A Game for the Living
 First edition | |
| Author | Patricia Highsmith |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Set in | Mexico |
| Published | Harper & Brothers (1958) |
| Media type | |
A Game for the Living (1958) is a psychological thriller novel by Patricia Highsmith. It is the sixth of her 22 novels and the only one set in Mexico.
Composition
The novel is dedicate to one of Highsmith's college teachers, Ethel Sturtevant, "my friend and teacher", along with Dorothy Hargreaves and Mary McCurdy.[1]
Synopsis
Ramon, a devoutly Catholic furniture repairman in Mexico City meets Theo, a wealthy German atheist expatriate who questions the happiness he had found in his new home: "Theodore thought he was as happy as anyone logically could be in an age when atomic bombs and annihilation hung over everybody's head, though the world 'logically' troubled him in this context. Could one be logically happy?" An unlikely friendship develops, until Lelia, a woman they have both slept with and care for, is found brutally raped, murdered and mutilated. Each suspects the other is responsible, and the police investigate them both as well. They learn that Lelia may have been robbed and track a suspect to Acapulco, but Theo believes he is under surveillance.
Reception
Dorothy B. Hughes, a somewhat older author of crime fiction who did not care for Highsmith's writing in general, objected in private to Highsmith's "lack of empathy to the Mexican nationals" in this novel.[2]
References
- ↑ Schenkar, Joan (2009). The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith. St. Martin's Press. p. 425. Retrieved June 1, 2015.
- ↑ Schenkar, The Talented Miss Highsmith,