What genre is Deep Water? It teeters between thriller and crime, has Poe flavours and a Hitchcock air, but altogether it seems to be something quite unique. What is certain is that I will be reading more Patricia Highsmith. Deep Water has all the qualities of a good novel and great thriller, but its magic is in how Highsmith creates such strong sympathy and admiration for the protagonist, who also happens to be a killer.Victor van Allen is a model husband, loving father and pillar of the community. He is an intelligent man who runs a printing press and enjoys solitary, eccentric hobbies. His wife, however, could not be more different. Bored of suburban life and Vic, she satisfies her appetite for excitement with numerous, indiscreet affairs. Ever tolerant, Vic forebears his wife's cruelties and the embarrassment of her affairs with saintly patience. His gentle character, kindness and patience earn our admiration, but also makes us yearn for him to stand up and do something about this cruel woman and her swaggering lovers. For me, this sympathy with Vic was the crucial to the novel's success as it works to create more emotion, more realistically and effectively than any literary device, as the reader feels the resentment, anger and paranoia as if they were the character. After gaining our sympathy, Highsmith has these emotions simmer away with beautiful slowness until they reach breaking point and are released in a satisfying, cathartic crescendo. Even if the result is terrible, we are so much on Vic's side and have been so longing for action that it is greeted with relief rather than horror.Being able to relate strongly with a character and feel what they feel is a quality of my favourite novels, but with Victor Van Allen I have found sympathy with a murderer and throughout the novel I was rooting for him. Perhaps I have been bewitched, but the exploration of psychology and morality in Deep Water will certainly leave you asking questions. I see Vic as a good man, who, after years of super-human tolerance, finally breaks and is driven to extremes. His enemies receive the justice (even if extreme) that the wicked rarely receive and don't expect to receive from the quiet and patient. According to The Independent reviewer Craig Brown, the only time he ever rattled Highsmith was when he called Vic a weak man “but at least he had a go, at least he HAD A GO!" she replied. Yes, Victor Van Allen had a go, and there is something heroic in that.
Highsmith, Patricia. DEEP WATER. (1957). ****.tAside from the disappointing – to me – ending, this is an excellent psychological mystery by Ms. Highsmith. It is very different from her Ripley novels, although her main character, Vic, is very much the same as Ripley. Vic is married to Melinda. Vic owns a printing company that does special limited editions of selected works in a collectable format. His company doesn’t make a profit, but he continues with it because he has an independent source of income. Melinda is a hyperactive woman who doesn’t know what she wants out of life, but pursues other men with expectations of finding it. Vic is painfully aware of her gad-about ways, but puts up with it in order to keep his marriage together. He doesn’t really love her, but he loves the peace and quiet of a simulated marriage that allows him to keep on with his printing work and to pursue his hobbies. The hobbies are a little rare. He performs experiments with bedbugs and writes a technical paper that he submits to a scientific journal. He raises snails – mostly so he can watch them making their way through life; maybe as an alternative to his own rootless existence. Although he puts up a front of giving his wife her freedom, he really feels the pain it gives him by robbing him of his manliness. When the opportunity arises, he manages to kill her current boyfriend by drowning him in a neighbor’s pool at a party. He saw his chance and took it. All the stars were with him: although he is suspected by his wife and one antagonistic neighbor, he manages to get away with it and the death is ruled an accident. When the next lover comes along, Vic, buoyed by his prevous success, does the dirty deed with this one, too. This time, he kills his prey by stunning him with a rock and then pushing him into a lake at the bottom of a quarry. We are put into the mind of Vic all through these actions, and see him constantly working out ways and means of avoiding detection. He also has to put up with his half-crazed wife during all of this. Turns out that his wife is a bigger source of angst to him than any of her lovers were, but he doesn’t know what to do about it. This is a taut novel from this author that should not be missed. Recommended.
What do You think about Deep Water (2003)?
Those who have read The Talented Mr. Ripley , are already acquainted with this master (actually mistress) of psychological suspense. Apparently, in 1950, when her first novel Strangers on a Train, was published, she had previously encountered resistance in America as an outspoken author on controversial themes. Deep Water is one of Highsmith’s early works and reveals her uncanny talent to capture the essence of a diabolical, treacherous personality.Vic and Melinda VanAllen’s marriage is , simply stated, unconventional. She frequently is drunk and with his full knowledge, has a series of sexual encounters, often flaunting them in his face and to the community. He appears affable with this arrangement, pursuing his own odd interests in an apparently well-ordered existence. Highsmith has chillingly, almost imperceptibly, but precisely etched his descent into madness. She has skillfully executed the ability to interweave ordinary daily life with the mental processes of the sociopath.The tension in this novel was often subtle, but the spell was cast early in the book. I was often nearly mesmerized by Highsmith’s creative ploys, lulling me with a false sense of casual, mundane activities, then evoking the menace that emerged.. While reading this book, I frequently recalled and compared her characterizations with those of Ruth Rendell, AKA Barbara Vine. Both had the unique ability to introduce the reader to a diverse group of people with neuroses, obsessions and those with bizarre behaviors. Patricia Highsmith was the author of many books which I have not read, but now that I have rediscovered her, I shall pursue more of them.
—Barbara
Patricia Highsmith does it again! I've never read another author who makes me root for the bad guy the way she does.Vic is married to Melinda. She's a bitch who cheats on him, treats their small daughter like a non-existent entity, and drinks heavily and sloppily. Melinda flaunts her affairs at neighborhood BBQ's and cocktail parties. It's suburban New England in the 1950's, so these little get togethers are frequent.Vic is a neighborhood favorite. He's neat, he's pleasant, he cooks, he dotes on his daughter, and on his wife, much to the shock of everyone. When Melinda brings her conquests home for dinner and drinks (they don't go as far as sleeping over, although they often stay up all night), Vic purposely sits in the living room with them, reading. While Melinda dances and snuggles with her callers.Vic and Melinda don't love one another, they sleep in separate parts of the house, and Vic has many little hobbies to keep himself busy: the yard, reading, searching out obscure books for the small printing press he owns, and taking care of his snails. He has hundreds of snails. I personally find that creepy, but I know Patricia Highsmith loved snails, and kept them as pets, so I'm not sure we're supposed to think it's creepy. Snails mate for life, and Vic is fascinated by their "love".Vic won't divorce Melinda. He says it isn't right, and she needs to divorce him. She finally agrees. The problem is, Vic has been so good, and moral, and helpful, by constantly making up excuses for Melinda's obscene behavior. He's put up with so much, and cracks are forming at the surface.To say anymore would ruin the fun.
—Katie
I consider Patricia Highsmith to be one of my "literary idols." So, when Gillian Flynn picked DEEP WATER as her Wall Street Journal book club book, I bought it immediately. Yeah, I should have known: I didn't love GONE GIRL, therefore, I am not surprised that I didn't love DEEP WATER.Written in 1957, DEEP WATER is the story of Vic and Melinda Van Allen, an unhappily married couple living in Massachusettes. Melinda has one affair after another, right under Vic's eyes. He is, on the surface, completely unfazed by his wife's liaisons. While this story is interesting as a study of human nature, it is boring as hell as far as literature goes. It's only 227 pages—thank goodness—but the story is entirely tedious! The husband Vic is a very interesting, well-rounded character, but there is essentially no subplot. It's all about Melinda sleeping with every single single guy who moves into their tiny northeastern town of Little Wesley. Seriously, that's all it's about. Melinda has affair after affair, while Vic sits back and does nothing (until he does "something"). Highsmith's writing is clean and crisp, though the dialogue is stilted and overly formal. In light of STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, THE PRICE OF SALT, THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, it's no wonder I'd never heard of DEEP WATER. It is certainly not one of Highsmith's better novels. I'm glad to have read DEEP WATER, but I can't give it more than Three Stars.
—Karolyn Sherwood
