Book Review: Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer

Flung Out of Space: Inspired by the Indecent Adventures of Patricia Highsmith
by Grace Ellis and Hannah Templer (741.5 Ell)

Fascinating and provocative graphic novel biography of famed author Patricia Highsmith, best known for her dark psychological thrillers as well as the ground-breaking lesbian novel The Price of Salt (a.k.a. Carol). This novel telescopes some of the events, and uses composite characters in place of some of the real people in Pat’s life. However, at its core, it appears to accurately portray Highsmith and the difficult relationships she had with nearly everyone in her life. She was notoriously prickly, living as a conflicted lesbian at a time when her psychoanalysts attempted to use early conversion techniques to turn her into a heterosexual (unsuccessfully). She was a hostile, arrogant, creative type, who resented having to write comic book stories — there are scenes in this graphic novel in which someone tries to set her up on a date with Stan Lee — but even after achieving success with the mainstream novel Strangers on a Train (which was then adapted to film by Alfred Hitchcock), she continued to remain unhappy. Her thrillers are iconic (including The Talented Mr. Ripley), with the amoral villains often the central characters. But she, herself, was known to be an avowed racist and anti-semite. For this graphic biography, Ellis and Templer somehow manage to make her a sympathetic character, despite all the negative personality traits. I found this to be a fascinating read — the artwork is beautiful, using a limited color palette emphasizing orange, black and peach colors, and the reader is encouraged to understand the difficulties in Highsmith’s life.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the actual novels of Patricia Highsmith, particularly Strangers on a Train and The Price of Salt/Carol (both of which figure prominently in the plot of this graphic novel), or the biography Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks, 1941-1995.)

 

( publisher’s official Flung Out of Space web site ) | ( official Grace Ellis web site ) | ( official Hannah Templer web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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