THE TALENTED MR RIPLEY

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by Patricia Highsmith (1955)

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Tom Ripley is a young and ambitious working class man. A little socially awkward perhaps, but what young person is not a little shy when first embarking upon life’s journey? Bored and frustrated with regular work – a promotion is years away – Tom develops his own small schemes to generate income. All the while Tom feels that he is just waiting for something new to arrive, something that would help him set a course in life. And then the opportunity comes, and Tom’s waiting has not been in vain. Employed by the ship-building magnate and father of Dickie Greenleaf, Tom is tasked with the job of travelling to Italy to convince Dickie to return home to America, which in turn will bring Dickie’s extended European grand tour to an end. Quite some challenge indeed, but either way, at least Tom has gotten a trip to Italy and some spending money out of it! As the working class interloper enters the world of fabulously wealthy young adults, whose various whims are swiftly catered to by virtue of their trust funds, and whose lived experience of want or lack is politely described as insubstantial, Tom must find a place for himself where his dignity is not effaced into nothingness. Tom must build his own future and he will have to evolve along the way if he is to be successful. A most honest account of upward social mobility. Fiction. 258 pages.

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DETAILS:

Title: The talented Mr Ripley

Year: 1955

Author: Patricia Highsmith

Pages: 258

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Book review by Keith Salter