Most helpful customer reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Third-person Highsmith, Mar 23 2003
This is an interesting work, if you're familiar with other Patricia Highsmith novels - and by "interesting," it is that it's not technically a crime novel (i.e., it's not the major theme of the novel), it's another display of the range of her capabilities, rather; also, that when the crime is committed, it's not from the person from whom we're watching the events through - it's sort of a third-person crime, in this way. And not for the usual reason. (I'll leave it there so that, even though another reviewer has told you who the killer is, the novel hasn't been completely blown for you.)
"People Who Knock on the Door" is still a very readable novel, since the differences don't really detract from the reading - it has the same storytelling style of other Highsmith novels, and is not a labor to read for it.
If you're looking for a DEEP WATER/THIS SWEET SICKNESS-esque suburban psychopath tale, you may find it slow and ultimately disappointing. (It is, however, rather like EDITH'S DIARY.)
But if you aren't, read on!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Third-person Highsmith, Mar 23 2003
This is an interesting work, if you're familiar with other Patricia Highsmith novels - and by "interesting," it is that it's not technically a crime novel (i.e., it's not the major theme of the novel), it's another display of the range of her capabilities, rather; also, that when the crime is committed, it's not from the person from whom we're watching the events through - it's sort of a third-person crime, in this way. And not for the usual reason. (I'll leave it there so that, even though another reviewer has told you who the killer is, the novel hasn't been completely blown for you.)
"People Who Knock on the Door" is still a very readable novel, since the differences don't really detract from the reading - it has the same storytelling style of other Highsmith novels, and is not a labor to read for it.
If you're looking for a "Deep Water"/"This Sweet Sickness"-esque suburban psychopath tale, you may find it slow and ultimately disappointing.
But if you aren't, read on!
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1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointment!, Jan 6 2002
I consider myself a Highsmith fan (about halfway through all of her published books), and even I was profoundly disappointed in this one.The plot trods along at a maddingly slow shuffle which does little except build the world of the protagonist, Arthur, a teenager who graduates from high school, finds a girlfriend, and starts college during the book's progression. Over the course of 340 pages, though, we find out little about the father (who converts to Born-Again Christianity without any explanation), younger brother Robbie who commits the crime of the book (why was he driven to do it?), a group of older men who take Robbie in (why did they do this? who are they?), the mother (why did she stand on the sidelines as the plot unfolds? how does she feel about things?), or the grandmother who seems so unlike the rest of Arthur's family. Development and positioning in the storyline are haphazard and lack direction/purpose. And, ultimately, we learn and understand little of Arthur, even after the methodical and careful building of his character and world. Perhaps more attention and time to the book's other characters would've addressed this lack. My impression of this book is that Highsmith went through the motions of writing, and it seems almost as if someone else wrote the book using a template of sorts in an attempt to write a Highsmith-esque work. Unfortunately, the book and Highsmith's effort both disappoint and there is no reason to read the book, regardless of your Highsmith fan status.
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