: The Talented Mr. Ripley
Author: Patricia Highsmith
Terrific book, really fantastic. I wish I’d read it before I saw the film. After reading the book, I like the film less. The book is far better, though the film stands on its own in a way, but I just liked the book’s approach better. It’s more believable and the characters better defined, especially Tom Ripley. In the book he’s really a psychopath, unemotional and scarcely able to understand what’s he doing; that wasn’t at all the impression I got in the film, where they did things like weaken the murder scene by making his victim fight back in such a way that we felt some sympathy for Tom. The film is typical Hollywood, afraid to commit, wanting to please everyone. Tom is one of the most unusual characters in literature the film just does not compare to the book.
Topic: [/book] |
