The Talented Mr. Ripley
Decide its fate
The record
Time
An eveningA season288 pages, about 6 hours: about the length of a typical book on the shelf.
Getting in
Walk right inSteep climbOne reader reports the first half moved slowly and the book took three months to finish.
What it gives
Plot and actionIdeas to live byIn 15 reviews from critics and book blogs, 11 credit the plot and 7 credit the ideas or a change in how they live.
One of a kind
Others do thisNothing else doesSally O’Reilly likens Tom Ripley’s rise to Macbeth’s, and a Substack critic calls the novel a precursor to American Psycho.
The case for it
on Dickie’s charisma
“his charisma, the way he rides through life, he wants that for himself.”
Sally O'Reilly · Five Books, 2026 on its influence
“the godfather of the modern psychological thriller.”
J.S. Monroe · Five Books, 2023 on the complicity
“feel so dirtily complicit in his misdeeds”
four stars · a book blog on the unease
“let’s me sit in this awkward state of unease throughout reading the book.”
four stars · a book blog
The case against
on the pace
“The pace was too slow for me and there were so many uninteresting details.”
a book blog on the coincidences
“too much of the narrative was explained by coincidence and luck.”
a book blog on the length
“it did take me over three months to read”
a book blog on Ripley’s likability
“I don’t particularly find Ripley charming or even likable”
a book blog
