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A review by nadas
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
3.0
I found it really hard to rate this book and my rating will probably change after a while too. I really enjoyed this book and there were many many things I loved about it. But, there were also a lot of things that I disliked and some that even made me uncomfortable.
So first the things I liked: the writing style. I loved the way Donna tart describes things and the atmosphere she set.I also think Richard was a really really good main character and the way the whole book was written like a diary entry (kinda??) after many years of th incidents in the book.
I didnt feel a special attachment to the characters or anything but I loved them still specially Henry (my favourite character troupe honestly I loved him)
Ok now on the things that I didn't like: the way they're all SO DRUNK ALL THE TIME. Maybe this is just a personal thing but one of my biggest pet peeves in books is characters that are so drunk all the time it makes *me* dizzy. And the fact that almost all the characters in this university are either always drunk or always smoking something just kinda ruined the mood for me.
Also another thing I didn't like was how there were blocks of text about things that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. I know it's just to make it look like Richard is kinda drifting away from the topic or is just getting distracted but it got really exhausting after a while I didn't like it.
also the part about the Palestinian American was SO unnecessary and contributed nothing to the plot??? What was the point of that?? I was so close to dnfing the whole book just for that part if it wasn't resolved well but really if it was removed completely it would not make the slightest difference
Overall I enjoyed it though!! But it's probably not the kind of book I'd reread.
So first the things I liked: the writing style. I loved the way Donna tart describes things and the atmosphere she set.I also think Richard was a really really good main character and the way the whole book was written like a diary entry (kinda??) after many years of th incidents in the book.
I didnt feel a special attachment to the characters or anything but I loved them still specially Henry (my favourite character troupe honestly I loved him)
Ok now on the things that I didn't like: the way they're all SO DRUNK ALL THE TIME. Maybe this is just a personal thing but one of my biggest pet peeves in books is characters that are so drunk all the time it makes *me* dizzy. And the fact that almost all the characters in this university are either always drunk or always smoking something just kinda ruined the mood for me.
Also another thing I didn't like was how there were blocks of text about things that had absolutely nothing to do with the plot. I know it's just to make it look like Richard is kinda drifting away from the topic or is just getting distracted but it got really exhausting after a while I didn't like it.
also the part about the Palestinian American was SO unnecessary and contributed nothing to the plot??? What was the point of that?? I was so close to dnfing the whole book just for that part if it wasn't resolved well but really if it was removed completely it would not make the slightest difference
Overall I enjoyed it though!! But it's probably not the kind of book I'd reread.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Incest, Murder, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Suicide attempt