Edith's Diary

I hope the movie The Talented Mr Ripley has brought new readers to the works of Patricia Highsmith. I started reading her books after falling in love with Hitcock's movie Strangers on a Train and hunting for the book it was based on. I have since read every Highsmith I have come across. Edith's Diary is the one that has stuck with me. It is not like her other books which are more traditional psychological thrillers with male protagonists. It is certainly not like the Ripley books. Edith has none of the glamor and allure of Tom Ripley. She is a normal, everyday housewife who is increasingly disappointed with her life. She starts to keep a diary which becomes more real for her than her disintegrating daily life. Highsmith makes Edith's descent into insanity understandable, believable, almost inevitable, and just as creepy as any of her other stories. A beautifully written book by a great writer.If you like Highsmith read this one. Also do not miss A Dog's Ransom, The Cry of the Owl, Found in the Street, Strangers on a Train.... etc. I am still looking for a Highsmith book I don't like. She was a genius.

...trying to make her life meaningful. - I read the book in one go as a 23 year old man. I interpreted it more as a tale of what it means to become an artist, especially a writer. Mrs. Highsmith's description of the inner life of Edith's son (down to his masturbation fantasies) convinced me once and for all that there is no barrier between the sexes when it comes to write about each other. "Edith's Diary" is for me one of the greatest American novels of this century, practically unknown in America.

Edith's Diary is by no means an easy book. But like all of Patricia Highsmith's novels is a masterpiece of claustrophobic suspense. I read it almost 15 years ago when I was a college student in Caracas, and believe it or not this story of a woman trapped in her home with a son from hell was a cult following novel for my generation, as well as almost all of Highsmith work. Our teachers couldn't understand our love for the american writer who choosed to live in Switzerland, she was to weird, too disturbing. I found that it was easier to find her novels in Europe and South America than in U.S.A. Now in 2000, thanks to Ripley's game and thanks to movie director Anthony Minghella, a new generation will know one of America's best and most underated authors.

Starts slow. Not much excitement till toward the last few chapters. But Highsmith delivers the intense and compelling conclusion to her novel. This novel was first published in Great Britan in 1977 when she was 56 because American publishers shied away... In a sense, Edith is more memorable than Tom Ripley.

A chilling and haunting psychological biography. thoroughly modern in its insights. A believable look at a woman sinking into madness.