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ymer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Alcohol, Blood, Death, Grief, Murder, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Moderate: Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, and Incest
Minor: Infidelity, Islamophobia, Racism, Suicide attempt, and Vomit
stumbling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Graphic: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Incest, Violence, Gun violence, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Mental illness
Moderate: Homophobia, Animal cruelty, Misogyny, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Racism, Domestic abuse, Child abuse, Ableism, and Racial slurs
Minor: Infidelity
merricatblackwood's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Gun violence, Violence, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Drug use, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Incest, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Addiction
Minor: Fatphobia, Homophobia, Infidelity, Medical content, Sexism, and Misogyny
whatellisreadnext's review against another edition
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Richard worms his way into an elite Greek class, with five eccentric, and seemingly rich students. He soon falls under the influence of these charismatic characters, but it all turns out to be much more than he bargained for.
People either love this book or they hate it. Well I think I'm both. Some parts I loved, and other parts felt like my soul was being sucked out of my bodyππ»ββοΈ
The Secret History starts off strong, the prologue making us aware of a murder, then taking us back to where it all began for our main protagonist, Richard. The story is split into two parts, Book 1 as it's called, I absolutely devoured. I was staying up till gone 1am, which is pretty unheard of for me; it was mysterious and compulsively readable.
Book 2 however, lost me big time. There were 200 pages where nothing happens, which took me ages to get through. I felt like I was walking through thick mud, during a hail storm. The last 100 pages redeemed it somewhat, giving us a decent conclusion to the story. But then there's the bloody epilogue. Why, oh why do they exist? I hate having everything wrapped up with a bow on top. It has to be my biggest pet peeve. Why can't the author leave us with some mystery or atleast some freedom to draw our own conclusions? The book could have done without it.
I know it sounds like I didn't enjoy this one, I did. I live for a pretentious dark academic setting, give me all the tweed blazers, murders, sex rituals etc. And I've got to give this book some credit, for a 1992 release, it has done amazing things for Dark Academia, inspiring so many other writers to take a stab at the genre. Which is definitely one of my favourite corners of fiction.
If The Secret History is sat on your shelf collecting dust, I urge you to give it a read. Yeah, I didn't love it as much as I hoped, but that doesn't mean you won't!
Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Incest, Misogyny, Rape, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Vomit
Moderate: Cursing, Infidelity, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide