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A review by jennahreadss
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
4.0
“Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it”
“I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.”
Finally after 4 long months i’ve officially finished the secret history.
By reading the first half of the book, i really thought it was going to be a 5 star read for me. It had some of all time favorites quotes that i think about DAILY, and the characters and plot had seemed so interesting in addition.
But the second half of the book was dreadful to get through, hence me taking a 4 month break. The second half of the book was a 2.5 stars for me.
For these reasons i’m giving it 3.7 stars
But i still did love the book even if the second half was hard to get through. Richard and the rest do the characters are obsessed with their outward appearance, their beauty. Richard sees these greek students as something beautiful, something he longed to be apart of. But as stated in the book “But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial.” I don’t think Richard every truly cared for the others, i think he was only attracted to their outward beauty, and once he saw how flawed they truly were that longing and love was only superficial and i think the others felt the same, until they learned to accept each others flaws. Also as stated “Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.” Richard although attracted to the beauty of the others, it terrified him. The events that took place haunted him so much so, he felt the need to tell the story, hence the book. In the end i believe Julian is the one to blame, he is the puppet master while they are all his puppets. He isolated them from the rest of society, encouraging things such as Henrys attempt to the bacchanal and manipulating them, then leaving to save his own skin. I think a lot of his teachings are to blame for most if not all the events that took place.
And let’s talk about how unreliable Richard is as a narrator. Richard's idolization of his classmates is what makes him unreliable, as he romanticizes them and excuses their actions. He himself says that his fatal flaw is the “morbid longing for all things picturesque” and how he is nothing in his soul if not obsessive. I think this morbid longing led to obsession with trying to fit in and be like them. He didn’t want to see their flaws or his own, and face the ugly truth. But towards the end we see romanticized view of the characters fall apart, revealing their flaws as well as him accepting his own (when richard thought about r-wording camilla).
“I am nothing in my soul if not obsessive.”
Finally after 4 long months i’ve officially finished the secret history.
By reading the first half of the book, i really thought it was going to be a 5 star read for me. It had some of all time favorites quotes that i think about DAILY, and the characters and plot had seemed so interesting in addition.
But the second half of the book was dreadful to get through, hence me taking a 4 month break. The second half of the book was a 2.5 stars for me.
For these reasons i’m giving it 3.7 stars
But i still did love the book even if the second half was hard to get through. Richard and the rest do the characters are obsessed with their outward appearance, their beauty. Richard sees these greek students as something beautiful, something he longed to be apart of. But as stated in the book “But Beauty - unless she is wed to something more meaningful - is always superficial.” I don’t think Richard every truly cared for the others, i think he was only attracted to their outward beauty, and once he saw how flawed they truly were that longing and love was only superficial and i think the others felt the same, until they learned to accept each others flaws. Also as stated “Beauty is terror. Whatever we call beautiful, we quiver before it.” Richard although attracted to the beauty of the others, it terrified him. The events that took place haunted him so much so, he felt the need to tell the story, hence the book. In the end i believe Julian is the one to blame, he is the puppet master while they are all his puppets. He isolated them from the rest of society, encouraging things such as Henrys attempt to the bacchanal and manipulating them, then leaving to save his own skin. I think a lot of his teachings are to blame for most if not all the events that took place.
And let’s talk about how unreliable Richard is as a narrator. Richard's idolization of his classmates is what makes him unreliable, as he romanticizes them and excuses their actions. He himself says that his fatal flaw is the “morbid longing for all things picturesque” and how he is nothing in his soul if not obsessive. I think this morbid longing led to obsession with trying to fit in and be like them. He didn’t want to see their flaws or his own, and face the ugly truth. But towards the end we see romanticized view of the characters fall apart, revealing their flaws as well as him accepting his own (when richard thought about r-wording camilla).