The Talented Mr. Ripley

By: Patricia Highsmith

Narrated by: Kevin Kenerly

Length: 9 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

Since his debut in 1955, Tom Ripley has evolved into the ultimate bad boy sociopath, influencing countless novelists and filmmakers.

In this first novel, we are introduced to suave, handsome Tom Ripley: a young striver, newly arrived in the heady world of Manhattan in the 1950s. A product of a broken home, branded a "sissy" by his dismissive Aunt Dottie, Ripley becomes enamored of the moneyed world of his new friend, Dickie Greenleaf. This fondness turns obsessive when Ripley is sent to Italy to bring back his libertine pal, but he grows enraged by Dickie's ambivalent feelings for Marge, a charming American dilettante.

A dark reworking of Henry James's The Ambassadors, The Talented Mr. Ripley—immortalized in the 1998 film starring Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gywneth Paltrow—is an unforgettable introduction to this debonair confidence man, whose talent for self-invention and calculated murder is chronicled in four subsequent novels.

©1955 Patricia Highsmith. Copyright renewed 1983 by Patricia Highsmith. (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the great crime novels of the 20th century, Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley is a blend of the narrative subtlety of Henry James and the self-reflexive irony of Vladimir Nabokov. Like the best modernist fiction, Ripley works on two levels. First, it is the story of a young man, Tom Ripley, whose nihilistic tendencies lead him on a deadly passage across Europe. On another level, the novel is a commentary on fictionmaking and techniques of narrative persuasion. Like Humbert Humbert, Tom Ripley seduces readers into empathizing with him even as his actions defy all moral standards." (Amazon.com review)

"[Highsmith] has created a world of her own - a world claustrophobic and irrational which we enter each time with a sense of personal danger." (Graham Greene)

"One of our greatest modernist writers." (Gore Vidal)

Amazing narrator

I cannot imagine this book being as enjoyable if the narrator was someone else. We need more of Mr. Kenerly here on Audible.

Better Than The Movie!

Excellent Narration! Intriguing and fascinating! Love the details left out of movie. The movie added and omitted quite a bit. I was able to get more insight on Thomas Ripley and how his mind worked. Though I did thoroughly enjoyed the movie, I highly recommend the novel.

Way under-the-radar good!

Wow, can’t believe this one was overlooked. I got it as part of a bogo sale as filler in a book hangover and I loved it! Suspenseful, well written, and performed. Can’t wait to do the next in the series (and watch the movie, which I’ve never seen)

Probably not necessary to write a review considering this books is 70 years old and been made into a movie

But here it is. The first 2 hours are legitimately so boring I almost fell asleep on my walk listening to it. Of course it gets better and more interesting and it has an intriguing plot and keeps you wondering what might happen next but I didn’t care for any characters very much and the more I learned about the author after reading it the more I realized why. She herself was sort of a tragic person who didn’t like people and was very negative and somewhat like Mr.Ripley. Didn’t seem to have genuine sympathy or kindness in her and held her moral views as King and the rest of humanity as a waste.
Not worth the read however I at least now know what this story is as I’ve never seen the movie. But I sort of feel this way about the great gatsby and apparently that’s too 5 novels ever written so…

Easy listen. Makes you want to drink and travel.

I enjoyed this book and the nostalgia of traveling in the old days. It was slow to start for me but the detail of traveling and the Italian cities and Tom's many dilemmas kept me intrigued.

Disturbed Mr. Ripley.

Would you listen to The Talented Mr. Ripley again? Why?

First, this author weaves a tale that is intriguing wonderful. Mr. Thomas Ripley, is mentally disturb sociopath and psychopath who even, during his least endearing moments you end up rooting for him. The narrator did a wonderful job in catching the spirit of the book, and his tones, inflections made each character unique. This book was fun, climatic, laughably absurd, and seriously cerebral.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Yes it did.! The antics of Mr. Ripley in his lonely life, filled with the monster that is himself, is fascinating. I was wondering how many people are like Mr. Ripley to pull off such daring. I mean to become so obsessed with someone, you ACTUALLY kick them out their life and take it over.....*shaking my head* stupefying.

What about Kevin Kenerly’s performance did you like?

I like his voice. I like the way he draws you into the story. He is not boring and flat, but engaging and he seemed to enjoy this work.

If you could rename The Talented Mr. Ripley, what would you call it?

The Morbidly Talented, Senior Ripley.

Any additional comments?

I think I will listen to this again, now!

Slow start

This was slow to get started, but once the story gets rolling halfway through, I really enjoyed it. Very suspenseful great performance.

Social climbing sociopath

TR is such a unique character. You’re half rooting for him to get away with it, even though he’s technically deranged haha

Outstanding!

Fascinating novel; flawless narration! I highly recommend this dark work by Patricia Highsmith, the first of five Ripley novels.

Beautiful Prose, Annoying Narrator

Highsmith is known for her wonderful command of the language and a creepy mind. Her sociopaths (Ripley, as well as Bruno from Strangers on a Train) could be characterized as asexual misogynists or repressed homosexuals, depending on your viewpoint. That they don't understand the nuances of male/female relationships enrages them and ultimately drives them to murder. Highsmith writes beautifully, and though Kenerly's narrative tone carries the appropriate sense of underlying malice, I was several times startled out of an emersion in the story by his mispronunciation of Italian and French words, and by the hard "g" that he gives to such words as "ring" and "long." If that weren't bad enough, he often turns statements into questions with a rising inflection at the end of a sentence.