Originally posted on K. A. Laity:
Hop on over to Bristol Noir to read my latest musings on the mind behind Tom Ripley. I am working on a thing about Patricia Highsmith, with a little Burnt Orange Heresy in there as well. I was going to give a presentation at Captivating Criminality, but I think it…
I’m not sure why I always had it stuck in my mind that there were four books in the Ripliad. The fifth and final (thought I have an idea for a sixth, oh estate of esteemed writer) is Ripley Under Water. Released in 1991 more than a decade after The Boy Who Followed Ripley (which deserves a … Continue reading FFB: Ripley Under Water by Patricia Highsmith
Opens Friday 6 March in the US Don’t be put off by the title; it’s not an exposé of the current occupant of the White House, but an adaptation of the 1971 Charles Willeford novel of the same name. I went to a special screening thanks to the Woodstock Film Festival folks with my pal … Continue reading Review: The Burnt Orange Heresy (2019)
Continuing the summer obsessions (although being back to campus is the painful way of telling me summer’s over) of Highsmith and Spark, I have two plays coming up: the first is Murray-Smith’s play imagining Patricia Highsmith meeting a mysterious visitor who seems rather Ripley-esque to anyone who’s read her. There was a production in Bath … Continue reading FFB: Switzerland by Joanna Murray-Smith
Still on a Highsmith kick (when I’m not on the Spark kick) and here’s yet another unsung volume from the prolific author. A Suspension of Mercy is not a title that would fly these days. It has the allusive high-flown style that Highsmith loved in titles; today publishers prefer more direct titles (‘No, Pat. This Sweet Sickness?! … Continue reading FFB: A Suspension of Mercy by Patricia Highsmith
Marijane Meaker’s memoir of her romance with Patricia Highsmith reads like one of her novels. Racy, pacy, fun – with characters larger than life. At times it’s hard to remember they’re real people. While Joan Schenkar’s fat biography covers a whole lot more, Meaker’s book offers the first hand insight and anecdotes that makes it … Continue reading FFB: Highsmith – A Romance of the 1950s
A Dog’s Ransom Patricia Highsmith Highsmith’s Ripley novels have a high profile which unfairly casts a shadow over some of her other works. A Dog’s Ransom is a peculiar gem in the same vein of sharply misanthropic works that swell her bibliography. The New York of this novel isn’t just gritty: it reeks. The story … Continue reading Review: Patricia Highsmith’s A Dog’s Ransom
