‘Unfurling tension and menace’: how slow TV like Ripley makes for a truly gripping watch

Elegant, luxurious, catlike … Netflix’s Andrew Scott-starring series is devastatingly unhurried – although not all viewers agree• Don’t get the What’s On TV newsletter delivered to your inbox? Sign up hereThe reviews for Netflix’s elegant new Patricia Highsmith adaptation, Ripley, have been mixed. While some critics have adored its moody black-and-white posturing and even labelled it a work of art, others have been less impressed. Is Andrew Scott a bit too old to be Tom Ripley, who is 25 in the first novel of the series? Does it compare unfavourably with the peerless Anthony Minghella version from 1999, or to 1960’s Plein Soleil, in which Alain Delon played the scheming sociopath? At eight episodes, with some pushing over the hour mark, is it stretching a relatively short novel beyond its limits?These are all questions of taste, of course, but it is hard to deny that Ripley is slow. It takes its time, it builds its case, and it luxuriates in the beauty and/or grubbiness of its surroundings. There are lingering shots of staircases – so many staircases – and statues, skies and scenery. This is a highly aestheticised world, and the noir-ish palette works surprisingly well, considering that much of its early action is set on the Amalfi Coast. You might think that such sun-kissed luxury would disappear in monochrome, but it only makes it all the more eerie, and the sinister threat all the more pronounced. Continue reading... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'

[ The Guardian | 2024-04-09 11:00:06 UTC ]

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David Mitchell announces Utopia Avenue, his first novel in five years

Due out next summer, the novel will explore the power of music, following the career of the eponymous psychedelic bandCloud Atlas author David Mitchell is to tackle the story of “the strangest British band you’ve never heard of” in his first novel for five years, Utopia Avenue.Announcing the... Continue reading at The Guardian

[ The Guardian | 2019-09-26 10:42:58 UTC ]
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Pan Mac scoops historical crime novel in two-book deal

Pan Macmillan has landed the first novel in a historical crime fiction series from D V Bishop. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-09-20 00:24:27 UTC ]
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Reimagining Folktales, But for the Ear: A Conversation with Mahsuda Snaith, by Carolyne Larrington

Interviews Carolyne Larrington Audible’s new fiction podcast, Hag, launching August 29, features eight reimaginings of traditional British folktales by eight contemporary female writers, with folktales chosen from across the UK. The collection will be... Continue reading at World Literature Today

[ World Literature Today | 2019-08-30 14:21:50 UTC ]
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Center for Fiction Names 2019 First Novel Prize Longlist

The Center for Fiction announced its 2019 First Novel Prize Longlist yesterday. The award is given to the “best debut novel published between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31 of the award year,” and the prize-winning author receives $10,000. Here is the 2019 longlist (featuring many titles from our 2019 Book... Continue reading at The Millions

[ The Millions | 2019-07-25 17:22:45 UTC ]
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Here’s the Center for Fiction’s 2019 First Novel Prize longlist.

The Center for Fiction just announced the longlist for this year’s best debut novel. The shortlist will be announced in September and the winner will be announced in December at The Center for Fiction’s Annual Benefit and Awards Dinner at its new, spacious, happening location in Brooklyn.... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-25 16:41:15 UTC ]
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Andrew Scott, AKA Fleabag‘s Hot Priest, will narrate Beatrix Potter audiobooks.

Audible has made great strides toward cornering the coveted Thirsty Parents market today by announcing that Fleabag‘s Hot Priest Andrew Scott will be narrating an audiobook collection of Beatrix Potter stories. Well played, Audible! I don’t have any children, but you better believe that my next... Continue reading at Literrary Hub

[ Literrary Hub | 2019-07-25 15:30:56 UTC ]
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Andrew Scott to narrate Beatrix Potter Collection audiobook

Audible will next month release an audiobook collection of Beatrix Potter stories, narrated by Andrew Scott.  Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-25 10:58:57 UTC ]
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Girl, Haunted

A drowning haunts Susan Steinberg’s dark first novel about teenagers’ summer adventures. Continue reading at The Atlantic

[ The Atlantic | 2019-07-23 10:00:00 UTC ]
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Dolly Alderton's first novel goes to Fig Tree

Fig Tree will publish journalist and author Dolly Alderton’s debut novel, Ghosts, about a food writer with a dedicated online following whose personal life is falling apart. Continue reading at The Bookseller

[ The Bookseller | 2019-07-10 16:29:40 UTC ]
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Tochi Onyebuchi Recommends African Visions of the Future by Women and Nonbinary Authors

Tochi Onyebuchi’s young adult books, the duology Beasts Made of Night and Crown of Thunder, are fantasy novels with a Nigeria-influenced setting. His upcoming War Girls is set in a post-nuclear, post-climate change Nigeria of 2172. Riot Baby, his first novel for adults (also forthcoming), is a... Continue reading at Electric Literature

[ Electric Literature | 2019-07-04 11:00:10 UTC ]
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Judith Krantz, Whose Tales of Sex and Shopping Sold Millions, Dies at 91

She published her first novel at 50, and her heroines were invariably rich, savvy, ambitious and preternaturally beautiful. Continue reading at The New York Times

[ The New York Times | 2019-06-24 20:37:23 UTC ]
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Looking Back, Moving Forward: ReShonda Tate Billingsley Reflects on Her 50 Novels

As she celebrates a series of career milestones—which coincide with the 20th anniversary of her publisher, Dafina Books—the author starts a new chapter by revisiting classic characters in the long-awaited sequel to her first novel, My Brother’s Keeper. (Sponsored) Continue reading at Publishers Weekly

[ Publishers Weekly | 2019-06-24 04:00:00 UTC ]
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What We're Reading – April 2019

Her Body and Other Parties, by Carmen Maria Machado I've absolutely loved this collection of short stories, which floats between the weird and the queer, passing horror, black comedy and feminism along the way. Doubles and others are especially important: a wife enters her wife’s dream when they... Continue reading at British Council global

[ British Council global | 2019-04-11 08:49:28 UTC ]
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