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A review by stateofgrace
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
5.0
Original Review:
Obsessed with the aesthetics! There’s a serene quality about Hampden: a radiant optimism that anything is possible, that nothing is more important than the academic future in front of you, that your youthful confidence and charisma will get you anything.
Obsessed with the aesthetics! There’s a serene quality about Hampden: a radiant optimism that anything is possible, that nothing is more important than the academic future in front of you, that your youthful confidence and charisma will get you anything.
The characters are all very vivid and stand out as one of the best parts of the novel. The Secret History sits on the fine line between genuine and satire that leaves you always wanting more. Everything character you both love and hate, because they’re all so complicated.
Reread Review:
The Secret History is such an interesting book to reread, because the illusion of the first half (the illusion that these students are somehow better than all of their peers) is broken. I really enjoyed this reread because there was so much comedy hidden in the book that I missed the first time around, because through the lens of dark academia, it all seemed so serious. Now it's comical to see how seriously the Greek students took themselves and their aesthetic, when I knew how far they fell.
The juxtaposition of the slow, serious, and considerate first half of the novel compared to the chaotic and off-the-rails second half of the novel was another factor that really intrigued me upon reread.
Reread Review:
The Secret History is such an interesting book to reread, because the illusion of the first half (the illusion that these students are somehow better than all of their peers) is broken. I really enjoyed this reread because there was so much comedy hidden in the book that I missed the first time around, because through the lens of dark academia, it all seemed so serious. Now it's comical to see how seriously the Greek students took themselves and their aesthetic, when I knew how far they fell.
The juxtaposition of the slow, serious, and considerate first half of the novel compared to the chaotic and off-the-rails second half of the novel was another factor that really intrigued me upon reread.