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A review by paulmichaelpeters
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
4.0
After reading The Goldfinch and loving it, I went back to read this highly acclaimed earlier work. It's a very enjoyable book that contains the detail and drama Donna Tartt is so good at. Her love of the language is clear and delightful to find in each page. What is absent in this book is a character that is so wonderful and engaging that you are looking forward to their return in later chapters like that of The Goldfinches Boris. The protagonist Richard Papen took longer for me to care about than her other, Theo Decker.
It maybe unfair to compare the two books, especially in reverse order. In reflection, it makes me appreciate how she has grown in the ability to tell a story that is so engaging, create characters that become a part of the readers life as one goes throughout the day in reflection of the last pages absorbed. I agree with others in their comment about the artist, her books are so good that the time spent waiting is justifiable to produce the quality of the next work.
It maybe unfair to compare the two books, especially in reverse order. In reflection, it makes me appreciate how she has grown in the ability to tell a story that is so engaging, create characters that become a part of the readers life as one goes throughout the day in reflection of the last pages absorbed. I agree with others in their comment about the artist, her books are so good that the time spent waiting is justifiable to produce the quality of the next work.