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A review by paulataua
The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith
3.0
Writer Howard Ingham has been commissioned to write a screenplay for a movie that is to take place in Tunisia and moves there to write it. The project, however, is soon abandoned when the director dies, but he decides to stay on to write a book which he provisionally titles ‘The Tremor of Forgery’.
Graham Greene claimed it was Highsmith’s finest novel, but I am still not sure what I feel about it. It’s a story in which not a lot happens. There is mention of a lot of petty thefts and burglaries, a dog is attacked, and Ingham does come across a dead body, but none of these events hold center stage. The ‘murder’, one that may or may not have happened, is at the center of the story, but even this doesn’t seem central. While nothing much is going on, however, themes do emerge. A treatise on love covering the whole range from friendship to erotic sexual desire is somewhere in there, as is a discussion of the relational nature of morality as people are transplanted long term into a different culture. All in all, I was underwhelmed as I read it and yet mildly fascinated as I now try to piece my thoughts together. It might be worth reading for followers of Highsmith.
Graham Greene claimed it was Highsmith’s finest novel, but I am still not sure what I feel about it. It’s a story in which not a lot happens. There is mention of a lot of petty thefts and burglaries, a dog is attacked, and Ingham does come across a dead body, but none of these events hold center stage. The ‘murder’, one that may or may not have happened, is at the center of the story, but even this doesn’t seem central. While nothing much is going on, however, themes do emerge. A treatise on love covering the whole range from friendship to erotic sexual desire is somewhere in there, as is a discussion of the relational nature of morality as people are transplanted long term into a different culture. All in all, I was underwhelmed as I read it and yet mildly fascinated as I now try to piece my thoughts together. It might be worth reading for followers of Highsmith.