Found in the Street

Patricia Highsmith had been writing fiction for 30+ years before she authored this outstanding gem of a novel. The years of experience are abundantly evident in the understated, precise way this highly interesting and totally believable tale is told. Jack and Natalia Sutherland lead charmed lives and they know it. Both are young and both come from wealthy families. Jack is a talented illustrator and Natalia works in an art gallery. They live in a very desirable apartment in Greenwich Village along with their precocious 5 year old daughter Amelia. Their marriage is perfect. Their lives are perfect. Enter Elsie Tyler, a fresh faced 20 year old from a small town in upstate New York. Elsie has a rare type of natural beauty, the kind that causes heads to turn. She is an object of desire to many. Men and women. Much of the book concerns the unusual dynamic that is set up when Jack and Natalia both find themselves falling in love with Elsie. Adding to the tension inherent in the narrative is the presence of Ralph Linderman, a socially isolated middle aged security guard, who takes a very unhealthy interest in Elsie's well being. Highsmith developes the characters using detailed descriptions that ring absolutely true. These are characters you can practically reach out and touch. Moreover, every action taken is completely in character. Time after time I found myself thinking: "Yes, that is exactly what a woman like Natalia would have done." Or, "Isn't that just like Jack to do that very thing." Also presented with great skill is the ambiance of New York. The crowds, the shops, the restaurants. All the sights, sounds and smells of the city. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that Found in the Street is an unrecognized masterpiece of fiction. Very highly recommended.

This is one of my favorite of her books. It must be read twice to fully appreciate it, though. Very underrated.

This was my first Highsmith novel and I am pleased to know that there are better ones out there. I did think that the pacing was good and the tension sufficient for my limited tolerance. However the characters were outlandishly polite and accepting over death, our of marriage affairs, gay and otherwise, and the gentle manner by which marital sex was managed. There were so many brilliant moments in their lives, successful books, art world ingenuity, even two very significant deaths were magnificently endured. Following one murder, the couple shared drinks, mulled over the wife's gay affair and the husband's otherwise erotic obsession, to be followed by lamb chops-perfect, I'm sure. The child of this wealth and beauty union, was over the edge of my tolerance however. She could draw upon command, was never impossibly intrusive and went easily whenever the plot commanded, to the abundant babysitters who could instantly be called upon for days of support.And yet the book had a definite intelligence, a psychological frisson,in the the ambiguous questionably sinister watchful movements of a lonely and completely marginalized 50 year old man. We try to stay ahead of that very slender line where he keeps his madness, his rage and consuming sexual confusion from psychopathic proportions. At the same time the story is unbearably tragic when he is brutalized by the violent toughs who reduce him from even the slightest acceptability. We wait for another personality or some violence from him or to him, its a gamble and it's well done. We do not know the details of how this character became isolated by his own broken memories, Ralph is isolated by virtue of his own broken memories, but we know they are unmentionable. The book is redeemed through his part in it.

Like the reviewer below, I was surprised to find the ranking of this novel so low. If anything, Highsmith has captured the sexual ambiguities of a stalker in such a way that she puts more "literary" writers such as Joyce Carol Oates to shame. Furthermore, classic Highsmith peculiarties are present in full force- amoral anti-heroes, lesbianism, sexual repression and lack of vindication for all involved. In short, great read!

Normally, I don't pay much attention to books that already have several reviews (I'm tryin' for that gift certificate!); but when I saw that this fine book had two 2-star reviews, I just had to pitch in my dissenting vote. It shouldn't take any sane reader long to figure out that Highsmith's final novel has no intention of being the typical suspense thriller that she is known for. There's plenty of the old-fashioned "apprehension" here that Graham Greene first identified as the hallmark of her work; but this is a NOVEL in the finest modern sense, replete with convincing characters, complex relationships, and richly textured themes. As long as I live I'll never forget the character of Ralph Lindermann, and how he turned out to be RIGHT, damn him, in his annoyingly pessimistic reading of events. Among other things, this is a brilliant exploration of urban life in the eighties, and one of Highsmith's most assured and sophisticated works; like so many of her other works, it's painful and deeply moving.