York streets and the harsh realites of Tom's family of origin contrasts sharply with the politeness and ease of the Greenleafs and the beauty and freedom of Europe. And Dickie. That's why this novel works-- there are alot more Toms then Dickies.

Highsmith shows us through Tom's ancedotes and thoughts how pitful he is inside and how he hungers for love and acceptance. There is no question that Tom is a textbook sociopath, but because you UNDERSTAND why he does the things he does, you really want him to get away with it. We never really get inside Dickie's head. We just see him through the eyes of Tom so we don't care too much for him. We see him as Tom sees him--a means to an end. Every time Tom almost gets caught in his treachery Highsmith creates this terrible anxiety in the book and you can really feel the anxiety Tom feels and you don't want him to get caught. You want him to get away with the horrible things he's done. For some reason, Highsmith's character is able to manipulate us into believeing that what's he's done is okay. The ends jusify the means. You feel like Tom deserves and can appreciate what Dickie has in a way Dickie doesn't. It's a strange feeling to side with the bad guy but you do.

I have not seen the movie and I'm really glad I read this book first. Even though there are five books in the series, and you go into this book KNOWING he's going to get away with it she still has you holding your breath until the last few pages of the book. Read this book!

This book is good and I would recommened it to anyone. Easy and fast read because it's intresting.

Patricia High Smith's Tom Ripley is a classic sociopath living in a world of class, caste, and taste. Her psychological analysis is spot on and her characterizations are fully bodies and rich. The story itself is well written and well paced...and the ending is not what one would expect. It is also jot the ending given us in the movies. Yes, two of them the Matt Damon USA version and the original French one. An absolute must read for the serious student of psychology and also just for the pleasure seeker. Pick it up today.

Patricia Highsmith is one of my favorite authors of all, together with Graham Greene and Jeffrey Archer. But the Ripley-novels at the beginning were - unexpectedly - not quite my real favorites of her. I found them boring in some way because Tom Ripley allways seems to get away with everything he does, with no consequences for him what so ever. But in this time I haven't read the first one - the original - yet. And, having done so, I kind of started to see what makes it so special. The novel is groundbreaking in so much more ways than just telling a crime-story from the view of the murderer! It analyses the personality of a broken soul, its uncontrolable requires and their bad outcome. Besides I was surprised to get so many hints of homosexuality, which I never would have expected in a novel so highly appreciated by modern literature! All that makes it really worth reading in my eyes, to everyone.

But no novel would be complete without good characters. And Tom Ripley is, from every point of view, an interesting and ambivalent person whose requires are ... kind of understandible but also scary in their results. And it definitely isn't just a killer-diary or something - the building of the suspence is its true worth! It allways left me in an uneasy feeling and the wish, never to be in a situation like his. So it may sound strange, but: the moments, in which nothing happens, are definitely the best in the whole novel! The tension is remarkable and lasts over so many pages. The murders are just the electrical discharge and the trouble they make build the actual tension of the novel.

I highly recommend this book, like I do all Patricia-Highsmith-novels! It's a Classic in a macabre way and Tom Ripley an icon of modern thrillers.

the book surely is going to be a good read-- book quality for its price at 91 aed-- is not justifiable!

The front cover is great-- when you open the book open the first page-- you have the last page of the novel LOL- if someone sees me read this book in public, it will look like I am reading the book upside down!

this should be refunded really! should be sold cheaper than what I paid - due to its quality!

Um livro intrigante. Com uma história surpreendente. Rápido e bem divertido!

This book is about the adventures of Tom Ripley, a young man living in NY who is down on his luck - he gets the chance to go to Europe to persuade an acquaintance back to US and the story starts there.

It is less than 250 pages, split into 30 chapters. The book can be read as a straight forward thriller with a breathless pace to the plot. It is so much more than that though. The characterisation of Tom Ripley is a psychological analysis that was very advanced for it's time. Profiling of criminals is very common now but would have been cutting edge when this was written.

There is a lot of mystery and unanswered questions throughout the book which kept me reading - this made it a very enjoyable book to read.

The author has a talent of being able to describe something in a very few words. I could imagine sitting in the cafes and soaking up the sun.

Although the book is based in the 50s, the time period is not a major part of the book and I got the feeling that it could have been set anytime. However, the elegant style of the writing firmly places the novel in the 1950s/60s - there was a definate feeling of Raymond Chandler! It is atmospheric to the extreme in it's use of the wonderful European cities and villages that Tom visits.

As the book progresses the plot gets darker, with Tom getting deeper into the web of lies and deception that he weaves around his stories.

It is quite a small book and very powerful due to so much being packed it. Nothing happens that is not completely necessary to the development of the story - I would have liked to be able to sit and read it in one sitting, but life doesn't work like that!

I also enjoyed the third person narrative that works particularly well to make the reader seem like the observer. We do get into Tom's head but we never empathise with him, forcing us to find him a curiosity. We see him as others do but also try to understand his motives (without complete success).

A great example of a 1950s crime book. I'm not a big fan of this type of book but pleased that I read it and could have an opinion - worth reading by anyone.

The Talented Mr. Ripley is a good book to crawl into. It moves slowly in circles surrounding you as you move thru it and then all at once find yourself not just enjoying the ride, but discreetly envious of the title character. Well, I was that! There is a certain ugly and cruel humor in Tom Ripley that does test one's senses of supposedly the easily defined as, Right and Wrong. Who is to judge really. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes the feeling of corruption when viewing it in others and their petty lives and the attendant sense that so many people just never do what is in their heart. It has a good pace to it. The author has a good ear for conversation that doesn't sound staged or for merely effect to suit a particular scene.

Under no circumstances allow the film version with Matt Damon as Tom cloud your view of him that appears in the book. Alain Delon and his portrayal is closer in the uneasy spirit of the Tom of the book, though that film does still fall short of allowing the cruelty under the eyelids of Tom Ripley to appear. Mr. Delon's looks also get in the way of the film narrative.

Overall, The Talented Mr. Ripley is a memorable book that has intrigued me to want to read further the other Ripley books in the series.