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Andrew Wilson
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Beautiful Shadow: A Life of Patricia Highsmith Kindle Edition

by Andrew Wilson (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 152 ratings
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The life of Patricia Highsmith was as secretive and unusual as that of many of the best-known characters who people her "peerlessly disturbing" thrillers and short stories. Yet even as her work has found new popularity in the last few years, the life of this famously elusive writer has remained a mystery.

For Beautiful Shadow, the first biography of Highsmith, British journalist Andrew Wilson mined the vast archive of diaries, notebooks, and letters she left behind, astonishing in their candor and detail. He interviewed her closest friends and colleagues as well as some of her many lovers. But Wilson also traces Highsmith's literary roots in the work of Poe, noir, and existentialism, locating the influences that helped distinguish Highsmith's writing so startlingly from more ordinary thrillers. The result is both a serious critical biography and one that reveals much about a brilliant and contradictory woman, one who despite her acclaim and affairs always maintained her solitude.
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  1. Part of series
    Bloomsbury Lives of Women
  2. Print length
    714 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publisher
    Bloomsbury USA
  6. Publication date
    December 7, 2008
  7. File size
    3179 KB
  8. Page Flip
    Enabled
  9. Word Wise
    Enabled
  10. Enhanced typesetting
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  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

While British journalist Wilson's portrait of Highsmith (1921-1995) is neither graceful nor fluid, it is as haunting and as chilling as the stories and novels Highsmith crafted over more than 50 productive years. The author of Strangers on a Train and five novels featuring the amoral and murderous Tom Ripley, Highsmith achieved considerable critical acclaim in her native United States, but never sold well here. She was better received in Europe and that was where she made her home. The biographer's exhaustive attention to detail coupled with his access to Highsmith's journals (or "cahiers," as she called them) and letters, and extensive interviews with her friends, lovers and associates, allow him to reveal in excruciating detail this very private person. Highsmith emerges as a woman of great intelligence, candor and curiosity, but also as a racially prejudiced, anti-Semitic and insensitive boor. She was an acute observer capable of seizing a single incident and transforming it into a complex story. But she was unable to transform her own unhappy life. Instead she transmuted her troubles, her experiences, her observations into her work. One of her lovers observed, "If she hadn't had her work, she would have been sent to an insane asylum or an alcoholics' home.... She was her writing." Highsmith's work has had an important impact on both crime fiction and gay and lesbian fiction, and Wilson has impressively documented that as well as the tremendous cost Highsmith paid for her achievements. 16 pages of b&w photos not seen by PW.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

Wilson has delved with extraordinary diligence, and everything he has unearthed is remarkable.

-- "Mail on Sunday (London)"

A fascinating, beautifully balanced, and meticulously researched biography, bringing us as close to understanding Highsmith as we are ever likely to get.

-- "Sunday Telegraph (UK)"

An exemplary biography of a tortured, difficult, and outstandingly gifted human being.

-- "Sunday Times (London)"

Wilson's portrait of Highsmith...is as haunting and as chilling as the stories and novels Highsmith crafted...The biographer's exhaustive attention to detail coupled with his access to Highsmith's journals and letters, and extensive interviews with her friends, lovers and associates, allow him to reveal in excruciating detail this very private person.

-- "Publishers Weekly"

Excellent and outstandingly readable...Brilliant and compelling.

-- "Daily Mail (UK)"

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B002V9JFAY
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bloomsbury USA; 1st edition (December 7, 2008)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ December 7, 2008
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 3179 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 714 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 152 ratings

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Andrew Wilson

Andrew Wilson

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
152 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Mark Stevens
5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling, thoughtful and insightful portrait
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2007
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This is a stunning biography -- well written, well researched (exhaustive) and well structured. Patricia Highsmith helped Andrew Wilson by generating a detailed journal of her life but this biography uses that as a foundation, not the complete story. This is a terrific overview of one of the most under-rated crime / mystery / fiction writers of the century. Sure, Highsmith didn't always hit the mark. But she took chances, she probed her inner pscyhe, which was dark and tortured, and used it as a springboard for the over-arching point of view for her writing and for plotlines and characters. Any writer out there who is stuck for ideas, read this. Highsmith, it seemed, trained herself to dig deep into her imagination and subconcious for ideas -- at the same time as she consumed small newspaper tidbits and larger themes from the news to generate material. I had read all her major novels and a few of her short stories, but had no idea the pace she kept at producing fiction, particularly short stories. This biography is also an unflinching look at somebody who followed nobody else's model and who found a way to live as herself in a very uncomfortable world. I've never met (on page) anybody who was so productive and so self-destructive, who studied relationships in fiction and couldn't maintain one in private. I think Wilson's work here is masterful and represents a significant contribution to 20th century writing and authors.
25 people found this helpful
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Ann G. Caffrey
5.0 out of 5 stars The gifted and productive Patricia Highsmith
Reviewed in the United States on May 22, 2016
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amazing story of a very gifted and productive writer who had to fight many anxieties in the face of a culture
that did not welcome homosexuality, to put that mildly. today just viewed 'strangers on a train,' i think her first
successful book/film...and it is amazing in its descriptive power and insight into psychopathy. she was a sharp observer
of destructive relationships, perhaps having experienced so many herself, and she did not seem able to burst
out of the webs. mr. wilson's book is incredibly well researched/documented and kind..
5 people found this helpful
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David
4.0 out of 5 stars The Difficult Life of A brilliant Author
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2016
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I had read Patricia Highsmith's lesbian novel, "Carol", after seeing the 2016 film, "Carol". I loved the film and I appreciated the novel just as much, particularly as it expanded the details of the story. I then found I wanted to learn more about the author, Patricia Highsmith, and I read Andrew Wilson's biography.

it is well written, detailed and has given me a clearer sense of Highsmith's own life and struggles and how she used many details of her own life in her novels, not least being "Carol" (first published as "The Price of Salt"). Highsmith's difficult relationship with her mother and step-father, as well as her inability to find a lasting lesbian relationship in her own life, makes for sober reading.

Reading this biography will give you a deeper appreciation of the life of this author as well as inspire you to want to read some of her other novels, particularly the Mr. Ripley series.
12 people found this helpful
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Ana Malcata
5.0 out of 5 stars difficult sometimes to like or simply to understand but nonetheless
Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2017
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A very interesting biography that reveals Patricia Highsmith in all her brilliance and misery. A very flawed and contradictory personality, difficult sometimes to like or simply to understand but nonetheless, or because, fascinating. The author brings to us her life and her remarkable work very much alive and captivating.Liked it vey much.
3 people found this helpful
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Connie
3.0 out of 5 stars Reader from Muscat, Oman
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2012
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This book was well-written and the fact that the author had access to all of Patricia Highsmith's diaries aided in a better understanding of who Patricia was. As you read this book, it is apparent that Patricia Highsmith becomes stranger and stranger as she ages. She really was an odd and rather complex person.

My only nag is that shorter excerpts from Patricia's own books would have been enough to paint a portrait of this woman because the ones included were far too long to slog through and didn't add anymore to the picture. I didn't find the book a page-turner but was easily able to pick up the storyline if I had to put the book down for any length of time.
4 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great biography
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2011
Verified Purchase
Some biography's can be completely tedious and dull. This was interesting and fast paced. I felt that Highsmith's relationships (sometimes just sex) were covered well. Two of the women must still be alive because they could not be named. One was a married woman in Europe that Highsmith saw for four years. I think the biographer went to the nth degree to find out who she slept with etc. I don't think everyone involved wants all the details exposed since some of them were married and their children might have some reservations about such revelations.
Highsmith was a strange customer and an underappreciated writer, mostly because of the genre she was in. I am particularly fond of the fact that she carried her pet snails all over Europe with her-under her breasts!!!!
2 people found this helpful
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Marilyn, teacher and woodworker
5.0 out of 5 stars A fascinating read
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2016
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An outstanding book! Snippets of her book plots, lots of history from her time, detailed quotes from friends plus straightforward deductions from Highsmith's own journals present a fascinating picture. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
2 people found this helpful
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Antoinette M Mathis
4.0 out of 5 stars Highsmith Revealed?
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2016
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I liked this biography of a writer I love. It does not try to over-analyze an individual who, in life, did not want to be known too well. It sparked in me the desire to reread some of Highsmith's writing. Her style of cool detachment and skillful plotting and elusive sexuality always fascinated me. A thorough job of plumbing her life. Well done.
3 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Incisive biography of Patricia Highsmith
Reviewed in Canada on July 30, 2021
Verified Purchase
This is a deep dive into the life of Patricia Highsmith written by a brilliant and witty author. What a treat!
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Elisa
5.0 out of 5 stars Life-writing Extraordinary!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 28, 2024
Verified Purchase
Insightful and convincingly reliable this book is for anyone who wants to better understand and deep dive into a writer’s life. It draws from Patricia Highsmith’s personal writing and fiction, of course, but it is invested with loving care and meticulous respect. The audible version is much helpful and enjoyable too for such a long reading. Thank you!
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Sajid A.Latheef
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in India on March 15, 2017
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Great book. Great Service.
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recluse
4.0 out of 5 stars 米国を捨てたもうひとつの人物像
Reviewed in Japan on June 9, 2004
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有名な映画”太陽がいっぱい”の原作の作者、patricia highsmithの伝記です。伝記はhighsmithが残した数十年にわたる膨大な日記というかメモ（cahier)に基づいており、膨大な関係者とのインタビューで補強されています。なぜアメリカ人である彼女が祖国アメリカを捨て欧州で作家としての一生を全うすることになったのかを知りたくて、読んでみました。ただこの伝記の著者の関心は、彼女の独特のスタイルの発端を、このような比較文化の角度からたどることにはないようです。またなぜ彼女の作品が、アメリカでは、なかなか幅広く受け入れられることがなかったのかについても、あまり突っ込んだ言及や分析はありません。むしろ彼女の幼年期の経緯や彼女の同性愛者としての部分、またそれが米国の５０年代の社会風土の中でもたらしたであろう緊張関係に、彼女の文学の特徴の根源を探ろうとしています。英語は非常にわかりやすく、各章も一息で読めるように細分化されております。baby boomerの前に存在したあるタイプのパーソナリティの描写としては秀逸です。
17 people found this helpful
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Buddie
5.0 out of 5 stars I was also sad when I had no more pages left
Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2016
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This book .. it was at times difficult to read for me.. I was also sad when I had
no more pages left .. a beautifully written book by Andrew Wilson
One person found this helpful
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