The Talented Mr. Ripley via Zoom

Thanks to Julie W., we were able to hold our book club meeting via Zoom, a new experience for us but one that allowed us to reconnect, even if only for 40 minutes at a time. Thanks to Zoom, Val was able to attend, so great to see you Val! Please move back.  I hadn't realized how much I missed these interactions, wallowing as I am in our current enforced introversion.

So on from introverts to psychopaths, our Talented Mr. Ripley. This was a queasy read for many of us as Tom casually moved from penniless hanger-on to full blooded murderer. Was this his great talent, or was it that he could so easily put it all behind him, somehow assured that he was owed a life he wasn't born to, owed it enough that he could just reach out and take it.

Or maybe his talent, or Patricia Highsmith's, was in bringing us along with our goodwill. He was after all the protagonist with sad circumstances that set up sympathy. Remember our introduction to him was when he felt a threat from someone who was looking for him. It was the first of many felicitous circumstances that it was not a creditor but rather a very rich man who wanted Tom to help bring a lost son back.

The first of many small steps forward, as Tom sloughs off his own life and starts someone else's. Closer contact with the equally rich son, Dickie Greenleaf, means only that Tom want more and more to be Dickie, with a trust fund, beautiful clothes and limitless options. And step by step, he finds a way to remove Dickie and insert himself.

We had a long discussion about whether Tom was truly evil or just inured to the consequences of his actions by delight in their result. He does get the life he craved, implausible as it might seem. And somehow he didn't seem to get the guilt or the stress that should have come with it. It was strange that  Dickie, Marge, the police and Dickie's father all believed him in the end but it also was hard to image any other outcome.

And so on to (finally) The Mirror and The Light, by Hilary Mantel. Our date is May 19 at 6:30 pm and I expect we will still be in isolation, so plan on a Zoom meeting. If not, I can host - I have lots of back yard that we can spread out in. This is the long awaited last book on the life of Thomas Cromwell. I have "read" it on audio book, 39+ hours and it was riveting. It is hard to come out of the fog of the 1500's, it was so well done. The audio included a great interview with Hilary Mantel and Ben Miles, the actor who read all three books - super interesting. She said that Miles, who played Cromwell in the stage adaption of Wolf Hall became the voice she heard when writing this last book and helped shape it in many ways.