Reviews with content warning for Car accident - The Secret History

Tartt has the ability to make five hundred pages feel like fifty. She is exquisite at pacing and her stories always have me turning the page to know more. Her books are like drugs, addicting and alluring, this book is no different.
This is such an interesting study of class, the evils of old money and a brilliant satire of the ever-growing hunger to romanticise old money and elitist acadimia.

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noamireadsgraphicsmurfnovels's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.75

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sugar_fox's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-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

5.0

This book, despite taking me a long time to finish reading is a must-read for anyone and everyone. Never in this book was there a moment where I thought it was dull. Even the everyday occurrences in this school was made intriguing beyond belief, hell, I’d go as to say I enjoyed every moment of this book. Never did I hate it, something rare for me. The only thing, if you hate being made to feel stupid, don’t read this book. The amount of literary references, and the many others I probably missed was crazy.

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marleysclassics's review

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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

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just_a_random_dead_thing's review against another edition

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dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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sadiaa's review against another edition

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dark

4.75

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jelliphish's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

I love this book so much! I had heard so much, and was ready for it to have been overrated, but it was just as good as everyone says. It took me a minute to get into it, but once you power thru the introduction it’s so amazing. I recommend this book to everyone.

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telemesmerism's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

Just not really worth reading. an awfully long book to read about characters who suck and arent interesting and a very mediocre plot

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