Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Secret History

I really did enjoy reading this book, the characters and the story. However, enjoying the characters does not mean liking them as people. Because they are most definitely not meant to be likeable people. Enjoyable? Yes. Likeable? No.

They are all, in some way or another and some more than others, people who you wouldn’t want to be around in real life. Each character has at least one undesirable trait, and they are all morally gray if not explicitly bad people. However, I still found them enjoyable, which I believe is made possible by the fact that they are clearly not meant to be likeable as human beings.

I also found it very interesting to read about and analyze Richard’s perspective of everyone else, and compare it to my understanding of them (although using only Richards observations).

The writing was good, as one would expect from a writer such as Donna Tartt, although a little difficult at some points which I believe is because I am not a native English speaker. However, even though some parts were more difficult than others, they were never to the extent of being too much or unintelligible.

I’ve put off reading this book for quite some time, but I’m very glad I got to reading it. It’s a great story, and a very interesting one.

Content Warnings

marleysclassics's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

If you want to read this for the plot - don‘t. If you want to read it because of the characters … I would recommend this either. At least not, if you want to like them.
Because, though it might seem strange, in my opinion one of the best parts of this book was the developments of the characters in terms of likability. I liked all of them as I didn‘t know them at all and with every page I read I began to detest every one of them a little more. While I wouldn‘t call every single person of in this book a bad person, some certainly are. And I was so here for it, because it felt like hating them more meant understanding them more.

If you want to read this book because of the vibes - definitely. They‘re there, yet I wouldn‘t expect too much of the academia and a little more of the dark aspect. Not to say that academia isn‘t a reoccurring theme, because it is, but there really aren‘t that many lessons or anything. It‘s more about the whole setting, and the motives of the characters yet in a more abstract way.

I also loved the writing, because it is beautiful and meaningful and often SO pretentious - and it knows it is and it‘s okay because it romanticises and critiques its own style and contents at the same time. (I actually think that‘s the essence of the whole dark academia genre.) I flew through the pages, and especially the first part of the novel was SO addictive. You know what‘s going to happen from page one and still you become more interested with every page. And sometimes you can‘t even tell what draws you too the pages, yet there is something. Unfortunately, this lacked a bit in the second half. Especially towards the end, there were some parts which really grabbed me, but there were also long passages which I wasn‘t interested in. At some point, this narrative just turns into a fever dream/nightmare/sequence of drug abuse, and partly this became a tiring. But also not entirely.

I‘m not sure what to think about the ending. I think it‘s quite a realistic one (even though realistic might not 100% mean explainable), especially what is explained in the epilogue. Yet I‘m not really content with it, I would have hoped for something better for them, which is weird because I don‘t like them. But you can‘t just read 600 pages about those people and not foster a certain affection (I don‘t think that‘s the right word) for those horrible human beings. But yes, especially for Francis I just wished for something better. Mmh … But I don‘t think that‘s the book‘s fault.

In the end, I‘m pretty sure I‘ll have to read this again.

P.S.: I never answered the question „Are the flaws of the main character(s) a main focus of the book?“ more confidently.
And now I‘ll put this book in my shelf right next to The Picture of Dorian Gray

Content Warnings