Edith’s Diary by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1977)

From the back cover

“Edith’s Howland’s diary provided a reflective interlude in her busy day. This  ‘fine and chilling character study’ (Newsweek), though, charts a diary gone wrong: as Edith’s life turns sour, her diary entries only grow brighter. While her life plunges into chaos─her husband abandons her for a younger woman, leaving her with their delinquent son and his senile uncle─a tale of success and happiness blooms in her notebook.”

Review

Diary is an exceptional novel. Its setup, with its suburban unease, the characters’ festering-slivers-under-the-skin grievances, and other unsettling elements, is reminiscent of her 1983 novel People Who Knock on the Door. Unlike People, however, Diary lacks the religious criticism and violence that of the similar, pressure-build-up book. (I think of Diary as an earlier, notably different version of People, one that stands on its own merits.)  

Diary, which runs from the early sixties to the early seventies, tracks Edith’s further spiral into delusion and real-world danger, even as her emotionally distant husband leaves her and her lazy, angry and murderous son sinks deeper into alcoholism and futility. The sense of urgency surrounding her situation grows more intense as the story progresses, leading to a finish that─if it seems quiet or underwhelming─matches Edith’s quiet desperation and increasingly fierce blurring of delusion and reality.

Whenever I hear the phrase “character study” I usually translate it to mean self-indulgent, pointless and meandering work. Thankfully master writers like Highsmith belie that translation, make character studies worthwhile and exciting for readers like myself. Worth reading, even owning, this.

The Man Who Watched Trains Go By by Georges Simenon

(pb; 1938)

Review

“Kees Popinga is a solid Dutch burgher whose idea of a night on the town is a game of chess at his club. Or so it has always appeared. But one night this model husband and devoted father discovers his boss is bankrupt and that his own carefully tended life is in ruins. Before he had looked on impassively as the trains to the outside world swept by; now he catches the first train he can to Amsterdam. Not long after that, he commits murder.

“Kees Popinga is tired of being Kees Popinga. He’s going to turn over a new leaf─though there will be hell to pay.”

Review

Man is a chatty, darkly comedic and occasionally excellent crime thriller that predates and brings to mind the tone and style of Patricia Highsmith’s 1955 novel The Talented Mr. Ripley, in that Simenon’s Popinga is an inexperienced rollercoaster-emotions killer. Unlike Ripley, though, Popinga is mostly thrill and don’t-care-about-the-future─this makes sense, since Popinga is middle-aged and initially tired, unable to match Ripley’s twenty-something tumultuousness.

Popinga’s interior nattering─which takes up a significant part of Man─reveals him to be a petty, minor figure (which is Simenon’s intention). That said, this nattering runs overlong sometimes, overlapping into authorial self-indulgence. This indulgence almost compelled me to set down Man on page three (I had not read a Simenon book before) but I’m glad I stuck with it, if mostly to finish this relatively short work. This is a good read, if you have a high tolerance for tiring, character-defining pettiness. If not (but still curious), borrow Man from the library or buy it for cheap (as in: two dollars). 

#

The resulting film, The Paris Express, was released stateside on June 5, 1953. Harold French directed and co-scripted it. His originally uncredited partner in writing was Paul Jarrico.

Claude Rains played Kees Popinga. Märta Torén played Michele Rozier. Herbert Lom played Julius de Koster, Jr. Anouk Aimée, billed as Anouk, played “Jeanne, the Prostitute.”

Felix Aylmer played Mr. Merkemans. Ferdy Mayne played Louis. Lucie Mannheim played Maria Popinga. Gibb McLaughlin played Julius de Koster, Sr. Robin Alalouf played Karl Popinga. Joan St. Clair played Frida Popinga.

A Dog’s Ransom by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1972)

From the back cover

“. . . a high-minded criminal hits a Manhattan couple where it hurts the most when he kidnaps their beloved black miniature poodle, Lisa, from Riverside Park. Ed Reynolds, a forty-two-year-old editor at a prestigious publishing house, returns home one night to find a note: ‘Dear Sir. I have your dog Lisa. She is well and happy. . . I gather she is important to you? We’ll se.’ and so the nightmare begins for the Reynolds couple in this harrowing portrait of mid-century urban life shattered by a single bizarre event.”

Review

Ransom is an okay read. Highsmith, as usual, takes a standard thriller setup and restructures, shakes it up, with her analytical, incisive genre-mixing tone and style.

The main villain, Kenneth Rowajinski, reminds me a lot of the emotional/criminal journeys of other Highsmith characters─namely, Walter Stackhouse from her 1954 novel The Blunderer as well as young Tom Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1955). Her distinctive setup reminds me of her excellent 1983 novel People Who Knock on the Door, with its long, steady build into murder and further tragedy, as well as its effective takedown of middle-class smugness and over-reliance on material comfort.

That said, Ransom is not as good as People, at least for this reader. I could not relate to most of the characters, whose actions and outlooks were apathetic, callous, needy, languid (in that Highsmithian way) and overtly self-destructive. I “get” that we are viewing things through her lens, but none of these characters have redeeming qualities. It’s all various shades of darkness, ignorance and other negative elements─in a phrase, a hundred-percent nihilistic.

It does not help that Highsmith has one of her less odious characters, Clarence Pope Duhamell, think: “A pity that New York had been overrun by blacks and Puerto Ricans instead of by some race that might have improved things.” This is not the only part with racist rumblings. While she is reflecting the spirit of the age (and most ages), it felt unnecessarily ugly.

Ransom is worth reading, if you don’t mind Highsmith’s into-a-void misanthropy and unlikeable characters. The style and writing are fine, for the most part, but its darkness is a bit much, even for Highsmith.

The Glass Cell by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1964)

From the back cover

“In 1961, Patricia Highsmith received a fan letter from a prison inmate. A correspondence ensued between author and inmate, and Highsmith became fascinated with the psychological traumas that incarceration can inflict. Based on a true story, The Glass Cell is Highsmith’s deeply disturbing fictionalization of everything she learned. Falsely convicted of fraud, the easy-going but naïve Philip Carter is sent to prison. Despite his devotion to Hazel, his wife, and the support of David Sullivan, a lwayer and friend who tries to avenge the injustice done to him, Carter endures six lonely and drug-ravaged years. Upon his release, Carter is a much more discerning, suspicious, and violent man. For those around him, earning back his trust can mean the difference between life and death.”

Review

Glass is a good novel that shows the horrors of prison and how it can change a person, twist him into something darker. Glass also sports a protagonist worth rooting for even as he becomes jaded and violent. Highsmith, as always, is adept at showing how everyday instances and items─innocuous in most writers’ hands─become troubling, damning when one has gone around some bleak, lonely bend and come out of the turn a fractured person.

Glass is entertaining, with interesting characters and an ending that satisfies, transcends the usual crime-and-punishment genre. Worth checking out, this.

People Who Knock on the Door by Patricia Highsmith

(hb; 1983)

From the inside flap

“. . .It begins when Richard Alderman becomes a born-again Christian and starts to tear apart the fabric of his life.

“Arthur, his teenaged son, rejects the church; Robbie, several years younger, adopts his father’s views. Caught in the middle of the ensuing web of lies is Lois Alderman, wife and mother, trying to do right, trying to keep her family together in the face of hypocrisy and inevitable tragedy. When an attempt is made to regulate Arthur’s love life, an unhappy situation becomes frighteningly worse.

“Like vultures preparing to feed, the Aldermans and church elders circle and attack, tearing at each other and unveiling at each other and unveiling disconcerting notions of justice.”

Review

People is a good, pressure boiler novel, made incisive by Highsmith’s usual, eagle-eyed take on human light and darkness simmering just below its suburban smiles and passive-aggressive invasions, with characters whose emotions, actions and consequences are thoroughly explored and shown─without becoming tiresome. While murder and crime are not the immediate vibe of this deft tale of family and community relations, religiosity, hypocrisy, and eventual sociopathy, People, although lighter in subject matter, sits well with Highsmith’s often darker works, and is worth reading. I would suggest that those with religious inclinations avoid this novel, as the “Christians” in People are not shown in a sympathetic light─not that they deserve to be. 

The Diver's Clothes Lie Empty by Vendela Vida

(hb; 2015)

From the inside flap:

". . . a woman travels to Casablanca, Morocco, on mysterious business. Almost immediately, while checking into her hotel, she is robbed, her passport and all identification stolen. The crime is investigated by the police, but the woman feels there is a strange complicity between the hotel staff and the authorities—she knows she’ll never see her possessions again.

"Stripped of her identity, she feels both burdened by the crime and liberated by her sudden freedom to be anyone at all. Then, a chance encounter with a film crew provides an intriguing opportunity: A producer sizes her up and asks, would she be willing to be the body-double for a movie star filming in the city? And so begins a strange journey in which she’ll become a stand-in—both on-set and off—for a reclusive celebrity who can no longer circulate freely in society while gradually moving further away from the person she was when she arrived in Morocco."


Review:

Diver's Clothes is a love-or-hate novel. Vida not only tells the story through a second-person point-of-view (told in the present tense, with lots of "you"s), but her protagonist -- a flighty, irrational woman -- often makes bizarre, ill-advised decisions that may be off-putting to some readers. (The reasons for the protagonist's irrationality are eventually, somewhat revealed.)

Normally, a book like this would not appeal to me. What compelled me to read Diver's Clothes was that I am a fan of Vida's work, which consistently has an exotic surreality, a dangerous dreaminess to it, as well as her swift-paced, turn-on-a-dime storytelling. Also, this book has the feel of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley, where the protagonists plunge headlong into unpredictable situations whilst panicking -- and trying not to think too long on the consequences of their wild, criminal decisions. (I am not the first person to note this; the same person who made the Vida-Highsmith connection also suggested an Alfred Hitchcock link, which makes sense: Hitchcock filmed a loosely adapted version of Highsmith's Strangers on a Train.)

If you can get past the second-person POV and the protagonist's bad decisions (which threaten to bury her even as their repercussions amass), this is a hard-to-put down read. The tale's finish is open-ended, keeping with the tone of what precedes it, with Vida providing sufficient foreshadowing to suggest that this, too, while a bad choice, is also an exhilarating (and character-true) one.

Borrow it or check this out from a library before you buy it, if you are iffy about Diver's Clothes: better to spend money on something where you are fairly certain you will like it.

The Black House by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1981: story anthology)

From the back cover:

"Eleven sinister stories reveal Patricia Highsmith's characters breaking the social laws (often unconsciously) and paying the price.

"They are victims trying to behave like protagonists -- and the results are often fatal."


Review:

One of the things that makes Highsmith's work so compelling is her ability to underline even the most mundane situations with mounting unease, with her crisp, chilly and clever writing -- writing that is on display in most, if not all, of the stories in this collection. What's missing, in most of Black's stories, is the zinger finishes she often attaches to her better works.

None of these stories are bad. Most of them are good, if not excellent. However, the bulk of their endings are too low-key, flat and (often) predictable, when compared to the effective, increasing-tension set-ups that precede them: in short, if you are a reader who puts as much stock in tale finishes as their set-ups, purchase Black used and at low cost or check it out from the library. If you are a reader who forgives meh endings as long as everything else in the story works, this collection may appeal to you.

While I was disappointed by this anthology, I don't feel like I wasted my time reading it, as I am a fan of Highsmith's work.  Her output is interesting, even when it's deeply flawed, largely the case with Black.



Stand-out stories:

1.)  "I Despise Your Life": A party-it-up, twenty-year old musician (Ralph Duncan) desperately tries to bridge the gap between himself and his disapproving father (Steve), only to make matters worse. Great story, with a great end-line.


2.)  "The Dream of the Emma C": The at-sea rescue of a beautiful woman (Natalie Anderson) sets an all-male boat crew on violent edge. Good, intense read.


3.)  "Old Folks at Home": Relations quickly sour between a demanding elderly couple (Mamie and Albert Forster) and their well-meaning, if unrealistic, caretakers (Herbert and Lois McIntyre, whose house the Forsters live in). Darkly, hellishly funny story, with an honest-about-human-nature finish.


4.)  "The Black House": In Canfield, New York, a young man's innocent curiosity about a local landmark endangers him. This is my favorite story in the bunch, one that brings together nostalgia, effective symbolism, youth (and the generational gaps it inspires) and the dangerous emptiness of clique talk. I especially love that the bar -- where much of said talk takes place -- is called the White Horse Tavern, in contrast with the titular abode. Excellent, masterful work.

The Blunderer by Patricia Highsmith

(hb; 1954)

From the back cover:

"For two years, Walter Stackhouse has been a faithful and supportive husband to his wife, Clara. She is distant and neurotic, and Walter finds himself harboring gruesome fantasies about her demise. When Clara's dead body turns up at the bottom of a cliff in a manner uncannily resembling the recent death of a woman named Helen Kimmel who was murdered by her husband, Walter finds himself under intense scrutiny. He commits several blunders that claim his career and his reputation, cost him his friends and eventually threaten his life. . ."


Review:

Blunderer is a good, intense thriller where Highsmith's trademark panicky murder suspect (a spineless Walter Stackhouse) encounters a self-assured killer (Melchior Kimmel), as well as a blunt, relentless cop (Detective Corby) who is bent on breaking both of them even - especially - if it kills them. Worth owning, this.

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One film has resulted from this novel; another is forthcoming.

The first cinematic version is titled Enough Rope. It was filmed in 1963 and released stateside on July 14, 1966. Claude Autant-Lara directed it, from a screenplay by Jean Aurenche and Pierre Bost.

Maurice Ronet played Walter Saccard (cinematic stand-in for Walter Stackhouse). Yvonne Furneaux played Clara Saccard (cinematic stand-in for Clara Stackhouse). Gert Fröbe played Melchior Kimmel. Marina Vlady played Ellie. Robert Hossein played Corbie. Harry Meyen played Tony.

#

The forthcoming second film, titled The Blunderer, is being directed by Andy Godard. Susan Boyd wrote the script.

These actors - whose roles are not listed on imdb.com - appear in the film: Imogen Poots, Jessica Biel, Patrick Wilson, Toby Jones, Haley Bennett and Eddie Marsan.

Jennifer Enskat plays Mrs. Philpott.

The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1964)

From the back cover:

"Athens, 1962. Rydal Keener is an American expat working as a tour guide and running cons on the side. He is mostly killing time, searching for adventure. But in Chester MacFarland, a charismatic American businessman, and his flirtatious and beautiful young wife, Colette, Rydal finds more than he bargained for. After an incident at a hotel puts the wealthy couple in danger, Rydal ties his fate to theirs. He's compromised. Events spin out of control, and infatuation and sexual tension mount among the dangerous triangle. . ."


Review:

January is a good, mostly suspenseful book whose effective plot twists are brought into being by its key characters' emotions and actions. American readers, used to the black-and-white morality of their birth country's crime novels, may be put off by the moral ambiguities of January's sometimes irrational characters and their circumstances - moral ambiguities that are omnipresent in Highsmith's other works, as well. (This is an observation, not a criticism.)

The cat-and-mouse reversals between Rydal and MacFarland run a few chapters longer than they should, resulting in a solid, if almost banal finish that may prove disappointing to readers who prefer that their entertainment end with a climactic bang.

That minor nit aside, this is a worthwhile, mostly enjoyable read from a consistently distinctive and fearless author.

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This novel has inspired two films.

The first version, Die zwei Gesichter des Januar, was released in West Germany on April 17, 1986. Wolfgang Storch and Gabriela Zerhau co-directed the film from a script penned by Storch and Karl Heinz Willschrei.

This film starred Charles Brauer, Yolanda Jilot and Thomas Schücke, whose roles were not listed on imdb.

#

The second film was released stateside on August 28, 2014. Hossein Amini scripted and directed it.

Viggo Mortensen played Chester MacFarland. Kirsten Dunst played Colette MacFarland. Oscar Isaac played Rydal.

Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1983: non-fiction)

From the back cover

"Patricia Highsmith, author of Strangers on a Train, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Found in the Street, and many other books, is known as one of the finest suspense novelists. In this book, she analyzes the key elements of suspense fiction, drawing upon her own experience in four decades as a working writer. Among other topics, she talks about: how to develop a complete story from an idea; what makes a plot gripping; the use (and abuse) of coincidence; characterization and the 'likable criminal'; going from first draft to final draft; and writing the suspense short story.

"Throughout the book, Highsmith illustrates her points with plentiful examples from her own work, and by discussing her own inspirations, false starts, dead ends, successes, and failures, she presents a lively and highly readable picture of the novelist at work..."


Review

Reading this is like having a practical and logical, friendly chat with an ego-eschewing writer who's had a wide array of writing experiences, good and bad, and is willing to share them with us, the reading audience.

Excellent read, not only for the above qualities, but for the fact that Highsmith, like any smart writer, acknowledges that each author's process and style is individual - a fact that she notes a few times in Plotting.

I'd recommend this book to writers of any genre, because much of the advice Highsmith offers, as far as publishing and preparation is concerned, applies to most, if not all, writing genres.

Worth owning, this.

The Cry of the Owl by Patricia Highsmith

(hb; 1962)

From the back cover:

"[The Cry of the Owl] begins with an act of naïve voyeurism. Robert Forester, a depressed but fundamentally decent man, liked to watch Jenny through her kitchen window -- a harmless palliative, as he saw it, to his lonely life and failed marriage. As he is drawn into her life, however, recriminations of his simple pleasure shatter the deceptive calm of this small Pennsylvania town. With striking clarity and horrible inevitability, Forester is caught up in a series of deaths in which he is the innocent bystander, presumed guilty. . ."

Review:

This plot- and writing-taut, unsettling thriller about a socially maladaptive man who gets bound up in an ever-worsening - and increasingly violent - cycle of paranoia, isolation and murders is near-impossible to set down. Highsmith's masterful trademark elements - oddball/unpopular protagonists, mounting unease and social violence, and, often, resulting corpses - is on full display here, making this an excellent read.

Sad, memorable, echoes-real-life work. Worth checking out.

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Three film versions have resulted from this novel.

The first version, Der Shrei der Eule, aired on German television in 1987.

Matthias Habich played Robert. Birgit Doll played Johanna. Jacques Breuer played Karl. Fritz Lichtenhahn played Lippenholtz. Doris Kunstmann played Vicky. Roger Fritz played Ralph. Gernot Endeman played Jakob. Hans Christian Blech played Dr. Knapp.

Tom Toelle directed the film, from a screenplay by Peter Märthesheimer and Pea Fröhlich.

•

The second version, bearing the same title as the novel, was released in France on October 28, 1987. It was released stateside on October 16, 1991.

Claude Chabrol directed the film, from a script he co-authored with Odile Barski.

Christophe Malavoy played Robert. Mathilde May played Juliette. Jacque Penot played Patrick. Jean-Pierre Kalfon played "Police Commissioner". Virginie Thévenet played Véronique. Patrice Kerbrat played Marcello. Jean-Claude Lecas played Jacques. Agnès Denèfle played Suzie. Isabelle Charraix played Mme Tessier. Gille Dreu played M. Tessier.

•

The third version, also bearing its source novel's title, was released in Germany on February 7, 2009. It was released stateside on March 12, 2010.

Paddy Considine played Robert Forester. Julia Stiles played Jenny Thierolf. James Gilbert played Greg Wyncoop. Caroline Dhavernas played Nickie Grace. Gord Rand played Jack Nielson. Charlotte Sullivan played Sally Nielson.

Jennifer Kydd played Susie Escham. Karl Pruner played Mr. Jaffe. R.D. Reid played Mr. Kolbe. Marcia Laskowski played "Nickie's Lawyer". Phillip Mackenzie played "Lavigne Client".

Jamie Thraves scripted and directed the film.

Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith by Andrew Wilson

(pb; 2003: biography)

From the back cover:

"The life of Patricia Highsmith, author of Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the characters who people her 'peerlessly disturbing' thrillers and short stories. In Beautiful Shadow, the first biography of Highsmith, British journalist Andrew Wilson mines the vast archives of diaries, notebooks, and letters the writer left behind, astonishing in their candor and detail. He draws on interviews with her closest friends and colleagues, as well as some of her many lovers, and traces Highsmith's literary roots in the work of Poe, noir and existentialism, whose influence distinguished Highsmith's writing so startlingly from more ordinary thrillers. The result is both a serious critical biography and one that reveals much about a brilliant and contradictory woman, one who despite her acclaim and affairs always maintained her solitude."


Review:

This is one of the best literary biographies I've ever read.

Wilson show Highsmith -- a bristling, often seemingly depressed and private being of contradictions -- for all her flaws and glories. Born on January 19, 1921 (the same birthdate of one of her main writing influences, Edgar Allan Poe, years prior) in Fort Worth, Texas, she quickly realized she was different than those around her, including her family. She knew at an early age that she was romantically attracted to girls, an attraction that led her into more than a few tortured relationships, and impelled her to publish her only blatantly-lesbian novel, Carol, in 1952, under the nom de plume Claire Morgan. (This landmark book -- its ending doesn't conform to the usual "pulp lesbian" novels of that time -- was re-published, over thirty years later, under Highsmith's name, and re-titled The Price of Salt.)

Young Highsmith also realized that she was fascinated by crime stories, especially ones rife with dark ironies and twisted personalities. Psychological, sometimes pseudo-political crime thrillers became her trademark, making up many of the thirty-four books she published in her lifetime. (It was these elements which caused many American publishers and readers to be repelled by her works: her misanthropy, which dictated many of her actions and words, was laid bare in her existential stories. In Europe and other parts of the world, she was better received, commercially and awards-wise.)

American readers' discomfort with Highsmith was reciprocated: she often reviled what America, with its political witch hunts, political and social uptightness, and materialism, stood for, and she wasn't afraid to write about it in her novels. Yet, ironically, many of her core beliefs and attitudes, were, in a twisty way, based on her American childhood.

Privately, she could be an exceedingly difficult, Type-A, financially-stingy person -- judging by what many of her ex-lovers, acquaintances and long-time friends have said of her in interviews, many of which were told exclusively to biographer Andrew Wilson; but she could also be incredibly shy, charming and kind, quietly lending money to friends in need, while moving constantly moving around the world: France, Switzerland, England were her dour playgrounds. She also enjoyed meeting new people, despite her media-"reclusive" -- read: private -- personality.

Wilson captures well all these sides of Highsmith, at once sympathetic and honest. Wilson's sense of flow is sure, always interesting; he shows enough details to back up his portrayal(s) of Highsmith, never verging into didactic overkill (as some biographers are inclined to do). In this regard, this reads more like a lively fiction novel about a real person than a standard biography of a distinctive, talented writer.

Highsmith died on February 4, 1995, of complications arising from her aplastic anemia. The creator of the "whydunit, in which an interest in the criminal and criminal psychology replaces the puzzle" (as one critic from The Times described her work) was seventy-four years old.

Check this out.

Small g: A Summer Idyll by Patricia Highsmith

(hb; 1995)

From the inside flap:

"...The story opens. . . with the brutal murder of Petey Ritter. The story picks up six months later at Jakob's, a louche Zurich bar designated in guide books as a 'small g' for its mixture of gay, straight, and bisexual clientele. The bar is home to a small circle of friends; chief among them is Rickie Markwalder, Petey's former lover, who was initially suspected of the murder. Rickie and his dancing dog, Lulu, hold court at Jakob's with the club-footed Renate Hagnauer, a possessive seamstress who finds herself attracted to the very gay men she loathes, and her beautiful apprentice Luisa Zimmerman. The tenuous balance of this incongruous group is broken on the day that the impressionable and handsome Teddie Stevenson arrives. Luisa and Rickie both fall in love with him -- but Renate and her henchman, Willi Biber, conspire to break Teddie's spell by force. Renate in turn becomes the subject of a counter-conspiracy hatched by Rickie and Luisa involving a woman to whom Luisa finds herself strongly attracted, Dorrie Wyss, with unexpected results."



Review:

Fans of Highsmith's word-economical, chilly tone of Ripley novels may be put off this odd sidestep of a final novel (Highsmith died in 1995, a few months after she finished writing it). Small g is perfectly titled, and reads like a chatty evening -- or a series of them -- out with drunk, usually happy friends. It's also somewhat unpredictable and quirkily crazy. The ending is at once sublime, emotionally satisfying and logical.

Small g  is worth checking out, if you're not turned off by Highsmith's last experimental turn and enjoy summer-set books.

Ripley Under Water, by Patricia Highsmith

(hb; 1991: fifth novel in the Ripley series)

From the back cover:

"Though his talent for evil has in no way diminished, Tom Ripley has aged, even mellowed. Now leading the good life in the French countryside, complete with chic wife and devoted housekeeper, he is more interested in his wine stores than the bloodstains on his cellar floor.

"Then a meddlesome American couple takes up residence in the same village. Though at first the Pritchards seem a mere curiosity, their taste as execrable as their manners, they are annoyingly well informed about incidents in Ripley's past and almsot smug about flaunting their knowledge. This, of course, disturbs the tranquility of the charmed, cultured life for which Tom has worked so hard, and he has no choice but to bedevil the Pritchards in return..."


Review:

The fifth and final Ripley novel, a follow-up to The Boy Who Followed Ripley, showcases Highsmith's quiet flair for macabre wit -- easily my favorite novel in the Ripley series. It's devious, semi-ironic (given Ripley's reputation for murder, and some of the situations that arise from the Pritchards' presence), and positively warm -- the last phrase one would not usually apply to a Ripley book. Yes, Ripley has "mellowed," is damn near effervescent towards people as he tries to figure out exactly who David and Janice Pritchard are, and why they, initially total strangers, are stalking him.

Helping Ripley are his English friends and partners in the Buckmaster (art) Gallery, Jeff Constant and Ed Banbury (who were first introduced to readers in Ripley Under Ground). Reeves Minot, Ripley's other, separate partner-in-crime, gets a mention here, but is largely absent. Highsmith also includes other minor characters from the four previous books, and liberally infuses Ripley's last storyline with recaps from the past, as well as a corpse that just may sink Ripley, if he doesn't act quickly.

Readers who haven't read the earlier Ripley novels need not do so to enjoy this delightful wrap-up -- and best book -- of the series. It does increase one's enjoyment of the darkly funny drama, however.

If you only read one Ripley book, read this one. Career-apex work, this.

The Boy Who Followed Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1980: fourth novel in the Ripley series)

Review:

Highsmith's sly wit is in evidence in the fourth Ripley novel, the follow-up to Ripley's Game. However, that cool wit is warmed by Ripley's increasing humanity (as compared to his attitude in earlier books): now he's an avuncular figure, giving emotional succor, shelter, and protection to a sixteen-year old boy (Billy Rollins, aka Frank Pierson) who reminds Ripley of himself -- up to a point.

When the boy is kidnapped in Berlin, Ripley goes to some drastic -- and oftentimes dryly hilarious -- measures to get the boy back from the kidnappers. Reeves Minot, Ripley's friend and partner-in-crime, also make another appearance -- his third (he first appeared in Ripley Under Ground), also, adding to the dark charm of Ripley's ongoing story.

Excellent read, despite becoming chatty near the end. Check it out.

Followed by Ripley Under Water.

Ripley's Game, by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1974: third novel in the Ripley series)

From the back cover:

"Connoisseur of art, harpsichord aficionado, gardener extraordinaire, and genius of the improvisational murder, the inimitable Tom Ripley finds his complacency shaken when he is scorned at a posh gala. The perpetrator: the mortally ill Jonathan Trevanny, a picture framer from a neighboring village. Now, while any ordinary psychopath might repay the insult with some mild act of retribution, the game Ripley has in mind is far subtler -- and infinitely more sinister. A social slight doesn't warrant murder, of course, just a chain of events that may lead to it."


Review:

Six months after the deaths and mishaps of Ripley Under Ground, Ripley once again is forced to commit "distasteful" murders to protect his interests -- as well as those of Jonathan Trevanny's, a squeaky-clean neighbor who's been duped, by Ripley and Reeves Minot (Ripley's partner-in-crime), into becoming a killer-for-hire.

Highsmith's writing tone is distinctive, cool, sly and filled with instances of macabre wit -- all Highsmith trademarks. Not only that, but, as with all five Ripley books, Ripley himself is changing -- where he was a panicked, lucky murderer in The Talented Mr. Ripley, and an incovenienced semi-wealthy expatriate in Ripley Under Ground, he is the cagey master of this novel's titular game, rarely breaking a sweat as he, with the help of Trevanny (who's scared, and sick with myeloid leukaemia), fends off Mafiosi.

All of the Ripley novels are excellent and memorable.

Followed by The Boy Who Followed Ripley.

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Ripley's Game has been filmed twice.

The first film, Der Amerikanische Freund, aka The American Friend, was scripted and directed by Wim Wenders in 1977. It premiered stateside on September 24, 1977; it received a limited release two days later.

Dennis Hopper played Tom Ripley. Bruno Ganz played Jonathan Zimmerman [Jonathan Trevanny's cinematic stand-in]. Lisa Kreuzer played Marianne Zimmerman [a cinematic stand-in for Simone Trevanny, Jonathan's wife?]. Gerard Blain played Raoul Minot [cinematic stand-in for Reeves Minot]. Film director Nicholas Ray played the long-dead painter Derwatt (whose character is mentioned in passing in Ripley's Game). Film director Samuel Fuller plays "The American Mobster".

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The second version, Ripley's Game - filmed in 2002 - premiered on American television on September 4, 2003. Liliana Cavani co-scripted and directed.

John Malkovich played Tom Ripley. Dougray Scott played Jonathan Trevanny. Lena Headey played Sarah Trevanny [cinematic stand-in for Simone Trevanny]. Ray Winstone played Reeves [aka, Reeves Minot in the novel].

Ripley Under Ground, by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1970: second novel in the Ripley series)

Review:

Tom Ripley, enjoying the quiet life with his wife Heloise and live-in maid Mme. Annette, suddenly finds his life turned every which way when an American art collector (Thomas Murchison) begins questioning the authenticity of certain Phillip Derwatt paintings -- high-priced artwork that's actually the result of a forgery ring that is Ripley's brainchild. Also, Bernard Tufts, the depressed, possibly suicidal painter who created the aforementioned forgeries, is threatening to quit painting, making the crisis even worse -- just as Christopher Greenleaf, a curious cousin of Dickie's (who met a watery end at the hands of Ripley in The Talented Mr. Ripley) is about to visit Ripley's Villeperce-sur-Seine home.

Darkly funny, often ironic and self-assured, both the novel and Ripley are dead-on winners. Those readers who didn't cotton to Ripley's panicked up-and-down personality in the first novel might cotton to the older, smoother Ripley, who has the good sense to worry about things, but the mature wherewithal to deal with them -- even if it means burying more bodies.

Check it out.

Followed by Ripley's Game.

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The movie version of Ripley Under Ground premiered stateside on November 6, 2005. Barry Pepper played Tom Ripley. Jacinda Barrett played Heloise Plisson, Ripley's wife. 

Tom Wilkinson played John Webster, a detective. Willem Dafoe played Neil Murchison (a cinematic stand-in for Thomas Murchison?). Alan Cumming played Jeff Constant, one of Ripley's partners-in-art-crime. Claire Forlani played Cynthia, Bernard Tufts's ex-girlfriend. Roger Spottiswoode directed.

The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1955: first novel in the Ripley series)

From the back cover:

"Tom Ripley is sent to Italy with a commission to coax Dickie Greenleaf back to his wealthy father. But Ripley finds himself very fond of this prodigal young American. He wants to be like him -- exactly like him. Suave, agreeable, and utterly amoral, Ripley stops at nothing -- certainly not only one murder -- to accomplish his goal."


Review:

The author of The Price of Salt and Strangers on a Train was starting to come into her own with this book, in which Ripley, a penurious, clever, first-time murderer with an inferiority complex, becomes the cincher of his destiny. Highsmith's analytic, distinctly European ambiance and tone lends an almost languid chill to the story, in which Ripley regularly slues between abject terror (when he thinks he's going to get caught) and thrill-seeker peaks (when he thinks he's going to get away with it all).

A psychological, adroit and perturbing literary delving into deviant nature, this. Memorable, worth your time.

Four book sequels followed the novel. The first sequel is Ripley Under Ground.

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Two film versions have resulted from The Talented Mr. Ripley.

The first version, Purple Noon, was released in France on March 10, 1960.

Alain Delon played Thomas Ripley/Phillipe Greenleaf. Maurice Ronet played Phillipe Greenleaf. Marie Laforêt played Marge Duval. Billy Kearns, billed as Bill Kearns, played Freddie Miles.


René Clément directed the film, from a script he co-penned with Paul Gégauff (billed as Paul Gegauff).

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Anthony Minghella scripted and directed the second version, The Talented Mr. Ripley. The film was released stateside on December 25, 1999.

Matt Damon played Tom Ripley. Gwyneth Paltrow played Marge Sherwood. Jude Law played Dickie Greenleaf. Phillip Seymour Hoffman played Freddie Miles.

Cate Blanchett played Meredith Logue. Jack Davenport played Peter Smith-Kingsley. James Rebhorn played Herbert Greenleaf. Sergio Rubini played Inspector Roverini. Phillip Baker Hall played Alvin MacCarron. Alessandro Fabrizi played Sergeant Baggio.

The Price of Salt, by Patricia Highsmith (a.k.a. Claire Morgan)

(pb; 1952)

Review:

Therese Belivet, nineteen years old and engaged to a man she barely tolerates, falls for Carol Aird, a forty-year old with a soon-to-be ex-husband (Harge) and a daughter, Nerinda (or “Rindy,” as she's called). Therese and Carol embark on a love affair that's tumultuous, heart-true and exciting, despite the outrage and disapproval their love inspires in those around them – remember, this book reflects its milieu, the staid, paranoid 1950s.

This is a blast-read, lighter than Strangers on a Train (her first novel) and the later Ripley novels. There is, of course, moments of creeped-out darkness and serious themes, but the gentle force of Carol's and Therese's interactions more than makes up for them.

Highsmith published this novel under the nom de plume Claire Morgan, and it went on to sell incredibly well. Even now, it's considered one of the best-selling lesbian novels of all time, and I read somewhere (I can't remember where) that this inspired Vladimir Nabokov to write Lolita.

Wonderful, romantic, classy read from one of my favorite writers.

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The resulting film, Carol, is scheduled for stateside release in 2015. Todd Haynes is set to direct the film from a screenplay by Phyllis Nagy.

Sarah Paulson plays Abby Gerhard. Rooney Mara plays Therese Belivet. Cate Blanchett plays Carol Aird.

Cory Michael Smith plays Tommy. Kyle Chandler plays Harge Aird. Carrie Brownstein plays Genevieve Cantrell.

Strangers on a Train by Patricia Highsmith

(pb; 1950)

From the back cover:

“Here we encounter Guy Haines and Charles Anthony Bruno, passengers on the same train. But while Guy is a successful architect in the midst of a divorce, Bruno turns out to be a sadistic psychopath who manipulates Guy into swapping murders with him. ‘Some people are better off dead,’ Bruno remarks, ‘like your wife and my father, for instance.’ As Bruno carries out his twisted plan, Guy is trapped in Highsmith’s perilous world, where, under the right circumstances, anybody is capable of murder...”


Review:

Strangers is a promising and flawed novel from a master noir author who would later give the world the excellent Ripley series.

It is flawed because the characters are too flawed. Charles Anthony Bruno, a “loathsome” sycophantic rich Mama’s boy, gets too much time to ruminate about his murderous obsession. Guy Haines is a spineless lying protagonist who waffles about moral issues when he should be putting Bruno in jail – again, like Bruno’s morbid ruminations, Haines’s waffling goes on for far too long to read realistically. The economic prose that would later make up Highsmith’s finer novels is seen here and there in Strangers, but much of the novel is unnecessary, rambling.

Despite these major flaws, it is easy to see why readers were taken by Highsmith’s debut novel. Highsmith’s coolly analytical tone, a trademark of her writing, and the alternating killer(s)-panic-then-gloat structure that framed The Talented Mr. Ripley is evidenced here, wedged between the lengthier passages. Also, her clever wordplay and dark humor regularly spice up the action.

Ultimately, it’s worth reading, if you can get past Highsmith’s chattering tone and largely unlikeable characters.

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Three films resulted from this novel.

The first film version was released stateside on June 30, 1951. Alfred Hitchcock directed it, from a screenplay by Raymond Chandler, Czenzi Ormonde and an uncredited Ben Hecht. (Whitfield Cook provided the adaptation for the film.)

Farley Granger played Guy Haines. Robert Walker played Bruno Anthony. Ruth Roman played Anne Morton. Leo G. Caroll played Sen. Morton. Patricia Hitchcock, daughter of Alfred and Alma Reville, played Barbara Morton.

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The second version, titled Once You Kiss A Stranger, was released stateside on November 12, 1969. Highsmith's novel is the uncredited source, but is widely -- unofficially -- acknowledged as such.

It was directed by Robert Sparr, from a screenplay by Norman Katkov and Frank Tarloff.

Paul Burke played Frank. Carol Lynley played Diana. Martha Hyer played Lee. Whit Bissell played Dr. Haggis

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The third version, Once You Meet A Stranger, is a television film. It aired stateside on September 25, 1996. Tommy Lee Wallace directed it, from the screenplay of the original film.

Jacqueline Bisset played Sheila Gaines. Nick Mancusco played Aaron. Theresa Russell played Margo Anthony.