Hi everyone, I am considering starting Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley series, but not really enthused about it. I’ve seen the Matt Damon/Jude law film many years ago and recently watched the new Netflix series. My issue is that he’s a horrible person, and I know that there is no payoff, no closure after 5 books and he never gets his comeuppance. And that doesn’t interest me in the least.
Does he have any redeeming qualities? Does he even evolve to the point where you feel sympathy or did everyone just hate read the series hoping he’d die a horrible death or languish in prison?
Should I just avoid this series completely? Anyone else feel the same?
by Xspunge
6 Comments
If you hate the idea that much, don’t read the goddamn books. The world has other books in it, and posting on Reddit to try to get someone to force you to read a book you’re this set against is ridiculous.
You sound insufferable.
Weird post.
I cut in line in front of you at Starbucks once and when I got to the counter I didn’t know what I wanted and then I paid with loose change by dumping the full contents of my purse onto the counter which included several partially consumed cough drops, one of which fell to the floor. You stepped on it, making the sole of your shoe gritty and redolent of menthol.
You would cause me a twinge of physical pain in my left pinkie finger if you read these books. Have your revenge!
Read the rules. This is suggest a book, not convince me to read this.
Does your reading material have to be morally correct? Who cares if Ripley is a horrible person, or if he “gets his comeuppance”?
Richard Stark wrote around 20 books about Parker, a completely amoral thief who doesn’t hesitate to kill if it helps him finish a job. The books are masterpieces.
SM Stirling wrote a half dozen or so alternate history books about the Domination of the Draka, a kind of super Rhodesia, an empire based on chattel slavery that eventually takes over the world. The books are awesome.
Ripley isn’t real. Quiet your inner schoolmarm. The virtue of books like those is that it allows you to touch and feel the darkest parts of human experience, in a setting where the largest danger to yourself is a papercut.