- Hardcover: 440 pages
- Publisher: ISIS Publishing (1 May 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0753175231
- ISBN-13: 978-0753175231
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,758,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
'It's hard to imagine anyone interested in modern fiction who has not read the Ripley novels' Daily Telegraph
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
When a troubled young runaway arrives on Tom Ripley's French estate, he is drawn into a world he thought he'd left behind, the seedy underworld pf Berlin and kidnapping plots, lies and deception. Ripley becomes the boy's protector as a friendship develops between the young man with a guilty conscience and the older one with no conscience at all.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Ripley books have become a minor compulsion for me (WHEN will they re-print Ripley Under Water?). Highsmith's prose is clipped neatly as ever and although there is less physical action in this book, there is a lot more going on psychologically. This is not to the work's detriment - Highsmith's style is better suited to subtle proddings of psyches than it is to 'crash!kerpow!' comic book storylines.
I think that the darker undertones of the boy's relationship with Tom are set off starkly agaisnt the ordinariness of every day life that goes on around them. The precise nature of their mutual attraction is simply never set out starkly ...
I think that Highsmith may have used this book to add yet more depth and character to her anti-hero - strangely though the more she tells us about him, the more enigmatic he becomes.
A very subtle, excellent work.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Boy Who Followed Ripley will either be your favorite Ripley book or it will be a large disappointment.
If you have not read any Ripley books, I suggest that you start with The Talented Mr. Ripley instead.
Those who will be disappointed by this book will be people who wanted a book just like one of the first three in the series. Those who will be very pleased are those who want to think through the implications of Ripley's character and who he is becoming. I have graded the book as an average of the two likely reactions.
We see a new side of Ripley in this book. He takes a troubled American teen under his wing and mentors him in the way that a friendly uncle or much older brother might. In the process, Ripley reveals more of himself to the boy than to anyone else. Ripley also ends up musing and seeing his own marriage and history in a new light as he understands the boy's problems.
I'm sorry that I cannot go into the story in more detail. To do so would simply spoil the plot development for you.
If you like character development with long stretches of little plot development, this book will be a lot of fun. If you crave the constant action of The Talented Mr. Ripley, this book will drag slowly in long sections for you.
Unless you are ambivalent about the Tom Ripley character, I do suggest that you read the book . . . even if it won't be your favorite.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As good as 'Ripley Under Ground', and better than 'Ripley's Game'. Nowhere near as good as Highsmith's real classics - 'Strangers on a Train', 'Carol', or 'The Cry of the Owl', all of which are required reading. However, this is still an interesting read for fans of Thomas Ripley, and reawakens some themes from the original 'Talented Mr . . .' It's the icy coldness of Highsmith's 1950s prose that intrigues me, but this novel appeals in a different way, as we see Ripley thaw and unfreeze as 'the boy's' hero-worship of him hits home. Tom begins to relive his attraction to and his own obsessive response to the murder of Dickie Greenleaf. . . Hooray to Vintage for reprinting Highsmith's back catalogue - and hopefully we won't have to wait too long for 'Ripley Under Water'.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Ripley sequel by Queen of Crime
There is no doubt in my mind that the greatest force as a crime author is Patricia Highsmith.
For me she is the single most capable constructor of believable characters. Read more
For me she is the single most capable constructor of believable characters. Read more
Published on 28 Oct 2009 by John Cutts
Holding up the plot
I have now read all of the Ripley novels and this - the penultimate in the series seems to me to reveal the most in the continuing analysis of Ripley's sexual make-up and his... Read more
Published on 15 Sep 2009 by Eileen Shaw
A surprising and haunting book
The five Ripley books are comparable to Updike's "Rabbit" novels: whilst Updike charted the life of an American everyman, Highsmith showed the development of an entirely amoral... Read more
Published on 30 Aug 2006 by Chandler
Not as good as the others
Having read all the Ripley books, and Strangers on a Train, I would say this is the least interesting and slowest paced of them all. Read more
Published on 18 Nov 2004 by N. Stafford
It's a shame that there are only 5 Ripley novels
Ripley is a highly compelling character, he is like Hannibal Lectar minus the eating people and glib look at me I'm so super intelligent pretentious comments... Read more
Published on 10 Aug 2004
Very poor. This book never catches alight.
I had read the first three Highsmith novels featuring Tom Ripley and enjoyed every single page so I was very much looking forward to reading "The Boy Who Followed... Read more
Published on 2 May 2001 by A. Phillips
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
