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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Donna Tartt’s well known novel The Secret History was one I found through number of ways - both as a recommendation following the last dark academia murder mystery I finished (If We Were Villians) and by way of a list of most famous first lines found in literature.
And sure enough, the first line will grab you:
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”
And so we are launched into a retelling of the narrator’s sentimental, beautiful and horrifying days seeking beauty and knowledge as a student in one of the most exclusive classes at the enclave of Hampden College. The small group, an aloof and secretive and enviably cool clique of snobs, gradually accept our narrator. He is entranced by the intelligence, the sophisticated clothes and nonchalant hedonism - the secluded private lectures on ancient Greeks and smug discussions on art …all ultimately empty.
This is an academic book - references to Dante, multiple Greek works and a library of other classical pantheon of literature. And it was familiar - the wistful longing for more out of life, for a feeling of belonging, for stopping to notice brief moments that will become forever memories. It is, indeed, a reminder of the secret histories we all carry, and also a reminder of what really matters, in the unavoidable end.
And sure enough, the first line will grab you:
“The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.”
And so we are launched into a retelling of the narrator’s sentimental, beautiful and horrifying days seeking beauty and knowledge as a student in one of the most exclusive classes at the enclave of Hampden College. The small group, an aloof and secretive and enviably cool clique of snobs, gradually accept our narrator. He is entranced by the intelligence, the sophisticated clothes and nonchalant hedonism - the secluded private lectures on ancient Greeks and smug discussions on art …all ultimately empty.
This is an academic book - references to Dante, multiple Greek works and a library of other classical pantheon of literature. And it was familiar - the wistful longing for more out of life, for a feeling of belonging, for stopping to notice brief moments that will become forever memories. It is, indeed, a reminder of the secret histories we all carry, and also a reminder of what really matters, in the unavoidable end.
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A semi-bloated novel that atmospherically meandered through two semesters of college. I mostly enjoyed the writing style and will probably read more by Tartt. I found the story telling long winded & straightforward, and wished for a more challenging experience, possibly akin to Proust, who Tartt referenced consistently.
The cult of academia is captured in this novel by Tartt in a way that rings true, as far as small liberal arts colleges north of New York City go. I found myself making connections to my own schooling that were strange and accurate.
Overall, Id say give it a go. It drags all over the place so don't get too excited for a fast paced anything.
The cult of academia is captured in this novel by Tartt in a way that rings true, as far as small liberal arts colleges north of New York City go. I found myself making connections to my own schooling that were strange and accurate.
Overall, Id say give it a go. It drags all over the place so don't get too excited for a fast paced anything.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Moderate: Animal death
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
DOES SUCH a thing as “the fatal flaw,” that showy dark crack running down the middle of a life, exist outside literature? I used to think it didn’t. Now I think it does. And I think that mine is this: a morbid longing for the picturesque at all costs
A fascinating deep dive into what can happen when you find yourself inside an echo chamber. A look into the dangers of shutting out outside opinions and critques, the codependencies that thrive within isolated groups, the peril of romanticizing others. It’s also loneliness, being an outsider, the desperate desire to belong, to fit in.
This is a story that could have only happened in the conditions set up by Tartt: a group of six students set apart from the rest of the campus and allowed to devolve into their own obsessive, insular world. With no outside voice of reason to ground them back to reality, they drift further and further beyond the boundaries of morality until nothing seems off limits. The group itself is weirdly intoxicating and intriguing to follow and I felt cast into this voyeuristic role as the reader, looking in from the outside in. Though sometimes, I felt frustrated that we only got to see this story from Richard’s perspective, who himself was an outsider and only got most of the information second hand, meaning a lot of questions were left unanswered.
Ironically though, Richard’s point of view works great. As he admits, his fatal flaw is romanticizing everything. So we get to see the group initially as this dazzling, beautiful, intriguing, untouchable unit. Similar to how we all used to idolize celebrities untl we learned better. And then, we get to watch this illusion gets stripped away bit by bit as all the ugliness underneath appears and we as the readers, like Richard, become repulsed by the entire group, horrified by their amorality and callousness.
I could write a full essay on this book. There is so much explored in terms of the characters, the dyanmics between the group and their actions. This is where the book shines. It’s study of human character. The author fleshes out the six so beautifully and perfectly encapsulates their decay and disintegration until by the end of the book, it is impossible to imagine the enchanting group we met at the beginning of the story
But funny enough, this character study is what kept the book from fully clicking for me. Like Richard, I became disillusioned and repusled by the group (himself included). And it’s not even that they are unlikeable per se, because I have fallen for a lot of unlikeable literary characters before, but for some reason this group just failed to elicit any emotion from me. This emotional detachment meant that as much as I was invested in the story, I couldn’t care less about their fates.
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I do not get the hype for this book it was so poorly written and uninteresting I dreaded reading it and only finished it so I could denounce it with authority
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes