Tom Ripley is not a good person. He knows it. We know it. And yet somehow you might root for him up until the very end.
The most fascinating concept of the book is Tom's wanting something. He does not simply want Dickie's money or his things. He wants to be Dickie. The lifestyle, the way people interact with him. It might be a coincidence, but it's hard not to think of the Instagram world of today. We scroll through curated lives of others and feel the same ache Tom did. Not for an object. But for an entire existence. The sailboat, the villa, the ethos.
It all works (at least in this book) because Tom never becomes a true monster. Which is an odd thing to say about a man who did what he did.
This was one of the quick reads, which I will surely get back to. Tom Ripley is the character we can relate to, even if we don't want to.