The Talented Mr. Ripley: Rating: 4.5 stars

A young man’s social aspirations lead him to lie, cheat, and murder his way to success. Go Ripley.

The Talented Mr. Ripley (Patricia Highsmith)
Written by Patricia Highsmith
Fiction · Drama

I read this in one day, which is either a testament to its engrossing storyline or a testament to my own procrastination when it comes to housework. Why I didn’t read it earlier in life, I’ll never know, since I loved the movie and the book is written in a style I really like. I now understand why Highsmith’s Ripley books are so famous. Young Tom Ripley is both the main character and the villain, an amoral murderer and meticulous criminal who will stop at nothing to get what he wants — and you find yourself cheering him on as he dodges the cops and spins his perfect stories, because he’s just so brilliant that you want him to get away with it. The book is quite different from the movie, but — and this is unusual for me, because I usually dislike movies that deviate from the books they’re based on — both are excellent, engrossing stories, and the differences make for unforeseeable twists.