Review by jamesdegroot - The Secret History

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jamesdegroot 's review for:

The Secret History by Donna Tartt

3.0

challenging dark sad tense slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Overall, this was a good book that puts your brain to work. At times (the beginning) it felt like I was being lectured and felt a touch overwhelming for unnecessary reasons but the story picked up quite a bit in the middle. There is an immense amount of repetition surrounding drug and alcohol abuse and addiction which plays into the story but felt a bit too much at times. The chapters were insanely long (like 2-3 hours per chapter) which unfortunately had me needing to break between important scenes. The character development was executed very well and the underlying messaging I found interesting. The epilogue was executed wonderfully and may have been my favourite part just because of the eloquence of the delivery. I feel like I had more interesting theories of my own for the end of this book that never even came close to playing out which might be my own fault but left me a tiny bit disappointed nonetheless. I do feel strongly that a second read through would likely boost my rating.

Content Warnings