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4.18 AVERAGE
4.18 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
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
From the very first page this book had me hooked. Tartt’s writing is absorbing and expects a level of involvement on part of the reader. It starts off with many references to characters and actions you’ve yet to learn, Tartt’s has this manner of dropping hints about upcoming events and you know it’s going to happen soon, but you can do nothing as a reader except read on to find out what unfolds.
From the very beginning of the book, the reader is aware that the group commits a murder and the rest of the novel is the slow unwinding of that tale. The first half of the novel is almost entirely set up to the climactic scene of murder. In disclosing in the first sentence who dies and who does the killing, the story revolves around understanding the motive behind the act much more than how it was committed. It is riddled with suspense and has a very ominous tone throughout. Parts of it were genuinely creepy.
Tartt’s character building is brilliant because these characters are terrible, they’re either racist or homophobic or abusive or problematic in some other way and yet I liked them. The life led by them is almost enviable, they are almost likeable, they are almost good people and their actions are almost justified. I wanted to kill them and join them, see them fail and defend them all at the same time.
Richard is one of the most unreliable narrators I ever read. Despite becoming part of the group and forming close relationships with the others; he remains an outsider through much of the book. A lot of the book’s events and character development is seen through the eyes of someone who slowly begins to realise that he doesn’t really know that much about anything after all. I also liked how the book events are in the past for Richard.This filter of memory and the very act of remembering also adds something indescribably sad to the nature of the story, as well as reaffirming how unreliable of a narrator Richard is.
I’ll be honest: it drags. It can get boring and repetitive, especially during the winter break section where Richard describes the blistering Vermont cold for about five pages straight. But the second half I find is a lot faster, as the reader gets to see the characters that have been painstakingly developed and described in the first half break down and change in drastic ways in the second.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret History. I would recommend this to fans of more drawn out mystery novels with complex characters and evocative prose. This novel isn’t for every reader but I believe every one should give it a chance.
From the very beginning of the book, the reader is aware that the group commits a murder and the rest of the novel is the slow unwinding of that tale. The first half of the novel is almost entirely set up to the climactic scene of murder. In disclosing in the first sentence who dies and who does the killing, the story revolves around understanding the motive behind the act much more than how it was committed. It is riddled with suspense and has a very ominous tone throughout. Parts of it were genuinely creepy.
Tartt’s character building is brilliant because these characters are terrible, they’re either racist or homophobic or abusive or problematic in some other way and yet I liked them. The life led by them is almost enviable, they are almost likeable, they are almost good people and their actions are almost justified. I wanted to kill them and join them, see them fail and defend them all at the same time.
Richard is one of the most unreliable narrators I ever read. Despite becoming part of the group and forming close relationships with the others; he remains an outsider through much of the book. A lot of the book’s events and character development is seen through the eyes of someone who slowly begins to realise that he doesn’t really know that much about anything after all. I also liked how the book events are in the past for Richard.This filter of memory and the very act of remembering also adds something indescribably sad to the nature of the story, as well as reaffirming how unreliable of a narrator Richard is.
I’ll be honest: it drags. It can get boring and repetitive, especially during the winter break section where Richard describes the blistering Vermont cold for about five pages straight. But the second half I find is a lot faster, as the reader gets to see the characters that have been painstakingly developed and described in the first half break down and change in drastic ways in the second.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed The Secret History. I would recommend this to fans of more drawn out mystery novels with complex characters and evocative prose. This novel isn’t for every reader but I believe every one should give it a chance.
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I'm a sucker for dark academia and this is a classic of that genre. I had actually tried to read this a couple of times in the past but got daunted by the length and beginning prose. I kept stopping at this one part at the very beginning and would get distracted by a different book, but this time I read on and soon I was hooked.
The core characters (as well as some side-characters) really came to life for me. While the setting is a fancier liberal arts college in the Northeast, it had me thinking back to my own college experience in a small state university in Kentucky. It really captured for me the mix of scholar and...just being a young person trying to experience life and new people (as seen through the eyes of Richard (mc)).
The book is far from just a coming of age story of a college student...it really delves more into this dark academia world of ivy leagues but including a murder mystery (for some of the characters) and the lengths people go to for salvation. Take from that what you will (which shouldn't be much...I might as well be writing this in ancient Greek). Speaking of Greek...it's a tragedy so yeah.
The core characters (as well as some side-characters) really came to life for me. While the setting is a fancier liberal arts college in the Northeast, it had me thinking back to my own college experience in a small state university in Kentucky. It really captured for me the mix of scholar and...just being a young person trying to experience life and new people (as seen through the eyes of Richard (mc)).
The book is far from just a coming of age story of a college student...it really delves more into this dark academia world of ivy leagues but including a murder mystery (for some of the characters) and the lengths people go to for salvation. Take from that what you will (which shouldn't be much...I might as well be writing this in ancient Greek). Speaking of Greek...it's a tragedy so yeah.
I am agape at Donna Tartt's talent and am also convinced she allows herself a maximum of one (1) likable character per book.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Blood, Medical content, Suicide attempt, Murder, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Incest, Blood
Minor: Cancer, Grief, Car accident
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes