Reviews with content warning for Bullying - The Secret History

I read this book a year ago and didn't give it much thought until I saw the quote above, at which point I thought to myself, yes, that's right, because every year I set a goal to read at least 100 books (which I never achieved!). At the beginning of July, however, I began reading books with a different approach - absorbing each word, analyzing each sentence, and taking my time.

I have completed 15 days of rereading The Secret History. I read it at my own pace without any pressure, and I have no regrets. While I was reading the novel, all I could think about was a review I had read on Goodreads stating that Richard is an unreliable narrator. This statement enabled me to analyze the book more thoroughly. I've noticed a lot of sentences that suggest Richard is an unreliable narrator, such as when he says, "...it has always been difficult for me to talk about Julian without romanticizing him." Are we reading a story that Richard romanticized?

I find it hard to imagine that this is Tartt's first published novel, because her writing is so excellent. Every single aspect was well-represented. I could go on and on about each and every character in this novel. They're all very intricate. I, too, felt manipulated at times (haha), but the scene where Bunny's dad broke down in tears was quite touching. Even though their relationship is strange, I could sense their grief, and I could tell that Richard felt a lot of guilt after that.

The Secret History is an absolutely captivating tale that has left me speechless. The prose is simply breathtaking, drawing you in and refusing to let go. I find myself totally obsessed with this phenomenal story, and could easily spend more time delving into its intricate details.

Content Warnings

daybreakreads's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The first 90% of this book: overhyped, poorly researched (details that were factually inaccurate; Plano, CA is two hours’ driving distance from Disneyland, he couldn’t have seen the fireworks from his house, one of the characters reads a book written by the “Persians” which was in Arabic — odd for a book so focused on foreign language, etc.), rather pretentious.

Last 10%: twist ending was interesting, and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t justify the 22 hours I spent listening to the audiobook. The author was the voice actor, and the voice she used for Bunny was incredibly irritating.

Interesting notes:
- this is a slow burn. Doesn’t pick up at all until ~50%. The writing style is intriguing
- none of the characters (even side ones) are “good guys”
- there’s a ton of random racist/antisemetic/homophobic comments, but they’re usually a one-off thing. The only exception to this was 3/4 of the way through there was a recurring trend of anti-Arab things that served no point to the overall plot whatsoever. It was odd for a book written in the 90s. There was a fake country full of “jihadist terrorists” mentioned several times, “sand [n word]” used against a Palestinian (who was only written for a brief moment in which he was yelling as the “angry Arab man” stereotype, “Arab” and “Arabic” were used incorrectly, general xenophobic remarks, etc. And then it just randomly stopped.

As a Muslim the last thing just came across a bit ridiculous more than anything. I didn’t see the relevance, or the reason to focus significantly more on that than the other marginalized groups.

Content Warnings

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