In rugby, Australia and New Zealand are sworn enemies. Off the pitch, they have more in common than they care to admit, whether it’s their shared landscapes, culture, troubled histories or love of the great outdoors.… More
The Talented Mr Ripley | Patricia Highsmith
The recently released Netflix series, Ripley, starring Andrew Scott is generating a great deal of buzz. As with the 1999 film starring Matt Damon and Jude Law Ripley is based on the Patricia Highsmith novel The Talented Mr Ripley.
There’s a common belief that the book is always better than the film (or, in this case, series), but based on the comments, Ripley is a formidable adaptation of the novel. Furthermore, it impresses because it remains truer to the novel than the film did. To coincide with the series, Vintage Classics reissued the novel with a new film tie-in cover. Before binge-watching the series, I decided to revisit the original.
Published in 1950 The Talented Mr Ripley was the first of five books about the life of Tom Ripley. This first introduction to Ripley depicts the evolution of a nondescript con man into a full-fledged, psychopathic serial killer.
Tom Ripley is a minor league con artist who obtained official papers while working for the Internal Revenue Service as a stockroom clerk to defraud unsuspecting taxpayers. He’s unemployed and having a hard time avoiding his creditors. When we meet him he suspects he’s being followed. He is indeed being followed, not by the police or credit collectors, but by Herbert Greenleaf who believes him to be one of his son’s friends. Rather than correcting him, Tom accepts an all-expenses paid offer to track down Dickie Greenleaf, who is living it up in Italy, and convince him to be return to America. Tom sees this as an opportunity to escape his mundane life, shed his old skin and and start anew. The timing couldn’t be more perfect.
“He had imagined himself acquiring a bright new circke of friends with whom he would start a new life with new attitudes, standards and habits that would be far better and clearer than those he had had all his life.”
Tom not only locates Dickie in the picture-perfect town of Mongibello, south of Naples, but also fully inserts himself into Dickie’s life. And who wouldn’t envy Dickie Greenleaf’s lifestyle? He doesn’t have a care in the world; all he does is paint and sail, and his trust fund cheque arrives in the mail every month without lifting a finger. The difference is that, while most people would be envious of Dickie’s lifestyle, Tom wants to be Dickie and he will stop at nothing to fulfil this desire—even if it means committing murder.
“A crazy emotion of hate, of affection, of impatience and frustration was swelling in him, hampering his breathing. He wanted to kill Dickie. It was not the first time he had thought of it.”
The only fly in the ointment is Marge Sherwood, Dickie’s lukewarm love interest who Tom is obsessively jealous of. Marge isn’t as trusting as Dickie and is immediately suspicious of Tom moving into Dickie’s house. Tom’s ambivalent sexuality is an important aspect of the novel. This was written at a time when homosexuality was not as widely accepted as it is now, therefore creating a gay villain was a bold move on Highsmith’s part. Tom develops a type of sexual infatuation with Dickie, but never pursues it—he’d much rather become him than be with him. At the same time, Tom is violently offended when anyone suggests that he or Dickie are gay. When one of Dickie’s friends implies this, Tom kills him without hesitation. In the back of his mind, he remembers Aunt Dottie, who raised him, lashing out at him, saying “Sissy! He’s a sissy from the ground up. Just like his father!”
Tom is as slick as an eel, avoiding the cops primarily through sheer luck, even after killing two people and adopting Dickie Greenleaf’s identity. Tenente Roverini, the determined Italian detective, conducts multiple interviews with Tom, thinking he’s particularly helpful in the investigation. Meanwhile, he is purposefully leading him down other paths, including the possibility of suicide. When a bank discovers that Dickie’s signature may be forged, it benefits Tom—a convenient coincidence.
Tom revels in his new life in Venice, mixing with the upper class and gaining popularity through notoriety. However, he understands that he will always be an outsider and must maintain a distance from others in order to protect himself. He would never have a fixed group of friends. He could reinvent himself, but he can never escape the real Tom Ripley.
What makes Highsmith’s character so compelling is her ability to transform a serial killer into a likeable character with whom the reader grudgingly almost sympathises. This is despite the fact that Tom is an actual psychopath with absolutely no conscience.
There’s a reason The Talented Mr Ripley and its eccentric author have remained popular for nearly seven decades. It’s dark, disturbing, and absolutely—and I despise using this word, but it’s certainly appropriate here—unputdownable. Thankfully, there are still four books in the series to read and a Netflix series to binge watch. Onwards and upwards!
The Talented Mr Ripley was reissued by Random House UK as part of their Vintage Classics series. They kindly provided me with a review copy via NetGalley
Lady Life | Ahmet Altan
For almost five years Turkish journalist and author, Ahmet Altan, was jailed after being charged with providing “subliminal messages” to incite those behind the coup attempt in 2016. In this period, Altan released two books: Lady Life, a literary work, and I Will Never See the World Again, his memoirs. On April 14, 2021, Altan was released from prison despite having received a life sentence.
At the centre of Altan’s story is Fazıl, a young man accustomed to a comfortable life. After “a major country” announced it would no longer be importing tomatoes from Turkey, his father unexpectedly declares bankruptcy. Fazıl and his family’s lives are drastically altered when their father dies from a stroke just one day after facing financial ruin.
Fazıl aspires to become a literary critic and hopes to spend his life “… among people who loved literature, who taught it, who discussed it” despite his sudden plunge into poverty. A week after his father’s funeral, he boards a bus bound for Pera. Fazıl compares himself to a baby turtle without its shell, “helpless, unsheltered, and weak.” He sells everything he owns, including his clothes, books, laptop, and phone, and moves into an old boardinghouse in a sketchy neighbourhood. Immigrants, sex workers, activists, and busboys from all over the world make up the boardinghouse’s diverse inhabitants.
Fazıl gets a job as an audience member in a television programme featuring podium dancers in order to help fund his education. In this unlikely setting, he meets two women who will change his life. He can discuss literature with the pessimistic young student Sıla, with whom he shares a family background. When the government took over her father’s company, she too lost everything. Sıla’s only objective was to get out of Turkey as quickly as possible and join her cousin in Canada. Fazıl is also attracted to Hayat, the show’s star, an ebullient, sensual, and unapologetic older woman who leads a happy life free of regrets. Hayat, who does not read, satisfies her thirst for knowledge by watching television documentaries, impressing Fazıl with her exceptional memory. Sıla has meticulously planned for their future together. Hayat, on the other hand, does not believe in planning for the future and would rather live life to the fullest in the moment.
“Time would teach me that to understand such things as they were unfolding one needed a certain kind of experience, a maturity that was shaped by coming into collision with “real life:, something I lacked then.”
Fazıl exhibits the actions of a young man who lacks maturity and self-awareness, as he is caught between these two women. He’s unable to deal with reality since he’s unrealistically modelled his life after the novels he reads. Subsequently he’s frequently sulky, changes his mind at the drop of a hat and disappoints the two women in his life.
“Time would teach me that to understand such things as they were unfolding one needed a certain kind of experience, a maturity that was shaped by coming into collision with “real life:, something I lacked then.”
Lady Life is so colourful and captivating that it is hard to imagine Altan was incarcerated when he wrote it. Undoubtedly, the Turkey he portrays is a troubled nation run by an authoritarian government, plagued by political and economic hardships.
“It was as if we were sitting in the palm of a giant who, whenever he wanted, could make a fist and crush us in it.”
When Fazıl is offered a new editorial post at a newspaper he learns of all the horrific actions of the government that are never heard of due to severe censorship. At night pro-government men loiter in the street of the boardinghouse, beating up people who are dare to oppose the government.
Altan doesn’t gloss over these grim realities, but he balances it by painting vivid cityscapes that captivate our attention by describing the sights, sounds, and scents.Through exquisitely rendered vignettes, Altan presents Pera’s everyday life, offering an insightful look into contemporary Turkey.
Lady Life is more than just a poignant coming-of-age story, it’s populated with philosophical ponderings and life wisdoms. Although it depicts a carefree youth, there’s more to discover beneath the surface.
Like Happiness | Ursula Villarreal-Moura
Part coming-of-age novel, part #MeToo commentary Villarreal-Moura’s debut is a delightful surprise which circumvents the politically correct hype trap.
Chile. 2015. Tatum Vega lives happily with her partner, Vera, and has her dream job at an art museum. However, when Tatum is contacted by an investigative journalist for The New York Times the past she successfully escaped from resurfaces. An acclaimed writer, M. Dominguez, has been accused of sexual abuse by a young woman, the same man Tatum had a relationship with in her early twenties.
The first-person narrative introduces us to Tatum, an immature and impressionable student and bookworm who craves acceptance and believes she has found it in the likeminded soul of a well-known writer. There’s a vulnerability to Tatum, but the author doesn’t present her as an entirely helpless victim preyed on by an older, more experienced man—the relationship is of a more complex nature.
Tatum reflects on the past and suddenly doubts her relationship with Dominguez, or Mateo as she knew him, in the wake of the accusations. She accomplishes this by conversing with him one-sidedly by writing him a letter. Their relationship also began through email correspondence, so a letter summarising it afterwards feels appropriate.
Tatum becomes obsessed with Dominguez after reading his book, Like Happiness, because he appears to grasp the issues she encounters as a young Latina woman. He writes about disadvantaged people with language barriers who face discrimination based on their ethnicity or poverty, which is why she found the book so compelling. Tatum frequently feels overlooked in class at Williams University as her presence in a room seems to go unnoticed by the other students. She feels the need to be seen and this, as well as her lack of friends, is her vulnerability.
Dominguez responds to her emails, and “[a]n intoxicating slippery, all-consuming relationship ensues” even though she was an undergraduate and he a university professor. Looking back, she was unaware of Dominguez grooming her. It also does not appear that he used her; he never claimed to be her boyfriend or promised any kind of commitment.
“The like-minded friend I yearned for—well, you existed after all.”
Dominguez drives her to leave her parental home in Texas after she completes her studies. She moves to New York to be closer to him, but, subsequently, also gains a better understanding of her own identity and place in the world.
“…Latino pride is a no-win conundrum. You’re a damn stereotype if you feel it and shout it, or an ashamed coconut if you don’t.”
Our heroes, as is often the case, have clay feet, and Dominguez is no exception. Tatum notices that he does not know as much about literature as he claims to. She considered their literary conversations to be the basis of their friendship, but looking back she comes to the conclusion that he never expressed an original thought on the work they discussed.
Like Happiness is nuanced and leaves open-ended questions, much like Tatum and Dominguez’s relationship, but it’s it might be exactly this which makes it a compelling read.
Like Happiness is published by Pushkin Press and I received a review copy via NetGalley.
Black Wolf | Juan Gómez-Jurado
Translated by Nick Caistor and Lorenza Garcia — Black Wolf follows on from Spanish author Juan Gómez-Jurado’s highly rated Red Queen, which is set in Madrid and forms the basis of the Amazon Prime series launched earlier this year. Comparisons have been made with Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, primarily due to some similarity between protagonist Antonia Scott and Lisbeth Salander. However, this is an entirely different pan of paella – in a delightfully unexpected way.
Read the rest of this review on Crime Fiction Lover where it was originally published.
Negative Tilt |Bobby Mathews
Rural noir is having its moment in the sun and the ever-popular SA Cosby has been leading its charge. Writing about the South is nothing new – Ace Atkins and James Lee Burke have been doing it for decades – but the genre’s resurgence has brought a new and exciting diversity to the table, including the likes of Eli Cranor, Jesmyn Ward, Eryk Pruitt and Kelly J Ford.
Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, Bobby Mathews has two novels under his belt, Magic City Blues and Living the Gimmick, but it is his short stories that best showcase his writing abilities. In Negative Tilt he has curated 20 of them including the collection’s namesake as well as eight pieces published here for the first time.
The rest of this review is available on Crime Fiction Lover where it was originally published.
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