Reviews

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

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buthainna's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

5.0

this is one of the best books I have ever read.
God, it was dark. the heart-achingly type of painful and beautiful dark.
I probably could never reread this book again, ever, just because there's no way to look at these characters with an innocent look. I just can't, not after learning their true inner selves.
the brutality and vast darkness of mankind shines disgustingly bright.
the descent into insanity is slow, but once you get to the last page, it feels like only 5 minutes have passed since you started reading.
i will be thinking about richard and everyone else for a long, long time.

my opinions on some of the characters

I fucking hated Julian from the start. he has always been sketchy, the way he monopolized his students, distanced himself from them. i never trusted that facade.
as for Henry, I appreciated his intelligence but after Charles ratted him out I got so fucking mad, to have been played by him. I'm glad he was eventually out of the picture, but I hate how he thinks himself a hero.
Charles is just sad.
Camillia is a manipulative bitch, who insisted on staying miserable until the very end.
As for Francis, I really felt bad for him. He's my second favorite after our protagonist.
Richard's my favorite, since he's the one we know the most about obviously. I saw myself relating many times to his loneliness and melancholy. That is not to say he was a good person by any means, it's just that he was the most fleshed out since he's the one writing this whole thing. There are already so many analyses of his character out there that I don't have anything to add further. Francis is the next best written character I think.

One question remains in my mind now: who is Richard writing this entire book to?

clarahaymon's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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

3.75

averagehuman85's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I found this audiobook a difficult listen. The audio quality is poor and Donna Tart as the narrator did not make much sense, she may be good writer but she is not a great narrator and the fact this story largely focuses on a group of young men, having a woman as their voice was often distracting and often took me out of the story. I cant say I understand the hype around this book. There's about 300 pages worth of waffle and the characters are all unlikable, unrelatable and pretentious. It's not a terrible book its just ok.

blue_lily's review

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dark mysterious tense slow-paced

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

3.0

I wish this was 200 pages shorter 🥲

bisexuality's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny mysterious tense

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

5.0

i've read this twice now and i'm still amazed at how pulled into this story i get. if i knew anything about writing scripts i would make it a passion project to write a script for this movie because it could change lives i just know it!!!!!!!!!!!!!