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notesbynnenna 's review for:
The Secret History
by Donna Tartt
About- A group of students at a liberal college who murder one of their own friends.
Why I picked it– A friend told me that she was reading this book and that it was really great. A little later, I saw this on Flavorwire on a list that was called something like “The 20 Best Books You’ve Never Heard of.”
Thoughts- From the very beginning of the book, you know that one of the main characters is going to die, but you don’t know how or why. That’s a pretty great way to hook the reader in. This book is a bit long and dense, but I wouldn’t ever say I was bored. There are layers upon layers, and slowly the author pulls them back to reveal what’s underneath. You can also tell that the author is extremely intelligent from the way she references classical texts thought the novel. It’s not pretentious though- you don’t have to know every reference to understand what’s going on and it is in line with the story since the characters are studying classical Greek. She recently released a new book, The Goldfinch, and the critics are raving about it, so I’ve added that to my to-read list as well.
Why I picked it– A friend told me that she was reading this book and that it was really great. A little later, I saw this on Flavorwire on a list that was called something like “The 20 Best Books You’ve Never Heard of.”
Thoughts- From the very beginning of the book, you know that one of the main characters is going to die, but you don’t know how or why. That’s a pretty great way to hook the reader in. This book is a bit long and dense, but I wouldn’t ever say I was bored. There are layers upon layers, and slowly the author pulls them back to reveal what’s underneath. You can also tell that the author is extremely intelligent from the way she references classical texts thought the novel. It’s not pretentious though- you don’t have to know every reference to understand what’s going on and it is in line with the story since the characters are studying classical Greek. She recently released a new book, The Goldfinch, and the critics are raving about it, so I’ve added that to my to-read list as well.