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A review by jovtom
The Secret History by Donna Tartt
5.0
omg. the last 30 pages of this book have shattered me and broken my heart. i don't know what to do with myself.
this was a dense book with lots of descriptions and inner monologues and observations and i ate it up. i think a lot of the symbolism and metaphors probably went over my heard, but i still found it incredibly fascinating, intriguing and mind-blowing on more than one occasion.
every detail in the book felt completely intentional and like it was serving the story. the characters are sooo well written. you love them all and are annoyed by them all and hate them at times and want to shake them and scream at them or give them a hug. even though they do horrible things (some more than others), you still somehow feel sorry for them and excuse a lot of their behaviors (mainly henry, whoops). overall, it's just a masterclass on writing intricately detailed stories.
the class differences between the characters were so interesting and i felt like certain situations really highlighted the importance in their different social (or financial) statuses, and it was so interesting how richard was so alienated in various ways. it wasn't very on-the-nose, but it was definitely there.
i loved how the second part of the book was an exploration of guilt, remorse, loss and mourning and how the characters navigated those feelings, how they coped with what they had done and how they handled the fact that their worlds were forever changed and shattered. the relationships and the mental stability of the characters really started going downhill in book two and it made the book get progressively more exciting by the page.
i feel bad giving it 4 stars. it's 4.75 ⭐ only because it was so long and dense and a little hard to read at times. but otherwise it's definitely 5-star worthy.
this was a dense book with lots of descriptions and inner monologues and observations and i ate it up. i think a lot of the symbolism and metaphors probably went over my heard, but i still found it incredibly fascinating, intriguing and mind-blowing on more than one occasion.
every detail in the book felt completely intentional and like it was serving the story. the characters are sooo well written. you love them all and are annoyed by them all and hate them at times and want to shake them and scream at them or give them a hug. even though they do horrible things (some more than others), you still somehow feel sorry for them and excuse a lot of their behaviors (mainly henry, whoops). overall, it's just a masterclass on writing intricately detailed stories.
the class differences between the characters were so interesting and i felt like certain situations really highlighted the importance in their different social (or financial) statuses, and it was so interesting how richard was so alienated in various ways. it wasn't very on-the-nose, but it was definitely there.
i loved how the second part of the book was an exploration of guilt, remorse, loss and mourning and how the characters navigated those feelings, how they coped with what they had done and how they handled the fact that their worlds were forever changed and shattered. the relationships and the mental stability of the characters really started going downhill in book two and it made the book get progressively more exciting by the page.
i feel bad giving it 4 stars. it's 4.75 ⭐ only because it was so long and dense and a little hard to read at times. but otherwise it's definitely 5-star worthy.