A review by secre
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read this novel. It's been on my list for years and I finally settled down to read it and found one of my all time favourite novels, I think. Few novels have the daring to tell you exactly what is going to happen in the first two pages of the novel, and yet that is what Tartt does here, opening the novel with the murder and then skipping back in time to march you through to the inevitable conclusion. She also does it with a spectacularly unlikable cast of characters; every single one of them is at best morally grey and at worst a genuinely bad person. Yet despite this, her writing drew me in completely. It's a story about friendships, betrayals, guilt and a need to belong. It's beautifully written and captivating to fall into.

This is one of those books that just captivates you. Tartt excels at bringing the small university in Vermont to life and she excels at her characterisations, with every single one of the characters being vividly imagined, even at their most distasteful. She knits this group of arrogant young academics together as the plot draws on inexorably to Bunny's death. There's no whodunnit here. We know that from the start. What there is however is a wonderful portrayal of the relationships, the clashes, the self destruction and of course the descent into murder, all interwoven with an intellectual flair and a focus on the academics.

All in all, this was very much a book that I adored. I savoured it, reading it relatively slowly and enjoying being immersed in the group's insular little world. It's a book I will undoubtedly come back to again, and has convinced me to give The Goldfinch another try. 
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