Reviews

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

adavis14's review against another edition

3.0

I enjoyed reading it? Just felt like the ending was a little underwhelming

wanderlustcrew's review against another edition

4.0

Read for my classics book club. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this book, but I ended up enjoying it. It’s definitely a tame psychological thriller. The scenes in Italy were lovely and I enjoyed picturing Italy in the 1950s. Watched RIPLEY on Netflix right after and it was very close to the book. Andrew Scott was an incredible Tom Ripley. It loses a star because the author is super weird and a total racist.

kbrown730's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

maddieaves's review against another edition

2.0

This book was good in the beginning. I was rooting for the main character, Tom, and I liked hearing the murderer's perspective; it was unique, and the fact I was rooting for him shows how likeable he was as he did murder two people, which goes against my morals. This book fell flat for me because I felt it was dragging; the book could have been shorter, in my opinion; I felt pretty bored at times. usually, after each murder, there would be an exciting part where he tried to cover his crime, but then it would start to drag, which means my overall feeling about this book is that it was relatively dull. If you want to read it, I would suggest reading it in the summer since the book is set in Italy and is a fun summer book if you are into that sort of thing.

vaizzz's review against another edition

tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

rosesinmarch's review against another edition

slow-paced

2.0

What a strange book. It was quite a quick read but the pacing was quite slow. My curiosity kept me reading but I was left with a weird ending.

I still don't really know how to feel about any of the characters. I also felt like there wasn't enough tension for a character running from the police so much.

I also felt like killing of the friend was senseless and it happened so quickly that I didn't feel the impact. I guess reading from our main characters point of view makes this feel even more emotionless and kind of dull? 
I expected him to leave Italy sooner but he seemed to linger there too long and made more issues for himself.

I feel like this book lacked the action to match the curiosity of the situation and why this happened. I also think he killed before because the fact he went from being a friend to being jealous to killing him was way too quick.

viktorlilja's review against another edition

4.0

great read, extremt häpnadsväckande. Efter första mordet så var jag faktiskt stressad under hela tiden, hur Ripleys liv som både han själv och Dickie är sjukt bra beskrivit och lowkey blev fett nervös i vissa lägen. Det negativa med boken är mostly slutet för mig. Väldigt abrupt och inte så intressant enligt mig? På ett sätt var det bra att man fick vänta ända in till slutet innan man visste hur det skulle gå men sen att han bara gick fri sedan? Idk, really good book och det finns uppföljare om jag kommer ihåg rätt som säkert kan vara värda att läsa.

nobutireadthebook's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

janefc's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

p_wong's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25