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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
The first half of Ripley's Game was a real drag. I felt very little for Jonathan until he aligned himself with Tom, but of course, that was all filtered through Tom. There's very little travel in this book, and none of it follows Tom, so there wasn't even the euro lifestyle porn to enjoy. The back third of the book races along, but the Ripley-less parts are just dull.
[Past tense, third person limited, two POVs.]
[Past tense, third person limited, two POVs.]
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
https://www.danscanon.com/2020/01/ripleys-game-by-patricia-highsmith.html
Such a breather to sway the story from the Tom’s POV to a fresh one. That was a fresh air after the blatant deeds of the second part. Shame that Ripley's game destroyed Jon’s life, or did it
A fuller story than 2 with a complete idea, but still feels a little light on content for the length. Just scratches the surface of an interesting combination.
I enjoyed this one more than I did Ripley Under Ground. The mafia plot is entertaining and the dual narrative adds an interesting twist. Still not the Tom Ripley from The Talented Mr. Ripley, though. He has even less scrupules about killing than ever, but somehow it feels like he's losing his edge, or maybe Highsmith is.
He's also becoming progressively straighter, there's barely any descriptions of Jonathan Trevanny's looks.
He's also becoming progressively straighter, there's barely any descriptions of Jonathan Trevanny's looks.
3.75/5
Thrillers may not normally be my thing, but there's just something about Ripley...
I'm not used to reviewing contemporary-esque stories, so I'm just going to break it into pieces as per usual:
CHARACTER:
I think that Johnathan is the most compelling of all the principal characters. He reminds me of Walter White from Breaking Bad, if Walter White weren't such an asshole. I wish that the focus had remained more heavily on him, but Tom Ripley was interesting as well, if a little bit of a cardboard cutout of a superficially charming sociopath. Besides the gender balance being decidedly male, I was pleased with the characters: moral grayness and plausible motivations, you beautiful temptresses, I will always fall for you.
Simone and Johnathan's relationship was so wonderful to read. It was complex and layered and made messy by circumstance, but underneath it all there was always love there.
Johnathan and Ripley were almost even more interesting to read. Ripley's fixation on Johnathan was jarring in contrast to his feeling-less appraisals of basically everyone else, and watching the two of them reach their own strange understandings was chilling.
SETTING + PLOT:
The setting was fair. I think it could have been stronger; I like my stories, when they're set in the real world, to FEEL as such, and this one felt as though it could have taken place almost anywhere fairly easily from an aesthetic standpoint. Sure the logistics of things like trains and language would be tricky to move, but I didn't feel as though the story were married to the location, if that makes sense. The plot itself was lovely; wonderfully paced, balancing action with suspense, and constantly raising the stakes for the characters.
STYLE:
The writing style is simplistic, with short, uncomplicated syntax and word choice, but I think it compliments the type of story well. It got a little repetitive sometimes, and I found myself needing to take breaks because of it.
Overall, I'm very pleasantly surprised. I went in with low expectations and I came out with a story that, on the very surfacemost level is still a pretty exciting tale about mob bosses and murder, and a little further down is an exploration of people's priorities and how they can be exploited. I think I'll be reading the rest of the Ripley stories in the future.
Thrillers may not normally be my thing, but there's just something about Ripley...
I'm not used to reviewing contemporary-esque stories, so I'm just going to break it into pieces as per usual:
CHARACTER:
I think that Johnathan is the most compelling of all the principal characters. He reminds me of Walter White from Breaking Bad, if Walter White weren't such an asshole. I wish that the focus had remained more heavily on him, but Tom Ripley was interesting as well, if a little bit of a cardboard cutout of a superficially charming sociopath. Besides the gender balance being decidedly male, I was pleased with the characters: moral grayness and plausible motivations, you beautiful temptresses, I will always fall for you.
Simone and Johnathan's relationship was so wonderful to read. It was complex and layered and made messy by circumstance, but underneath it all there was always love there.
Johnathan and Ripley were almost even more interesting to read. Ripley's fixation on Johnathan was jarring in contrast to his feeling-less appraisals of basically everyone else, and watching the two of them reach their own strange understandings was chilling.
SETTING + PLOT:
The setting was fair. I think it could have been stronger; I like my stories, when they're set in the real world, to FEEL as such, and this one felt as though it could have taken place almost anywhere fairly easily from an aesthetic standpoint. Sure the logistics of things like trains and language would be tricky to move, but I didn't feel as though the story were married to the location, if that makes sense. The plot itself was lovely; wonderfully paced, balancing action with suspense, and constantly raising the stakes for the characters.
STYLE:
The writing style is simplistic, with short, uncomplicated syntax and word choice, but I think it compliments the type of story well. It got a little repetitive sometimes, and I found myself needing to take breaks because of it.
Overall, I'm very pleasantly surprised. I went in with low expectations and I came out with a story that, on the very surfacemost level is still a pretty exciting tale about mob bosses and murder, and a little further down is an exploration of people's priorities and how they can be exploited. I think I'll be reading the rest of the Ripley stories in the future.
The only reason I don’t give this book 5 stars is that it made me much more sad than I was expecting to be. I thought Bernard Tufts from “Ripley Under Ground” would be the most tragic character I would come across in the Ripley series, but I was super wrong. Now, of course there’s a good argument to be made that Jonathan could have chosen not to get involved when Reeves reached out to him, and certainly could’ve stopped short of committing murder. That didn’t make it any less sad to see him digging himself deeper into a hole because he wanted to leave some money for his wife and son after he died of cancer.
As usual, Tom Ripley’s behavior and the thought processes that back it up are fascinating and also disturbing (like how he thinks about not ruining all the hard work his housekeeper has done cleaning up the floor of his house while he’s bludgeoning a Mafioso over the head).
Also, this book has my favorite ending out of all of them so far - Jonathan’s widow spitting on Tom as she passes him on the street. I get it, girl.
As usual, Tom Ripley’s behavior and the thought processes that back it up are fascinating and also disturbing (like how he thinks about not ruining all the hard work his housekeeper has done cleaning up the floor of his house while he’s bludgeoning a Mafioso over the head).
Also, this book has my favorite ending out of all of them so far - Jonathan’s widow spitting on Tom as she passes him on the street. I get it, girl.