book data
179 ratings, 3.85 average rating, 13 reviews
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published
2005
(first published 1991)
by Bloomsbury
binding
Paperback, 256 pages
isbn
0747580278
(isbn13: 9780747580270)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 234)
Read in November, 2008
recommends it for:
almost anyone
Possibly the best of Highsmith's Ripley novels, Ripley under Water is immensely enjoyable. This novel demonstrates her unique ability to draw out the tension and suspense in her stories to incredible levels. In this story, Ripley is finally up against someone as inexplicable and ruthless as himsel. His antics in the previous Ripley novels threaten to come to light, thanks to the efforts of one person who appears in none of them, and who is mysteriously out to unsettle and expose the real Tom Rip...more
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Patricia Highsmith, as I have noted before, writes a intriguing set of novels using Tom Ripley as the antihero. Ripley Under the Water is a good example of her craft. Tom and his French wife Heloise, live quietly near a small French village. The only thing one might consider unusual about the house is the presence of a bloodstain on the floor of the basement that Tom explains came from spilling some wine. Indeed, there was wine mixed with the blood for it was with a wine bottle that Tom had kill...more
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Read in October, 2008
The fifth and final Tom Ripley novel is from 1991 - also one of the final works of Highsmith's long career - and it is just as amazing as the other four. In fact it makes the whole series better, crystallizing themes and calling my attention to certain parallels in the five books: corpses submerged beneath water, suicide leaps, the rings of Ripley's victims. Even better was the highlighting of similarities between Tom's initial murder and impersonation of Dickie Greenleaf with the longer-runni...more
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Read in December, 2008
Two and a half years ago I read The Mysterious Mr. Ripley, an omnibus containing the first three Tom Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith. Ripley Under Water is the fifth and final book in the series coming just four years before Highsmith's death in 1995.
When Tom Ripley was first introduced in The Talented Mr. Ripley, he was young, unbalanced and quick to anger. He also had a big ego and no scruples when it came to getting ahead in life.
By Ripley Under Water, he's older ...more
When Tom Ripley was first introduced in The Talented Mr. Ripley, he was young, unbalanced and quick to anger. He also had a big ego and no scruples when it came to getting ahead in life.
By Ripley Under Water, he's older ...more
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Read in August, 2007
Late Highsmith, still at the top of her game. She cannily creates an air of nearly unbearable suspense by never allowing us to know any more than Ripley knows at any point, so Ripley's paranoia becomes our paranoia. Very effective.
Has there ever been a creepier protagonist in literature than Tom Ripley? Hamlet, maybe. His combination of epicene sensibilities and cold blooded ruthlessness have always made my skin crawl. In film, John Malkovich best captured Ripley's essential creepiness...more
Has there ever been a creepier protagonist in literature than Tom Ripley? Hamlet, maybe. His combination of epicene sensibilities and cold blooded ruthlessness have always made my skin crawl. In film, John Malkovich best captured Ripley's essential creepiness...more
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Read in November, 2008
i'm pretty sad to not have any more ripley books to look forward to. sure, the last two entries in the series don't match the first three, but he's such a great character and his world is so weird. anyway, ripley under water is probably the most unusual entry in the series. it wisely abandons the atypically-overblown homo-erotics of the boy who followed ripley (my least favorite by a wide margin) in favor of something slower and less eventful. so uneventful, in fact, that portions border on outr...more
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I've been putting off reading the last of The Riplaid for awhile, but finally got around to it. I'll miss Ripley and Belle Ombre, miss the way Highsmith puts you unabashedly on the side of a monster. Miss the way that Ripley sails through life unperturbed by what he has to do to sustain it's comfort.
A fitting final chapter in a most delightful game.
A fitting final chapter in a most delightful game.
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recommends it for:
Mystery Lovers
I can never get the final image from this book out of my head. The couple. . . drowning the words "Ripley" rising out the water. sends chills down my spine.
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Takes a little while to get going, but once it does, it's gripping, as per usual for Highsmith. Recommended beach / poolside reading.
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Have read many of this series. I find this one particularly sinister.
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Read in January, 2002
recommends it for:
anti mystery enthusiasts.
Another in the Ripley series. Highly recommended. Highsmith is gripping.
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