A review by dodo02
The Secret History by Donna Tartt

5.0

It is not uncommon for me to enter a reading slump. I become obsessed with literature, devouring one book after another and then suddenly I stop; stories, good stories, no longer interest me. Until I come across a book that revives that literary hunger within me and the cycle starts up once again. The Secret History was that book. A classic of the Dark Academia genre, I had the vaguest idea of the plot but I'm so glad I did not know much more. I cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed this book. Beautifully descriptive, not so much that it tires you but enough to properly situate you in the New England landscape, for the longest time while reading it I felt like I was a part of this elite and mysterious group of Greek students. I love books in which it is not the what but the how and why that are important and, for me, Donna Tartt's novel ticked every box. Despite its hefty size (over 500 pages) I was upset to finish it and truly felt that I could have read about this dysfunctional group of college students forever.