by Patricia Highsmith
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Product Description
An American writer is sent to Tunisia to gather material for a movie, but when his producer fails to show up, he stays on and works instead on a novel. Intimations of violence soon cast deep shodows, and he finds himself an accomplice to murder.
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Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 "The Sea of Doubt", 2010-02-16
"The Sea of Doubt" is the title of this book in Italian, which, in my opinion, should've been its original title. Why? Howard is an interesting character in crisis to read about until he starts constantly changing his mind as to whether or not he loves Ina. Besides, after chapter 20, I started to feel a bit bored, like Jensen, everytime Abdullah's murder came up. I understand that Abdullah's murder is "the excuse" to address the moral issues in the book, but since such murder was more like an accident, I couldn't help thinking "let it go and move on!" whenever they went back to it. In the end, the only character I ended up liking was Jensen. OWL's closed-mindedness and preaching and Ina's hypocrisy after cheating on Howard couldn't be more annoying and easy to dislike.
I can understand why Graham Greene and The New Yorker considered this to be Highsmith's finest novel, but she's written better books filled with aprehension, suspense and existentialism issues such as "The Talented Mr. Ripley" and "Strangers on a Train". The political, religious and moral issues addressed in this book make it worth reading, but I would've liked more depth about these issues. I'd define this book as an existentialist travelogue, because the descriptions of what it's like to be in Tunisia are very thorough although a bit long-winded sometimes. All in all, it's worth reading, specially if you're a Highsmith's fan. If you've never read Highsmith, don't start with this one, because it's certainly not a "mystery and suspense" book.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
The stranger variation, 2009-04-27
Patricia Highsmith's 1969 thriller carries some strong echoes of Albert Camus's L'ETRANGER, but even more of her own THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY. Like most of her novels, it is about the effects of guilt after a morally questionable act (and also like many of her novels, it is also a study of authenticity as its clever title suggests.). John Ingham, a novelist in Northern Tunisia to write a screenplay on spec, finds himself fully divorced from the context of his New York life and increasingly adrift from his sense of who he is. Highsmith beautifully establishes the hallucinatory aspect of Ingham's life abroad as he finds himself unable to get in contact either with the director friend who commissioned his screenplay or with his girlfriend, and as the problem of crime slowly permeates his life in North Africa. By the time Ingham hurls his typewriter at the head of a local thief sneaking in his room at night you're ready for him to commit such a horrifying act, and pretty curious as to what the consequences will be; but here the book winds down rather than amplifies the suspense. Highsmith is more concerned with what happens to someone from an interpersonal aspect rather than from a legal standpoint after committing such an act, and because Ingham's girlfriend Ina (who eventually shows up) isn't terribly interesting it's hard to care much about what will happen to their relationship. The Arab-Israeli War of the late 1960s is used as a very striking political background to the events of the novel, and the sense of atmosphere in expatriate Tunisia is done fairly deftly.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Good - But Unsatisfying, 2008-12-30
As a fan of Patricia Highsmith, I had great expectations for The Tremor of Forgery. After all, Graham Greene said that Tremor was her best book - and Highsmith's best is excellent, indeed. I regret to say, however, that I walked away from the book with a feeling of mild disappointment.
In Forgery, Highsmith excels in many respects. Her characters are multidimensional. Readers will feel that these characters could, indeed, exist. Highsmith also does a great job of evoking the Tunisian setting; the manner in which each of the Western protagonists reacts to Tunisia reveals much about him or her. Finally, unsurprisingly to Highsmith's fans, she does not lead her readers to any easy conclusions; readers are left to make what they will of the story's murky dilemmas.
Why, then, is Forgery not a complete success? In my opinion, the plot meanders a bit too much. I was engrossed for the first 100 pages, but I kept waiting for the drama to heighten over the last 150 pages. Instead, Forgery lazily creeps to its conclusion. Forgery is unsatisfying because, in some ways, the stakes seem to be too low; too little happens for the reader to feel engaged. Reading Tremor, I thought of critic John Gardner's admonition that fiction should build to some sort of triumph of failure for the protagonist; Tremor does not build to much of anything.
Tremor is worth a look. But it's far from Highsmith's best.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 the tremors of self, 2007-03-09
Separated from all that he is, a young writer is tempted to become much that he is not. He is tested, in several ways, with only his own antennae, sensitive to subtle and not-so-subtle moral and ethical malaise to protect him.
The state of mind of the main character has a disquieting, queasy-making effect on the reader. We dread his imminent personal disintegration, right up to the last few pages... when there is an unforced surprise which is a true and strong insight into - there is no other way to say it - how to live one's life.
An extraordinary book.
2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
 The Tremor of Indecision, 2006-03-01
Howard Ingham is an American writer in Tunisia, sent there to write a movie script. Luckily he has received a large advance and is staying in a hotel waiting for the arrival of the actors and director/cameraman. He's also waiting for a letter from his girlfriend Ina. Unfortunately, before he arrives, the director commits suicide after a short affair with Ina, but Howard stays on in Tunisia, unable to get going with his life. He makes various and assorted friends and Ina travels from New York to visit him. He decides he's crazy in love with her, then decides he isn't. He defends himself against a burglar, then is made to feel guilty about it. Howard can't really decide how he feels. I know how I felt: bored. Every meal, every can of beer is described.
There is one good thing: the dog comes back!
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