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A review by jordanh
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
4.5
This might as well be the first time I've read this book, because the first time I read this I was just about 19, finishing up my very first semester of university, and still relying on tumblr to tell me what books had gay characters in them and exclusively buying books based on that. Now, I did like it when I first read it, but for all the wrong reasons, or, more accurately, reason, because there was a single gay kiss and one character who was gay and one character who seemed like he could have been gay.
Now I like it for all the right reasons, being the way the atmosphere is so well constructed that you truly feel like you are in the story as you are reading it, and as soon as one or two yellowish leaves are spotted on the ground the urge to read this book is unavoidable. Also the incredible writing, the layers that you keep peeling back the more you think about it, and the characters who are all so terrible but so perfect, not as people but as characters. Also the fact that I do still think Richard isn't straight but not because I want him to be, but because he so clearly just isn't and I understand how to read that now.
I will say there's about 100+ pages after Bunny's death (which isn't a spoiler because the first line of the book tells you he's dead) where it just drags a little. The section dedicated to the funeral is far too long and boring and I just wanted it to end.
I am also a little too stupid to fully understand a lot of this. Smarter than I was at 18/19, but not quite as smart as I need to be to fully comprehend all of this book. But yeah. I'm glad I reread it. 18 year old me did not have taste
Now I like it for all the right reasons, being the way the atmosphere is so well constructed that you truly feel like you are in the story as you are reading it, and as soon as one or two yellowish leaves are spotted on the ground the urge to read this book is unavoidable. Also the incredible writing, the layers that you keep peeling back the more you think about it, and the characters who are all so terrible but so perfect, not as people but as characters. Also the fact that I do still think Richard isn't straight but not because I want him to be, but because he so clearly just isn't and I understand how to read that now.
I will say there's about 100+ pages after Bunny's death (which isn't a spoiler because the first line of the book tells you he's dead) where it just drags a little. The section dedicated to the funeral is far too long and boring and I just wanted it to end.
I am also a little too stupid to fully understand a lot of this. Smarter than I was at 18/19, but not quite as smart as I need to be to fully comprehend all of this book. But yeah. I'm glad I reread it. 18 year old me did not have taste