January 2010
January 29th, 2010Deep Water by Patricia Highsmith
Discussion recapped by Ariel
Attendees: Helen, Sheila, Jean, Bonnie, Susan K, Anne F, Josphine, Anne-Marie, Joan, Rachel, Claire, and Ariel
Synopsis: “In the small town of Little Wesley, intellectual publisher Victor Van Allen decides to discourage his wife Melinda’s many lovers by hinting to them that he may have killed her previous beau, Malcolm McRae. However, the game turns sour when strangers begin to grow wary of him, thus denting his social esteem and also blurring the line between fiction and reality; after a while, Vic wonders if he may really have blood on his hands.”
Main points we discussed:
- Patricia Highsmith’s character- apparently she was sort of depressed and crazy herself, taking lots of lovers and not treating them particularly well, someone described her as a cruel person — she was a known alcoholic as well. Most of her novels are about murderous young men like The Talented Mr. Ripley
- Whether the novel was fully realized or more of a writing exercise - We felt that a lot of it was simply a character study. It was strong writing and certainly kept you reading, but the plot was a bit weak and unbelievable
- The meaning of the term psychopath - Was Vic one? What does that mean?
- The nature of Vic and Melinda’s relationship - whether or not they were always so distant and dysfunctional. Was Vic pushing Melinda to “act out?” or did Melinda push Vic to “lose it.” Was Vic controlling? Did they ever care for each other? Vic comments early on that Melinda pretended not to care for him, but he had actually bored of her? Is this simply more egotism on his part? Does that mean she DID care about him?
- If Melinda herself is not crazy –Why did she stay with Vic when she really felt he was a murderer? Why did she always prepare dinner for him for so long? Was she a good mother? Why did she take on so may lovers?
- Vic’s relationship to his daughter- Did he only enjoy her because he was clearly superior and the relationship was clearly defined and easy for him to dominate? If she had grown to be a teenager would they have gotten along so well? Did he really have relationships with anyone? Or did he just like the appearance or relationships? At the end of the novel, his daughter is an afterthought, which made most of us feel he did not really love his daughter, but rather liked playing the “role” of “good father”
- Vic’s egotism and whether or not it was caused by general self-absorption or rather because of his feelings regarding class.
- How far Melinda and Wilson went to catch him — if they set up the roll of paper to entice him back into the quarry?
- If his getting away with the first murder was plausible — or if Highsmith relied too much on our believing in the town of little Wesley and it’s desire to shelter Vic from all accusations. Most of us felt that was unbelievable. In the 50s this couple would have been ostracized — no one would have wanted to associate with them, let alone help cover up a murder!
- Whether the snail or any of the publishing titles had significance in the novel; snail shells are obviously protective, but also fragile
- Whether the quote at the start of the novel helped us to better understand the author’s motivation for writing it: “There is no better doge than one’s own character, because no one believes in it…” Dostoevsky’s The Possessed