Our next book: The Talented Mr Ripley!
As the Classical Book Club returns, we’re heading to 1950s Italy this time. But don’t bank on a calm, relaxing novel in the sunshine.
For this month’s selection, we’ll be diving into The Talented Mr Ripley, written by Patricia Highsmith. It’s a psychological thriller set in a stunning European backdrop and is very much considered as a more modern classic (even though it was published 70 years ago!).
Don’t forget to check out the post above with a reminder of the new format, and I’ll be back in touch very soon with more details on the layout.
So read along, get involved in the chat and stay tuned for more notes, check-ins and analysis!
And in case you want a reminder of what to expect…
The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith (1955)
It’s here, in the first volume of Patricia Highsmith’s five-book Ripley series, that we are introduced to the suave Tom Ripley, a young striver seeking to leave behind his past as an orphan bullied for being a “sissy.” Newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan, Ripley meets a wealthy industrialist who hires him to bring his playboy son, Dickie Greenleaf, back from gallivanting in Italy. Soon Ripley’s fascination with Dickie’s debonair lifestyle turns obsessive as he finds himself enraged by Dickie’s ambivalent affections for Marge, a charming American dilettante, and Ripley begins a deadly game.
“Sinister and strangely alluring,” The Talented Mr. Ripley serves as an unforgettable introduction to this smooth confidence man, whose talent for self-invention is as unnerving—and unnervingly revealing of the American psyche—as ever.
I picked up the book at the library today and started reading it at lunch. I like this book club because the books here are so readable. This one drew me right in! My other groups really work my brain, but this one is dessert.